weigh In? Every day, or once a week?

Kaycurrier
Kaycurrier Posts: 231
edited October 1 in Health and Weight Loss
I find that I am on the scale about 6 times a day. I do not track my weigh or log it in that many times, however I am curious to know what I weigh after I drink water and eat food. I did weight watchers for a while and they recommended weighing in once a week or even once a month and putting the scale away so you are not tempted to weigh yourself. For women i kow weight can be tricky, there are times when we retain water and such. I drink half my body weight in water (measured in ounces not pounds) everyday, also a WW recommendation and I went a little over my calories yesterday, I was at the Raiders and Saints game, oops! I have only been dieting on MFP since the 25th and I lost 7 pounds since then, the rest of the weight in the ticker that I have lost is from WW. Well, I gained 2 pounds back in just one day. I do not feel discouraged because I feel I have been doing very well in just a few days and I also feel I did very well for being at a stadium game, I only had a burger and fries, and a diet soda. I am not saying this is good, but before dieting I would have had nachos, hot dogs, and popcorn too, lol. Anyways, back to me orriginal question. How often should a women weigh in. Everyday, once a week, or once a month? I do it everyday so that I know if what I did the day before worked or not, but if I do it once a week I won't notice water retention and small gain backs so much?

Replies

  • maria25428
    maria25428 Posts: 70
    hi, not a pro but speaking for myself, i'd drive myself crazy watching the numbers like that. I weigh in once a week. numbers flucuate (sp) so much during the day before/after food/ water etc.. don't drive yourself crazy :)
  • emmaNEEDSskinny
    emmaNEEDSskinny Posts: 317
    once a week
  • agthorn
    agthorn Posts: 1,844 Member
    I refuse to weigh myself on Mondays. I eat more sodium and have less water over the weekends, I'm less regular over the weekends, and I lift weights on Sunday - all things that will contribute to a "scale gain" even when there's no true weight gain. Other than that, I hop on if I'm feeling like it but I only "count" the weight as a gain or a loss once a week (Friday mornings).
  • mill1295
    mill1295 Posts: 120 Member
    Every day and I track it without putting in MFP. I like seeing what causes me to go up and down and I try to be conscious of all factors. I don't get discouraged with the up and down small variations as long as the long term trend is downward.. :D
  • lausa22
    lausa22 Posts: 467 Member
    Once a week is probably best.

    I weigh myself several times a day. But I don't get upset or down when I see the flucuations. The reason it's best to weigh once a week is you see a better picture of your weight, you don't see all the flucuations everyday due to water/bloat.

    I set myself I challenge the other day, not to weigh myself until the upcoming Friday :-) So far I'm going good, I guess it's a little relieving and I'm hoping for a drop by the end of the week.
  • Gail3260
    Gail3260 Posts: 354 Member
    Whatever works for you. I weigh every day at the same time and it does go up and down with water retention etc. As long as it is going down from one week to the next then I know its working.
  • BigBadVooDooBob
    BigBadVooDooBob Posts: 57
    I have done WW and now do MFP. I do follow the WW theory of weighing once a week. I weigh in on Fridays, first thing in the morning. I know that if I'm going to go over my calories, it will be on the weekend, so this gives me more time to get back on track. I did gain a pound at one weigh in and all of the friends I have on here suggested an increase in my water intake, which really did the trick. I will admit, however, that I don't conciously track my carbs/proteins etc. That's just too obsessive for me personally.
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
    It all depends on how you can handle it. I personally weigh every day because I'm afraid not to - the only time I didn't weight daily is when my weight was ballooning out of control and I didn't want to face the facts For me, it's just a way to keep myself in check and I only log when it goes down one full pound.
    HOWEVER, I know that if it's up a little, especially after a bad eating day like you had, it's probably just water weight and it'll likely go down in a day or two. Or I worked out harder than normal and my muscles are retaining water. Or I got too much sun and I'm retaining water due to sunburn. Or it's that time of the month... There are several reasons why our weight fluctuates.

    So, if you can be logical about it and not beat yourself up and/or be upset about the little games those numbers on the scale play with us, go ahead and weigh every day. If you can't handle it, weigh once every week at the same time wearing the same thing (if possible) to get the most accurate measurement.
  • Sonchie
    Sonchie Posts: 259 Member
    maybe once a week for me. I do however know what time of day i weigh the least. Some people like to weigh first thing in the morning but I probably eat too much sodium because im puffy in the morning. i usually weigh late morning after breakfast and a couple glasses of water. Never on mondays! hehe
  • MelissaL582
    MelissaL582 Posts: 1,422 Member
    I'm obsessed with my scale and keeps me focused. I weigh myself every morning.
  • sunshinestorm
    sunshinestorm Posts: 81 Member
    I am trying to get out of the habit of weighing myself daily. I want to be pleasantly surprised each week rather than nervous on the scale daily. As long as we are counting our calories (and exercising) we should trust that it will work and we will see results whether its on the scale or not. Good luck with this! And you are right, a woman's weight does flutuate but there's something about the number on the scale. The more we focus on other things, I think the better our attitudes might be. Such as, measurements, how your clothes are fitting, going down in sizes, etc.
  • sexyminxinthemaking
    sexyminxinthemaking Posts: 451 Member
    im the same i weigh myself too much (up to 7 times a day some days) but i just like to see how much i put on after eating drinking etc. i find that if ive stuck to the diet then im always a pound and a half lighter by morning so i like to make sure i only put on a pound during the day so i go down by half a pound each day
  • alise_lmx
    alise_lmx Posts: 292 Member
    I'm obsessed with my scale and keeps me focused. I weigh myself every morning.

    Me too. I don't think it's for everyone, but I also weigh every day, multiple times. It keeps me on track.
  • sharishar
    sharishar Posts: 44 Member
    Never more than once a week, although I broke my own rule at the gym, I weighed myself on Friday and then again on Sunday and lost 2lbs in total, but generally once a week is best
  • withchaco
    withchaco Posts: 1,026 Member
    It's up to you. If your weight fluctuations drive you up the wall, then you should probably weigh yourself every week, or even every other week/ every month.

    On the other hand, if you're okay with minor fluctuations, and the scale motivates you instead of frustrating you, then checking your weight every day shouldn't be a problem. I weigh myself every morning. I log my weight on MFP every week or so, but I do write down my daily number on my real life calendar. More data means more knowledge to me. If, for instance, my weight goes up because of water/sodium, then I can look back on how much sodium I ate the day before and make note.

    For someone like me, water weight would be a BIGGER problem if I weighed only once a week (or less often). Like, what if I retained extra water on the day of weighing in? But when I weigh every day, I have a better idea of what my real weight is.
  • Kaycurrier
    Kaycurrier Posts: 231
    I never thought about my muscles retaining water, I did push myself on the xbox kinect last night. I was seriously out of breath and couldn't even drink water I was huffing and puffing so hard lol. Plus, all the walking around the stadium, around in circles for a mile at least and then up and down stairs, up and down, up and down, lol. My legs are so sore today.
  • mojox2003
    mojox2003 Posts: 276 Member
    Defo once a week for me, I would go nuts watching numbers that much, and I know if I saw it go up then that would make me realy down and feel like its not worth working on.
  • dolphin9803
    dolphin9803 Posts: 125
    I have always been told once a week by my doc and then when you do it should be first thing in the morning when you crawl out of bed before you do anything (pee, cup of coffee).

    I however only weight in twice a month for me that is the easiest and I don't get discouraged as often but that is what works for me :) Every other Friday morning right when I get out of bed thats the first thing I do is jump on the scale. I have tried the once a week and I find that I myself tend to fail to stick with a diet because I see a gain one week and then the next a 4 lbs drop. So I have just stuck with the twice a month and so far that seems to help me. Good Luck!
  • baycat107
    baycat107 Posts: 165 Member
    I weigh in once a week, Friday mornings. (before the weekend) However, I weigh myself almost every morning, just to see where I am at. The fluctuations can be misleading & frustrating, but only the Friday morning weigh in is "official"...that's what I log into my notebook & on MFP.

    I also like to weigh myself after I run. I know it's just water loss, but I like to see the low number. It motivates me.
  • pinkbride2011
    pinkbride2011 Posts: 18
    Once per week. If I did it daily I would drive myself crazy... i think it's like waiting for water to boil, if you watch it, it seems like it takes forever. : )

    Good luck.
  • Kaycurrier
    Kaycurrier Posts: 231
    Thank you everyone for your wonderful comments. This was the ftopic I have posted and it was nice to gets some very helpful and encouraging feedback. I think I am going to weigh myself once a week, friday mornings! Maybe someday I can weight myself daily but right now I feel once a week is best for me.
  • kapeluza
    kapeluza Posts: 3,434 Member
    I weigh in every single day and I record it too. I weigh in twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon for kicks. I like observing the fluctuations that way when TOM rolls around (like this week) I am not freaking out over 1-2lbs gain. It's been very helpful for me. Example: On Thursday I weighed in at 166lbs and then Friday morning , BAM, 170lbs. No effing way I gained 4lbs overnight. I have been under my calories and exercising every day so it was obviously water retention from TOM almost visiting. I went back a month ago to see how my weight varied during TOM and surely enough I had 2-3lbs fluctuation during those days.

    Imagine if I only weighed in once a week and one week I weighed in at 166lbs and then the following weigh in day I weighed 170lbs?? I would be freaking the eff out.
  • ilike2run
    ilike2run Posts: 34 Member
    Weight so greatly fluctuates from day to day. I used to weigh every day and then would be discouraged when my weight was up a pound having done nothing different than the previous day! I finally read somewhere to weigh one time weekly--either on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday to allow time for (ah hem...) weekend dietary "indiscretions" to level out. This has worked great for me. I should add...as a nurse...this should be a "dry weight", meaning morning weight, after you have done bathroom duty, without clothes and before you eat or drink anything. Good luck!!! don't sweat the small stuff, :)
  • jhendricks123
    jhendricks123 Posts: 38 Member
    I usually way myself daily. I don't really have a weigh-in day since I will inevitably miss a day due to being out camping or doing something that day, and I don't want to annoy myself by missing a weigh-in haha...

    A lot of people get worked up when they see a weight gain, but I don't - I've lost 140lbs in total and I'm used to the fluctuation. I know that as long as I'm eating healthy, and exercising, there's no chance that a gain is "real". I only record the losses, and only when they are more than a pound or so.

    At one time I was using a spreadsheet I built to keep track of my daily weight, bodyfat, body water and lean muscle mass changes - that was pretty cool since I used formulas to show the weight of just my body fat, and I could use the trend to make sure I wasn't also burning through lean muscle mass. It was fun to "see" that the weight I was losing was pure body fat, but it took too much work to keep up with the daily weigh-ins and tracking everything in the spreadsheet. Plus, digital scales are notoriously inaccurate in my opinion. Most will change as much as a pound in either direction if you just step off and back on in my experience.
  • jennor8or
    jennor8or Posts: 204 Member
    i think it also depends how much weight you have to lose... i only have about 30 lbs to lose and so my weight fluctuates especially depending on how much weight lifting i do. i began obsessing over a .2 lb gain or no loss even if i weighed only once a week. so, i decided i'd start doing measurements once a week and weighing only once a month (most ppl do it the other way around)...thus far i'm really pleased with my results. i ALWAYS see some decrease in my size and body fat percentage :) my 1st "once a month" weigh in will come on sept 1st
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