How often to weigh in maintenance

Jubee13
Jubee13 Posts: 132 Member
edited December 22 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I have always weighed once a week. I did try to weigh every day and look at the trend, but the fluctuations really messed with my mind. I on,y did it for about a week. However, I was considering “forcing myself” to weigh every day for the month of September just to see if that would take away the effect that number has on me. What are thought and options on weighing every day? Does the panic of seeing the scale go up (from normal fluctuations) ever go away?
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Replies

  • Jubee13
    Jubee13 Posts: 132 Member
    I guess I shouldn’t have said “panic”, but I do feel my reaction to the scale going up - even when I know it’s just a normal fluctuation - isn’t reasonable. It’s more of a worry that I’m eating too much than a “panic”. I would like to see the scale just as data, but I feel that number holds too much meaning for me, and I thought maybe weighing daily would lesson the importance of the number.
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,188 Member
    I am sort of the same way. So I just don't weigh every day. I do log and keep track of cals. I will weigh maybe once a week or at a min once a month to make sure I am not kidding myself but as long as I stay in range I don't feel the need to weigh every day. It's one of the perks of maintenance for me that I don't have to have my day influenced by some random #. I started that this year and so far it seems to be working for me. I don't really need the daily data and it's once less thing to clutter my mind with.
  • psychod787
    psychod787 Posts: 4,099 Member
    Every day for me, but I am a data junkie.
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,190 Member
    Some times everyday (out of routine because the scale is right there looking at me), others few times a week, and never on vacation. Maintaining for 9 years so I have a pretty good idea of what and how much to eat, and how my body responds to changes. At my age water fluctuations are minimal, except when traveling.

    I don't take measurements too often either, maybe once or twice a year at the most. I trust my feelings, and my clothing.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,454 Member
    edited August 2019
    Jubee13 wrote: »
    I guess I shouldn’t have said “panic”, but I do feel my reaction to the scale going up - even when I know it’s just a normal fluctuation - isn’t reasonable. It’s more of a worry that I’m eating too much than a “panic”. I would like to see the scale just as data, but I feel that number holds too much meaning for me, and I thought maybe weighing daily would lesson the importance of the number.

    Well - the easiest ways to know if you're eating too much is to either keep a food log or to weigh yourself. I find doing both is the best because then I KNOW if I've eaten too much, and I know it before it causes a change in my weight.

    I like to weigh every day. I don't do it, but I like it the best. I do log my food, though. I've been logging food long enough to be able to fairly accurately guess my weight on any given day, so there is that. :flowerforyou:
  • Gisel2015
    Gisel2015 Posts: 4,190 Member
    amckholmes wrote: »
    I weigh every day now that I have reached maintenance, and I use Happy Scale. I do find that seeing the trend line helps me feel confident and I am reaching the point where I am more comfortable with days that my weight is up a bit, because I can see my history and know that’s just what my body does. Maintenance seems to be all about figuring out what works for you, not just in regard to your weight, but also your mental wellness. :)[/quote]

    You nail it!!!
  • PrincessMelodyj
    PrincessMelodyj Posts: 14 Member
    I still weigh once a week, same as when I was losing. I think if I weighed every day I would drive myself crazy about it lol
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited September 2019
    Jubee13 wrote: »
    I guess I shouldn’t have said “panic”, but I do feel my reaction to the scale going up - even when I know it’s just a normal fluctuation - isn’t reasonable. It’s more of a worry that I’m eating too much than a “panic”. I would like to see the scale just as data, but I feel that number holds too much meaning for me, and I thought maybe weighing daily would lesson the importance of the number.

    Do the math. If the scale jumps up a couple pounds overnight, the math will tell you that it's not fat. I'm pretty sure you'll know it if you eat 3500 calories over maintenance.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,997 Member
    edited September 2019
    Normally once a day when I get up and use the bathroon but, since I started IF, I've been weighing myself at various times b4 I start eating again; ususlly after my daily 5k row and just b4 I start eating again.

    Started doing that out of curiosity but started to do it regularly because I have found that I can lose an additional 1-2# between the time I get up (usually around 7) and when I start eating again (usually around 1). And, I chg my wt to the lowest # b4 I go off the fast, which I think is the most accurate way to gauge the effect of IF on my wt.
  • pjwrt
    pjwrt Posts: 166 Member
    Daily on wake up. The weight tells me how much I'm going to eat and exercise that day. Hey, I bought another scale to see if my old one was wacked. They never agree; always .5-1.5 pounds off. They take turns being the heavy. I take turns believing the light one.

    That said, this NFL player I met at his friend's public gym told me his waist size is what he personally thinks is the most important. No, he doesn't play center...
  • staticsplit
    staticsplit Posts: 538 Member
    It varies for me. Sometimes it's every day, sometimes once a week. I just weighed myself this morning for the first time in 3 weeks and I was down about 4 pounds, which isn't surprising as I've had a cold for 2 weeks that has messed with my appetite. I have another 2 pounds in my maintenance range--if I dip below that it's time to break out the peanut butter.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    Using "happy scale" to note trends has been really helpful - those normal pounds fluctuations smoothed out over weeks and months helped me identify when I needed to tighten up a bit - and I can see with a year's data now that I have been "maintaining." It's more useful if I have more data points and so I weigh in a few times a week.
  • walktalkdog
    walktalkdog Posts: 102 Member
    For me, when I weighed in once a week if the weight was higher I'd get very discouraged; it seemed too long to wait for the next weigh in. So now I weigh every day and log it on Libra and when it's been a few days of higher weight I rein in my eating.

    Sigh, so now a rant about maintenance. It doesn't seem to get easier, at least not for me. My body just wants to weight ten pounds more, and I have to be in a constant state of awareness. Yes, I will let myself indulge in occasional celebrations, but then always return to vigilence. My stats: female, 62 years old, height 5'7",current weight fluctuating between 155 and 157. I want to maintain under 155. (and I did for a very short while) I follow a good exercise plan.
  • BreezyWerner
    BreezyWerner Posts: 24 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    Every day shortly after I get out of bed. Close to the same time every day under similar conditions. Then enter daily data to a spreadsheet that calculates a moving average to even out the inevitable daily spikes. I also use a website that does a weighted moving average which I like better because it assigns a higher value to measurements in the recent past versus farther in the past (about ten days).

    I have seen many times when, if I had been only weighing once a week, the scale would have told me something that I would have completely misinterpreted. Weighing every day that I am near my scale works great for me. All that said, I haven't COMPLETELY disassociated my emotional response from the number I see each day. It's still a little bit of a challenge. But I KNOW in my head what it is, and I try to convince my heart (or liver depending on where you think emotions come from :smile: ) that it's just a number, and then look at my TREND. I'm a recovering scientist, so data are my friend.

    As an example, here's the graph of the last six months from Trendweight:

    3o27rb3ajg1u.png

    As an example, if I weighed myself on Sundays, my scale weight between September 1-8 went up four pounds, but the weighted moving average went DOWN a third of a pound. Conversely, between August 18-25, my scale weight went down 1.8 pounds, but my trend was UP 1.3 pounds. It's the trend that's most important. I will continue to work on disconnecting from the daily readings because without taking the daily readings, the trend is less accurate.

    A recovering scientist.... I am a recovering electrical engineer. Totally get it.
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