How long to wait for weigh in?

lucadeangiles · April 2019

Had a rather large cheat day today. Had a light breakfast and light lunch, totaled to about 700 calories. I went to visit family at around 3pm and began snacking. I had a handful of peanut m&ms, and three or four fun size candy bars. I went out to dinner afterwards and had a fully loaded grilled cheese (cheeseburger minus the burger, lots of cheese and sauce), some onion rings and some delicious thick wedge fries dipped in ranch. After all that I was craving some sweets and I had a pint of halo top. Im trying to maintain my weight (120lbs 5’4”) and I normally eat 1800 -1900 calories a day to maintain. I’m estimating this day at around 3000+ calories and plan to go back to eating as normal tomorrow. I could probably afford to gain a couple pounds anyways. My question is how long should I wait to weigh myself to see if I actually gained anything? I obviously won’t weigh myself tomorrow morning because that’d be mostly water and food weight, but would that next morning still be too soon to notice real change?

Cheat day was absolutely worth it by the way

amusedmonkey · April 2019

I usually weigh myself the next morning anyway. It's interesting to me seeing how my body reacts to heavier days and how much water weight I can put on. It's also interesting to see how long it takes to go away (usually 3-4 days in my case), so I also watch what my weight does every day after that.

As for the change in weight, I usually note my weight the day my period ends every month, and that's my official monthly weight to see if I gained/lost/maintained. It could be any day, but I like that day because I'm least likely to be retaining water then.

MikePTY · April 2019

I always weigh every day, regardless of how I ate the day before. In my experience, the more you are able to see the different fluctuations from different choices, the less impact changes in weight have over me. Now when I gain 2 or 3 pounds in a couple of days, I don't like it get to me because I know the speed by which it will come off.

sijomial · April 2019

I weigh daily and don't worry about short term spikes.

Had a dinner party Saturday evening, was up 4lbs Sunday morning, lost 2lbs this morning and the other 2lbs will go in a day or two.

Expected, normal and irrelevant if you take a long term view.

neugebauer52 · April 2019

I weigh myself once a week and if possible after a weekend so I watch what I am eating.

csplatt · April 2019

I would wait a week honestly. There’s no point in making yourself guilty for a scenario that will likely happen every now and then. It’s totally realistic that some social days will look like that.

reversemigration · April 2019

I'd just continue on with your normal scale routine. Rather than sparking feelings of OMG, use it as an opportunity to get a rational look at how your body responds to high calorie, high sodium days. As the other helpful posts note, it'll just be a short-term spike/fluctuation, and that bit of statistical noise will disappear into your long-term trends.

kgirlhart · April 2019

I weigh every day. I would honestly be a little curious at how much my weight would be up after that and how long it would take for it to start coming down. As long as I wasn't eating like that consistently I wouldn't be worried about it.

icemom011 · April 2019

Plus one here for every day weigh in. Doesn't matter, good or bad day, I'd like to know. Getting acquainted with fluctuations, with the way you respond to certain foods or unusual amounts of it, still i step on the scale. Better be informed, no need to be afraid or guess.

riffraff2112 · April 2019

If I was weighing myself daily I would continue to do that. There will be days where you do everything right and gain weight, there will be days where you indulge and don't notice any weight gain at all. I think consistency is the key here.

karenscofield1 · April 2019

After a good poop .

cmriverside · April 2019

I weigh every day or almost every day. I long ago stopped getting stressed out over a few pounds after a big food day.

asochable · April 2019

I weigh in almost every day. Honestly, seeing the scale go up after a bad eating day doesn’t bother me (I anticipate it) but what frustrates me more is when the scale is up after a day of clean eating and working out. I know it’s because my muscles are sore (and thus my body needs more water to repair them) but I find that to be more annoying than eating poorly and having the scale go up.

But like others say, I know it will fluctuate so I like seeing the overall trend. Plus I know in a matter of days I’ll get a good weigh in when all the stars align, so to speak, for my hard work.

Panini911 · April 2019

i am still doing daily. funny i had three splurges on the weekend and the weight is only blipping up a few days later . i am tracking as i'd like to sorta predict "eat more dessert Friday, blip will be on Sunday and gone a week later" but i am far from that point now.

MikePfirrman · April 2019

I weigh daily. Just moved recently and my wife had inadvertently killed the batteries in our scale by setting a makeup bag on it prior to the move. Then we moved (from OH to AZ) and I couldn't find the scale for another few days and had to find the batteries for it! Two or three weeks no weigh ins. I was going crazy. Ended up losing 3 pounds. It's amazing how when I'm not eating four or six TBS of Peanut Butter or snacking at night how fast the weight comes off.

Now, my wife and I are squabbling over where to put the scale. She keeps putting it back in the closet because "there's no good spot for it on the bathroom floor...". If I have to pull it out of the closet daily I will. Weighing daily helps me tremendously.

pierinifitness · April 2019

Weighing daily is one of the success tools in my fitness, health and wellness journey toolbox, just as journaling food eaten and training done. I want the data regardless of whether it’s good or bad because over a longer than daily time period, it’s going to be good.

AnnPT77 · April 2019

I weigh daily, unless I'm traveling and unable. It's just data, not a measure of my self-worth, and I think it's useful to understand my fluctuations and how they vary depending on things like exercise, extra carbs or sodium, hydration, etc.

You might find this thread entertaining, and there's a more detailed kind of answer to your question implied in there:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope

lorrpb · April 2019

I weigh daily to learn my own trends. If I weighed tomorrow and saw a 1-3 lb spike, I would know it was water weight, I would also know it could 3-5 days to dissipate. I fluctuate a lot, so if a gain sticks around for 2. weeks, I know it's real Weight. Your numbers could be different.

neugebauer52 · April 2019

Did you enjoy that lovely day, the company, food, drinks, entertainment? Great! Did you learn something from the experience? Is there something you could do differently next time around? Just take it as a learning experience and make sure to record all food / drinks to actually see how you are getting on with your meal plan.

Sharon_C · April 2019

Weigh every day no matter what you ate the day before

How long to wait for weigh in?

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