Why random weigh ins are tougher on the mind than daily weigh ins
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23iswhen
Posts: 39 Member
I like data, let me rephrase that, I freaking love data. So when I have the resolution to lose weight I have a relatively intricate spreadsheet with all sorts of derived data from my daily weigh in. That's it that's the only input but that number allows me to calculate daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly progress as well as make projections. I've even attempted to graph my mood or gut feel about my weight loss direction whether I feel like I am on the right path or slipping away (see chaotic jittery yellow line).
Now to the crux of the matter. Are you a slave to your scale if you did this? well...are you? after all it's just a number. A number that would be vastly different on the ISS or the moon or Mars but here we are losing our minds about it sometimes. And I am not immune to feeling encouraged or discouraged by the number. But as a data scientist (not yet
but working on my software engineer degree) I have to remove my feelings and try to make sense of the data in front of my eyes.
I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion because you will either think that you're doing phenomenal (green text on the graph) and celebrating with a big meal is in order. Or you tell yourself that you can't lose weight not matter your efforts ( blue text on the graph) therefore you will focus on acceptance and will stop depriving yourself from the food that makes you happy. You'll be out of shape but happy at least is what you tell yourself.
You can only see the whole picture with daily data over a long period of time. I don't expect others at all to keep this detailed records and much less to try to analyze it as I do but I wanted to share so that you perhaps stop thinking you actually lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks or that you only lost 2lbs in 3 weeks. You see, neither of those results are true when you look at the full picture. You're most likely not in a plateau either.
My advise. Weigh in at the rhythm that is most conducive to weight loss for your particular case. My personal opinion is that you should weigh in daily and pay attention to your body rhythms. Are you bloated after eating a salty meal or after a particularly strenuous workout session? I know I am, the water weight quickly drops off after the 4th day in my case. Be consistent even on the weekends and even when opportunities to celebrate present themselves.
You can see how this data seems to have a heartbeat. I am now also convinced that the principles of wave resonance apply to this effort as well, which is to say that your efforts from yesterday can be magnified by your effort today, but you can also dampen them or eliminate them if you don't maintain a good rhythm or a consistent routine.
I hope this helps someone out there stop freaking out about the number on the scale when the numbers are either too good and give you euphoria or too bad to the point the number on the scale makes you cry.
I've annotated two instance in which stepping on the scale during a similar time range could give you wildly different ideas of your progress but as you can see at any point on the graph you can plot 4 points in which the results will tell you you're doing amazing or that there's not much progress at all. And unfortunately that's what you get with random weigh ins.
Factually I lost 29 lbs in 100 days which average to 0.29 lbs a day or 2.03 lbs a week.
Now to the crux of the matter. Are you a slave to your scale if you did this? well...are you? after all it's just a number. A number that would be vastly different on the ISS or the moon or Mars but here we are losing our minds about it sometimes. And I am not immune to feeling encouraged or discouraged by the number. But as a data scientist (not yet
but working on my software engineer degree) I have to remove my feelings and try to make sense of the data in front of my eyes.I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion because you will either think that you're doing phenomenal (green text on the graph) and celebrating with a big meal is in order. Or you tell yourself that you can't lose weight not matter your efforts ( blue text on the graph) therefore you will focus on acceptance and will stop depriving yourself from the food that makes you happy. You'll be out of shape but happy at least is what you tell yourself.
You can only see the whole picture with daily data over a long period of time. I don't expect others at all to keep this detailed records and much less to try to analyze it as I do but I wanted to share so that you perhaps stop thinking you actually lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks or that you only lost 2lbs in 3 weeks. You see, neither of those results are true when you look at the full picture. You're most likely not in a plateau either.
My advise. Weigh in at the rhythm that is most conducive to weight loss for your particular case. My personal opinion is that you should weigh in daily and pay attention to your body rhythms. Are you bloated after eating a salty meal or after a particularly strenuous workout session? I know I am, the water weight quickly drops off after the 4th day in my case. Be consistent even on the weekends and even when opportunities to celebrate present themselves.
You can see how this data seems to have a heartbeat. I am now also convinced that the principles of wave resonance apply to this effort as well, which is to say that your efforts from yesterday can be magnified by your effort today, but you can also dampen them or eliminate them if you don't maintain a good rhythm or a consistent routine.
I hope this helps someone out there stop freaking out about the number on the scale when the numbers are either too good and give you euphoria or too bad to the point the number on the scale makes you cry.
I've annotated two instance in which stepping on the scale during a similar time range could give you wildly different ideas of your progress but as you can see at any point on the graph you can plot 4 points in which the results will tell you you're doing amazing or that there's not much progress at all. And unfortunately that's what you get with random weigh ins.
Factually I lost 29 lbs in 100 days which average to 0.29 lbs a day or 2.03 lbs a week.
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Replies
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I weigh every 1-4 weeks depending on when I feel like going to the gym in my building to weigh, since I don’t own a bathroom scale. I do keep a measuring tape in my bathroom and wrap it around my waist quite frequently.
I also like data. I’ve calculated a pretty accurate daily net calorie burn, so I rarely ever get a scale surprise.3 -
You made me laugh. I (actuary and maths teacher) have a very similar spreadsheet set up) and fully agree with you that only by taking regular measurements can we see the trend clearly.
I use weighing in when I arrive home for 3 reasons.
1. The scale is in the bedroom and I leave the house before my husband wakes up.
2. I’m changing clothes so it’s easy
3. It’s the best way I’ve found of managing my coming home munchies.
At the weekends I weigh in the mornings for convenience. Working so far.2 -
Rockmama1111 wrote: »I weigh every 1-4 weeks depending on when I feel like going to the gym in my building to weigh, since I don’t own a bathroom scale. I do keep a measuring tape in my bathroom and wrap it around my waist quite frequently.
I also like data. I’ve calculated a pretty accurate daily net calorie burn, so I rarely ever get a scale surprise.
That's an excellent point. I take measurements once every week. It's reassuring to see the body shrinking even if the scale won't budge. I like the way you put it about calculating one's net calorie burn. This has been the biggest revelation to me when logging and tracking religiously, that given my particular build, stressors and health condition if I do X this many days in a row I will see Y results.1 -
I can see the benefit of daily weigh-ins IF you are graphing it like this. Then you might not get discouraged by an up- or down-tick… as long as the line is trending in the direction of your goals. However, most people are not graphing it our daily
In my case, I put the scale away for several years (I’m talking… 7+ years) because I spent some years weighing in daily and it was consuming my life and my mind. Any down tick would ruin my day and I’d punish myself with extreme workouts or eating very little (or both). Not ever person is like me, of course. I do see the value in analyzing the changes and correlating them to things like bloat, hormones, and certain foods consumed. But in general, I think I’ll split the difference and try for weekly check-ins 2 -
Generally, I'm with you on the philosophy, in the abstract. I've weighed daily for literally years, well over a decade, starting when I wasn't even seriously trying to lose weight. I feel like understanding my body's random fluctuations was a help when I did commit to weight loss. I knew in my gut (heh) that today's weight wasn't exclusively the result of what I'd eaten or exercised the day before - and certainly not the fat weight component of my total weight. I'm also a bit of a data geek - including career background in data architecture and data management.
But I think there's more to it, in individual cases, as a practical matter. For some people, there's trauma, shame, guilt, anxiety and more associated with body weight. Body weight is tightly bound to self-image, for some people. How often to weigh has implications in how obsessed or otherwise stressed people feel.
As a relatively unemotional person myself, I don't have a visceral understanding of this, but I see it here often. Good data isn't the only practical consideration. (I do encourage people to move toward daily weighing if they can.)
Your examples are very good, and very useful, in that context. Another thing that's very useful - which you've probably seen recommended here, but I'm including in case others haven't - is this article:
https://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
. . . along with this thread where other MFP-ers discuss their experiences:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1
Sometimes our brain/psychology plays tricks on us, in a sneaky attempt to avoid profound change. Change is scary. Yep, those are examples of common reactions.I like data, let me rephrase that, I freaking love data. So when I have the resolution to lose weight I have a relatively intricate spreadsheet with all sorts of derived data from my daily weigh in. That's it that's the only input but that number allows me to calculate daily, weekly, bi-weekly and monthly progress as well as make projections. I've even attempted to graph my mood or gut feel about my weight loss direction whether I feel like I am on the right path or slipping away (see chaotic jittery yellow line).
Now to the crux of the matter. Are you a slave to your scale if you did this? well...are you? after all it's just a number. A number that would be vastly different on the ISS or the moon or Mars but here we are losing our minds about it sometimes. And I am not immune to feeling encouraged or discouraged by the number. But as a data scientist (not yet but working on my software engineer degree) I have to remove my feelings and try to make sense of the data in front of my eyes.
I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion because you will either think that you're doing phenomenal (green text on the graph) and celebrating with a big meal is in order. Or you tell yourself that you can't lose weight not matter your efforts ( blue text on the graph) therefore you will focus on acceptance and will stop depriving yourself from the food that makes you happy. You'll be out of shape but happy at least is what you tell yourself.
(I have to admit, I'd encourage people to use rewards other than food when things go well, unless loss appears riskily fast.)
You can only see the whole picture with daily data over a long period of time. I don't expect others at all to keep this detailed records and much less to try to analyze it as I do but I wanted to share so that you perhaps stop thinking you actually lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks or that you only lost 2lbs in 3 weeks. You see, neither of those results are true when you look at the full picture. You're most likely not in a plateau either.
For those who want something similar, but don't want to create a spreadsheet, the free weight trending apps are an option: Things like Happy Scale for Apple/iOS, Libra for Android, Trendweight (requires a free Fitbit account but don't need a device), Weightgrapher, probably others. It's still just a statistical projection, and can mislead at times IME. (I've been using Libra since 2015, plotted daily weight on graph paper for years before that, X=date, Y=weight. Low tech, but easy/practical for me at the time.)My advise. Weigh in at the rhythm that is most conducive to weight loss for your particular case. My personal opinion is that you should weigh in daily and pay attention to your body rhythms. Are you bloated after eating a salty meal or after a particularly strenuous workout session? I know I am, the water weight quickly drops off after the 4th day in my case. Be consistent even on the weekends and even when opportunities to celebrate present themselves.
You can see how this data seems to have a heartbeat. I am now also convinced that the principles of wave resonance apply to this effort as well, which is to say that your efforts from yesterday can be magnified by your effort today, but you can also dampen them or eliminate them if you don't maintain a good rhythm or a consistent routine.
Yesterday to today is going to be misleading - even day before yesterday to today, more often than not. IMO, IME, it's more about averages and trends over multiple weeks.
Even fast fat loss is only a few ounces or a few dozen grams per day. (If we lose 2 pounds of fat a week (fast), that's about 4.5 ounces a day. If we lose a kilogram of fat a week, it's about 143 grams a day.)
Shifts in water retention or (to a lesser extent) food residue in the digestive tract on its way to becoming waste . . . those things vary by multiple pounds from one day to the next. The smaller-magnitude fat loss plays peek-a-boo on the body weight scale with the larger-magnitude water/waste variability.
A glass of water weighs more than 4.5 ounces/143 grams, whether it's in our hand or in our stomach. Ditto for a good-sized apple's non-caloric fiber/water content. Full digestive transit can take up to 50+ hours.
No doubt it will: Good post, well explained and clearly illustrated.I hope this helps someone out there stop freaking out about the number on the scale when the numbers are either too good and give you euphoria or too bad to the point the number on the scale makes you cry.I've annotated two instance in which stepping on the scale during a similar time range could give you wildly different ideas of your progress but as you can see at any point on the graph you can plot 4 points in which the results will tell you you're doing amazing or that there's not much progress at all. And unfortunately that's what you get with random weigh ins.
Factually I lost 29 lbs in 100 days which average to 0.29 lbs a day or 2.03 lbs a week.
Thank you for the good post, and best wishes for success going forward!2 -
alicianwagoner wrote: »I can see the benefit of daily weigh-ins IF you are graphing it like this. Then you might not get discouraged by an up- or down-tick… as long as the line is trending in the direction of your goals. However, most people are not graphing it our daily
In my case, I put the scale away for several years (I’m talking… 7+ years) because I spent some years weighing in daily and it was consuming my life and my mind. Any down tick would ruin my day and I’d punish myself with extreme workouts or eating very little (or both). Not ever person is like me, of course. I do see the value in analyzing the changes and correlating them to things like bloat, hormones, and certain foods consumed. But in general, I think I’ll split the difference and try for weekly check-ins
You gotta find what works for you. I don't see myself doing this level of tracking once I hit and maintain my goal weight. Staying in a healthy body weight/size range without needing a scale or all this tracking would be ideal for sure.0 -
@AnnPT77 thanks for your dissection of my post. Having empathy while you don't experience the struggles and feelings that other express is definitely a great human trait on your part.
Thanks so much for sharing the app names and the links to those other posts as well.1 -
ClearNotCloudyMind wrote: »You made me laugh. I (actuary and maths teacher) have a very similar spreadsheet set up) and fully agree with you that only by taking regular measurements can we see the trend clearly.
I use weighing in when I arrive home for 3 reasons.
1. The scale is in the bedroom and I leave the house before my husband wakes up.
2. I’m changing clothes so it’s easy
3. It’s the best way I’ve found of managing my coming home munchies.
At the weekends I weigh in the mornings for convenience. Working so far.
"coming home munchies" lol since I do OMAD and my one meal is dinner right after work I can totally relate. I had an actuary friend friend. What are the odds of bumping into another one?
Keep doing what you're doing if it's working. And for the sake of you and hubby get a quiet scale would you? how loud is that thing to the point that he wakes up? 1 -
I weight in once a week. Morning, totally naked and approximately same time. Been doing this since 2015! Started at 235, been at 140 for a few years which was my goal. New goal is now 135, so I have that 5 pounds to play with.1
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1) daily weigh-in v. "random" weigh-in is a false dichotomy. I weigh once a week. That is neither random nor daily. It's worked pretty well for me for 10 years in giving me sufficient data to figure out my calorie requirements and to keep track of progress and maintenance, without getting lost in data noise.
2) other people should do what works for them, not what works for you or what works for me.6 -
>> And for the sake of you and hubby get a quiet scale would you? how loud is that thing to the point that he wakes up?
Lol it’s an analogue scale so you can hear it. Problem is I can’t read it in the dark. Also I refuse to weigh in front of him. It feels private even after 25 years! I don’t even tell him when I’m on a weight loss kick.
Good luck with the data science plans… from one data geek to another 0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »1) daily weigh-in v. "random" weigh-in is a false dichotomy. I weigh once a week. That is neither random nor daily. It's worked pretty well for me for 10 years in giving me sufficient data to figure out my calorie requirements and to keep track of progress and maintenance, without getting lost in data noise.
2) other people should do what works for them, not what works for you or what works for me.
me too. Once a week on a Sunday was my routine.I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion because you will either think that you're doing phenomenal (green text on the graph) and celebrating with a big meal is in order. Or you tell yourself that you can't lose weight not matter your efforts ( blue text on the graph) therefore you will focus on acceptance and will stop depriving yourself from the food that makes you happy. You'll be out of shape but happy at least is what you tell yourself.
none of those things happened to me with weekly weigh-ins - and if I forgot one week and did it the next day or the next week or whatever (so random, I suppose) then nothing like that happened either.
Do what works for you - but other people's routines wont cause any of those issues either.
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janicejean1953 wrote: »I weight in once a week. Morning, totally naked and approximately same time. Been doing this since 2015! Started at 235, been at 140 for a few years which was my goal. New goal is now 135, so I have that 5 pounds to play with.
Congrats! It's my goal to rely less and less on all these data as well. Ideally good habits and a good routine can help me stay in a healthy weight range.0 -
lynn_glenmont wrote: »1) daily weigh-in v. "random" weigh-in is a false dichotomy. I weigh once a week. That is neither random nor daily. It's worked pretty well for me for 10 years in giving me sufficient data to figure out my calorie requirements and to keep track of progress and maintenance, without getting lost in data noise.
2) other people should do what works for them, not what works for you or what works for me.
My apologies for making you think I was postulating a dichotomy. I hope that when you read "Android vs Iphones" articles you don't think those are the only two options the author knows and has considered.
I dont have a lot of experience posting on forums but I hope to learn more about how others read the tone, the spirit and content of my post. It must be something I am saying that makes people think I am saying "my way is the only way". Which of course I don't believe at all. I even said thisI don't expect others at all to keep this detailed records and much less to try to analyze it as I do but I wanted to share so that you perhaps stop thinking you actually lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks or that you only lost 2lbs in 3 weeks.My advise. Weigh in at the rhythm that is most conducive to weight loss for your particular case. My personal opinion is that you should weigh in daily and pay attention to your body rhythms.
Reading what I posted again I realize that I have a very specific audience in mind and I should have stated a little better what they are. Some parts do seem to suggest I think the frustration of seeing the weight fluctuate will lead everyone to the behaviors I described. That's obviously not true. I thank you for your input it will only help me write better posts.2 -
paperpudding wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »1) daily weigh-in v. "random" weigh-in is a false dichotomy. I weigh once a week. That is neither random nor daily. It's worked pretty well for me for 10 years in giving me sufficient data to figure out my calorie requirements and to keep track of progress and maintenance, without getting lost in data noise.
2) other people should do what works for them, not what works for you or what works for me.
me too. Once a week on a Sunday was my routine.I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion because you will either think that you're doing phenomenal (green text on the graph) and celebrating with a big meal is in order. Or you tell yourself that you can't lose weight not matter your efforts ( blue text on the graph) therefore you will focus on acceptance and will stop depriving yourself from the food that makes you happy. You'll be out of shape but happy at least is what you tell yourself.
none of those things happened to me with weekly weigh-ins - and if I forgot one week and did it the next day or the next week or whatever (so random, I suppose) then nothing like that happened either.
Do what works for you - but other people's routines wont cause any of those issues either.
It's good to learn about others' routines and how it works for them. I realize that there are people out there that don't have the visceral reactions to success or failure in their fitness journey as I described. I have no idea what percentage of the population actually goes through rationalizations like I described but having read my fair share of self-help books I would say it's a lot of humans.
Good for you on your pragmatic sensible approach. Believe me I am trying to get there and as I described on my post I feel like the data helps me grow confident on the process.
Didn't mean to suggest there's only one way or that my way is the only way. I had a particular audience in mind when I wrote it and should have stated that more clearly but as you see the post is pretty long already. Thanks for your input tho.0 -
I used to belong to Weight Watchers, many moons ago, and I got into the habit of weighing myself (one good thing that came out of that) once a week. So Wednesdays are my weigh in days. I'll sometimes do Monday to see how my weekend affected my weight, but usually it's once a week. Spreadsheets-impressive, but over the top for me, but glad that it's working for you.1
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »1) daily weigh-in v. "random" weigh-in is a false dichotomy. I weigh once a week. That is neither random nor daily. It's worked pretty well for me for 10 years in giving me sufficient data to figure out my calorie requirements and to keep track of progress and maintenance, without getting lost in data noise.
2) other people should do what works for them, not what works for you or what works for me.
My apologies for making you think I was postulating a dichotomy. I hope that when you read "Android vs Iphones" articles you don't think those are the only two options the author knows and has considered.
I dont have a lot of experience posting on forums but I hope to learn more about how others read the tone, the spirit and content of my post. It must be something I am saying that makes people think I am saying "my way is the only way". Which of course I don't believe at all. I even said thisI don't expect others at all to keep this detailed records and much less to try to analyze it as I do but I wanted to share so that you perhaps stop thinking you actually lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks or that you only lost 2lbs in 3 weeks.My advise. Weigh in at the rhythm that is most conducive to weight loss for your particular case. My personal opinion is that you should weigh in daily and pay attention to your body rhythms.
Reading what I posted again I realize that I have a very specific audience in mind and I should have stated a little better what they are. Some parts do seem to suggest I think the frustration of seeing the weight fluctuate will lead everyone to the behaviors I described. That's obviously not true. I thank you for your input it will only help me write better posts.
Thank you for taking responses in such an open spirit.
ETA: re your comment that you don't have a lot of experience posting on forums -- if you mean little experience on forums in general, I find there's a lot of variation from one site to the next, and it's necessary to learn the community "culture" on different sites. If you mean MFP forums specifically, threads that start with an OP that come across as asserting that one specific approach is the only way or the best way to do things will usually get push back from people saying, yeah, that's one way, there are other ways that work well for some people.1 -
I think consistency is important...ie same day/time, same conditions, etc but having worked a number of weigh in protocols I don't find daily weigh ins to be necessary. I would agree that completely random weigh ins would be less than optimal but there's a lot more gray between completely random and everyday.
I analyze financial data for a living and there are very few things for which daily analysis is practical or genuinely constructive in my particular work...in most cases you end up with a bunch of extraneous data that you have to weed through because it isn't necessarily pertinent or it is immaterial to the bigger picture.
I weighed in daily for a time early on and I'd say for that time it was somewhat beneficial in that I learned something about my body (natural fluctuations and all that), but that benefit was pretty short lived...maybe a couple of months before I found that data to be extraneous and more or less irrelevant to this bigger picture that was going to be months and ultimately years. What the daily was telling me wasn't anything I couldn't see weekly. I pretty much just settled on every Thursday morning before my shower for a good chunk of my weight loss and for around 8 years of maintenance (until COVID) I did once per month on the first Thursday just to keep track of a number but primarily relied on the mirror and my clothes...sometimes twice per month if I felt something might be amiss. I'm in process now of losing my COVID Lbs so I'm back to once per week on Thursday morning before my shower.
I have about 10 years worth of data, so if I was doing everyday, that would be a crap ton of individual data points that don't tell me a whole lot other than weight fluctuates daily...though I have used it on and off over the years for various other reasons, but never really used it long term.2 -
meant to be constructive feedback about writing style as you seemed to be asking for that in later posts.......
I think the pushback came from statements like these " I am now more than convinced that random weigh ins are definitely setting you up for delusion....... " where 'you' seems to mean people in general, all people, everyone etc
if your purpose was to say what works for you individually, word your post so that is clear - 'this is what works for me, I have found I get deluded' etc
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