How Often Do/Should You Weigh Yourself?

AquaMeow
AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
How often do you fitness pals weigh yourself? What is recommended?

Lately I've been weighing myself once a week (Thursday). In the past it was every day which made me HATE the scale :( and prior to that it was once a month cause I really was nervous about it.
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Replies

  • gottswald
    gottswald Posts: 122 Member
    edited June 2019
    I'm curious about this as well. I book a body composition test every two months. Other than that I don't really weigh myself, just try and trust the system and stick to it because I know the scale only gives me scale weight and not fat loss. I occasionally get curious and weigh myself, especially if I have noticed a change.

    What I wonder is if I am missing out on something useful by not going the Libra route?
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    It only matters what you need to do for you not what others need to do for them. Some people prefer daily, some weekly, some monthly, some rarely, some don't even own a scale. From the countless number of these threads that have been created I know that most people that reply will say they weigh daily and that should have zero influence on what you do.

    Assuming you don't think it will derail you if you want to change your routine then give it a try and see if it makes things better or worse.

    I don't care to use a weight trending app but others do and they find it helpful.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited June 2019
    I prefer daily weighing plus a trend weight app (Happy Scale or Libra). There is no general recommendation beyond personal preference.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I weigh 5-7x per week and use a trend weight app. This works well for me especially since I don't track my intake.

    Do what works best for you.
  • ceiswyn
    ceiswyn Posts: 2,253 Member
    I weigh myself every morning, and record the results in a weight trend app.

    My worry with weekly or monthly weighing is that fluctuations might make that one weigh-in misleading and hide the actual trend. For example, if one week your weigh-in day happens to have a downward fluctuation, and the next week it happens to have an upward fluctuation, you might think you're gaining weight even if you're actually losing!
  • manderson27
    manderson27 Posts: 3,510 Member
    Every day and I use a weight trending app (Libra for android) to keep tabs on the fluctuations.

    Now I know what can cause a fluctuation (pasta for example) I no longer find it disheartening when I go up a bit. I know it will drop again over the next few days.
  • alondrakar
    alondrakar Posts: 67 Member
    I weigh myself daily because the number on the scale normally won't affect me negatively unless 3 or 4 weeks pass without progress which has not happened yet (because I am consistent).
  • etherealanwar
    etherealanwar Posts: 465 Member
    I weigh daily in the morning after using the restroom and keep track in my weight trending app Libra. I enjoy learning how my body responds to various factors so that I don't get discouraged by any scale movements. The upward ticks still do get to me sometimes though :D
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    I weigh daily. It keeps me engaged in the process.
  • DanaLynne128
    DanaLynne128 Posts: 21 Member
    Any kind of Asian food makes my weight go up drastically, so much sodium!
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    etherealanwar wrote: »
    I weigh daily in the morning after using the restroom and keep track in my weight trending app Libra. I enjoy learning how my body responds to various factors so that I don't get discouraged by any scale movements. The upward ticks still do get to me sometimes though :D

    Haha same. Sometimes I get upset when it goes up a tiny bit or I just lose a few ounces and not pounds so I try to work harder o.O
  • thanos5
    thanos5 Posts: 513 Member
    daily here, then i do a weekly average.
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    DanaLynne128 wrote: »
    Any kind of Asian food makes my weight go up drastically, so much sodium!

    Yes same so I make sure to not have too much sodium or sugar. But its soooo yummy!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 31,935 Member
    I agree that it's an issue of personality and preference.

    I've been weighing myself daily (first thing in AM) for literally years (maybe a decade or more?), even well before I started seriously trying to lose weight. I find it interesting, I've learned a lot about my body from it, and I don't find fluctuations at all stressful. It's just data, not a measure of my self-worth as a human being.

    I'm a data geek, not an obsessive. I used to plot my daily weight on graph paper (date on X axis, weight on Y axis), but switched to Libra after joining MFP and starting to track intake. I also track other data, and have for years, like heart rate performance and speed for rowing, mileage and speed for biking, and other such things that seem interesting to me.

    So, given my analytic/unemotional personality, and interest in data, daily weighing works for me. It's not right for everyone. You need to figure out you. :flowerforyou:
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
    There is no "should" or any kind of general recommendation. This is personal preference. Daily probably isn't a good idea if you don't understand how your body works and natural weight fluctuations. Your body is comprised of 55-65% water and that will always be in flux...you will always have varying degrees of inherent waste in your system, etc. Not everything on the scale is fat.

    I typically weigh in two to three times per week.
  • sweetbe44
    sweetbe44 Posts: 195 Member
    I also weigh daily in the morning and track the results using the happy scale app. I like seeing the overall trend behind the daily fluctuations which for me is what’s important. I agree with the others though, weigh in as often or as little as makes you comfortable.
  • GaryRuns
    GaryRuns Posts: 508 Member
    I weigh myself every morning using a Withings smart scale. It uploads its data to the Withings site which another website, https://trendweight.com/help/, then uses to give me my weight trend as calculated using a weighted, moving average over, I believe, a 10 day period.
  • AquaMeow
    AquaMeow Posts: 296 Member
    I also want to add that I do have a Weight Watchers scale that measures your BMI, Body Fat, Water, and Muscle. But idk how accurate it is. Does anyone else use a scale like that at home? Is it even accurate?

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