How Often Do/Should You Weigh Yourself?
AquaMeow
Posts: 296 Member
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.
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. 1
Replies
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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?1 -
As often or as little as what personally works best for you.9
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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.
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I prefer daily weighing plus a trend weight app (Happy Scale or Libra). There is no general recommendation beyond personal preference.4
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I weigh myself every morning, naked, after I pee. I've learned a lot about my body doing this. Spaghetti for dinner - I'll be up 2-3 pounds the next morning. Alcohol puts on 3-4 pounds and it takes almost a week to come back off. TOM and ovulation, 2-3 pounds up. Sunburn (like I have right now), flying, and sore muscles, I'll see a upward tick on the scale. Learning all of this about my body has helped me not freak out. I see an upward swing, I can diagnose the problem and not have an emotional reaction to that number.
http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/13 -
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.2 -
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!4 -
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.4 -
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).2
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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
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I weigh daily. It keeps me engaged in the process.0
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Any kind of Asian food makes my weight go up drastically, so much sodium!1
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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
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.O0 -
daily here, then i do a weekly average.2
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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!0 -
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:3 -
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.2 -
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.1
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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.2
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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?1
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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?
Not very accurate for body composition (fat, water, muscle) - lots of things can perturb the readings, relative hydration/dehydration looming large among those. BMI is just a function of height and weight, so as long as it knows your height, it can get that right. Some scales also estimate BMR or TDEE; no reason to expect those to be any more accurate than a decent research-based online calculator.
Should be as accurate for your body weight as most other home scales, though.2 -
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?
They're not very accurate as far as body fat and muscle. They are significantly affected by your hydration at the time of the reading. If you're curious as to how they work you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis.1 -
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?
Depends on how you're using it. It is not sufficiently precise for recording a single measurement...ie you step on the scale that day it it tells you your BF% is X. There are just too many things that can affect individual readings...whether you've eaten recently or not, exercise before reading, dehydration/over-hydration, etc.
These are best used as a tool for looking at longer term trends, not a precise number. Consumer Reports won't even review them anymore due to their imprecision.1 -
It's accurate for recording the Earth's gravitational pull on your body.1
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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?
sadly, not accurate. i believe consumer reports won't even rate them, they are so bad.
edit: not accurate for body fat, i mean.0 -
I prefer daily weigh ins for a few reasons, primarily because they really help me see the day to day fluctuations and can help keep me more accountable without losing my mind from a single bad weigh-in.
That being said, I've renewed my dedication to getting my weight down now that I'm moved and getting settled into my new location, so in addition to using my trend app (Libra), I also set up a spreadsheet that will show weekly averages and weekly average loss as I find that to be very helpful as well (which was the method I used before I found Libra).
I just found the trend app to be a bit wonky in how it determined up or down trends, and find my own averaging to be a bit more of a reasonable guide. The trend line is still good, and it's great for historical data, so I'm using both right now - which probably seems like overkill lol.1 -
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?
Not very accurate for body composition (fat, water, muscle) - lots of things can perturb the readings, relative hydration/dehydration looming large among those. BMI is just a function of height and weight, so as long as it knows your height, it can get that right. Some scales also estimate BMR or TDEE; no reason to expect those to be any more accurate than a decent research-based online calculator.
Should be as accurate for your body weight as most other home scales, though.
Yes it does take in account my gender and my height and also my age as well
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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?
They're not very accurate as far as body fat and muscle. They are significantly affected by your hydration at the time of the reading. If you're curious as to how they work you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioelectrical_impedance_analysis.
Thanks I will take a read! I dont see why they made them then if they are gonna be inaccurate lol what a waste of money xD0 -
quiksylver296 wrote: »It's accurate for recording the Earth's gravitational pull on your body.
Cool0 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »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?
Depends on how you're using it. It is not sufficiently precise for recording a single measurement...ie you step on the scale that day it it tells you your BF% is X. There are just too many things that can affect individual readings...whether you've eaten recently or not, exercise before reading, dehydration/over-hydration, etc.
These are best used as a tool for looking at longer term trends, not a precise number. Consumer Reports won't even review them anymore due to their imprecision.
I weigh myself in the morning after the bathroom and naked before the shower. My last meal every night is usually around 7 or 8pm and I'm up at 7am or earlier.1
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