how long can you go between weigh ins when trying to lose weight?

It's a much discussed question here, including in Debate Club**.

I think the answer is individual. Some people are stressed by fluctuations when weighing in daily, or find that it makes them obsessive. They probably shouldn't weigh daily. Among those, some will be OK with weekly, monthly, or never (the latter usually using tape measure, photos, clothes fit or something else as a way to gauge progress).

Other people - I'm one - are kind of data geeks who find it interesting and informative to see the fluctuations from day to day, and don't find them stressful. Personally, after doing daily weigh ins with a graph or weight trending app for a while, I found I had a decent understanding of what caused random-looking scale fluctuations, how long they'd be likely to last, and that sort of thing. For me, that knowledge was reassuring. I know that if I didn't eat enough more, or move enough less (at 3500 calories per fat pound!) to cause a measurable fat gain, cumulatively, then a jump on the scale wasn't likely to be fat.

I don't think either of those approaches is more correct, more necessary, healthier, or anything like that. I think it's personal choice/personal taste - whatever works best for each person.

If you haven't read it yet, I found this helpful as a source of perspective on fluctuations:

https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations

If you want to weigh once a month, or even less, do that. A thing to be aware of, with longer intervals, is that there can be weird cases where weigh-in #1 is at a down-fluctuation, and weigh-in #2 is at a down-fluctuation, making it look like fat loss isn't happening (or is happening more slowly) when everything is fine. For that reason, I'd tend to suggest two things (1) using tape measure or clothes-fit as an alternate metric in addition, and (2) if a premenopausal woman, make it a point to weigh at the same relative point in each menstrual cycle, because hormonal water weight shifts can be pretty significant, for some women.

Best wishes!


** https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10810661/is-it-a-good-idea-to-weigh-yourself-every-day/p1

I have the best success when I weigh daily.

Also, trending apps are more accurate with more data, which supports daily weighing.

I have used various methods. I used to weigh once a week, I used to weight on the fly (aka only when I was feeling "light"; whatever that means), I now weigh every day. All those methods "worked", in the sense that they recorded what my weight was at that moment in time.

I find that 'data' people like daily weighing (this is me). For some, the scale weight isn't a motivator and so weighing isn't really that helpful aside to evaluate progress. For others it is a motivator, but can make them obsess and so more time between weigh ins is normally a good idea. Some find scale weight motivating, but daily fluctuations not so, so choose something like weekly weigh ins.

At the end of the day there is no absolute 'best' way to weigh yourself. You just need to find the one that works best for you. Be it every day, one a week, once a month, never, or something in between.

I feel like I could've written your whole post, right down to the irrational feelings.

Knowing what I weigh can do such a psychological number on me, going both possible ways. If I lose, I feel great and stick to it OR need that treat to reward myself. If I gain or don't lose, most likely I get down on myself and throw in the towel too easily. It is who I am.

ATM, I'm just sticking to a plan and waiting for my jeans to start fitting the way they used to again. Twenty pounds gained over 3-4 months sure makes a difference so I'm going to be patient and avoid the scales for awhile yet. I need to feel my feet firmly planted in these new habits before I can let anything in to tempt me one way or another. I do have kind of a starting figure because I went to the dr. a week or so before Christmas so my (re)starting weight is near that number. I'm sure I packed on a couple more #'s over Christmas.

So, as people mentioned, it's definitely an individual thing.

Good luck!!!

I get on the scale everyday. I try not to consider it “official” except for once a week. Usually Friday or Saturday

There is no right answer. It really depends on how you react to the scale. There are other things you can do besides using the scale to track progress. Buy a next size down pair of jeans and try them on the 1st of next month. If they don't fit yet, repeat the month later.

Last year I weighed in weekly. Once I got to Onederland (and got my period back, gulldurnrassafrassin...) I started weighing daily - ostensibly to get a better idea of how I fluctuate day-to-day and throughout the month, but if I'm honest, seeing that "1XX" on the scale was incredibly motivating, too.