Weighing Days

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TaylorsGranddad
TaylorsGranddad Posts: 453 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ever since I started MFP I've weighed myself on Mondays as this is the day MFP diary starts too, but recently I've been having naughty weekends after a great week, EXAMPLE:- over the last 2/3 weeks I've lost about 4lbs a week BUT when monday comes around its down to 1 or even zero, so heres the question if I weigh myself on Fridays i will feel better in myself and more motivated to have better weekends, or am I just lieing to myself and I need to be more disciplined over the weekends.

PEACE

Replies

  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
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    Personally, no matter when your weigh-in day is, I'd say that you should be better on the weekends overall. I don't look at weekends any differently than weekdays as far as how I eat.

    Plus, if you change your weigh-in day to Friday, then it's possible that you'll feel like you can "reward" yourself for your weight loss by still eating more on the weekends with the knowledge that you'd have the rest of the week to work it back off.

    So, weigh yourself whenever you prefer to keep a set schedule, and start working on the mindset to be less naughty on the weekends. I'm not saying to never enjoy yourself, because that's a recipe for disaster, but just to stay aware and more in line with how the rest of your week goes on a more consistent basis. :)
  • waldo56
    waldo56 Posts: 1,861 Member
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    Or weight yourself every day, multiple times even, and learn to see water cycles and the effects of glycogen on the scale.

    At which point you will figure out that it is very difficult to make sense of how much fat you have via the scale, and that weight is highly variable.

    My main weigh-in daily is after exercise. This is always my lightest weight. After that I eat dinner and eventually go to bed. Weighing myself in the morning I usually weigh a solid 3-4 lbs more (at times 5-6 lbs) than the night before. Easily explained by the half gallon or more of liquid I tend to take in with and after dinner (a lot is milk for protein). Drinking coffee in the morning will usually speed up getting rid of the excess water, and by lunch if I haven't eating anything yet I'll be down a pound or two. By late afternoon, when I'm getting ready to exercise, usually I'll have gained a hair in the afternoon or maintained, usually because of liquid intake. Then I exercise, drop 2-3 lbs, and back at my low point, and start the cycle all over. The notable monkey wrench is glycogen. If I eat a dish with a lot of pasta for dinner, I'll be on the high end of gain overnight, upwards of 5-6 lbs, and won't lose much extra during the day. However I will have an unusually big loss during exercise, 3-4 lbs, assuming I worked really hard and be back to the low point after exercise. Even things will be low or high after exercise, some days I'll be really thirsty and my weight will be low, other days I'm probably still holding a good bit of glycogen and/or overhydrated and my weight is high.

    The body doesn't really respond to day to day deficits. The scale lags behind your diet typically, average up what you did last week (or actually 2 weeks ago I find, it takes my body 2 weeks to react to deficit changes) and that's what you can expect to see on the scale this week, mostly hidden by the water and glycogen cycles in your body.
  • sweetpea129
    sweetpea129 Posts: 755 Member
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    My weigh in day is Friday for the exact reason you said. I see that i've lost weight and it makes it easier to stick to my good eating habits. It motivates me. This isnt to say that i dont eat a little bit worse on weekends becuase i do (birthday parties, going out to eat, fast food, etc.) but i dont go crazy about it either.
  • VryIrishGirl76
    VryIrishGirl76 Posts: 1,167 Member
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    I weigh in on Fridays officially, but when my weekend calories take on a life of their own, I'll check progress M/W too, just to keep myself in check..
  • dentedearmuffs1
    dentedearmuffs1 Posts: 34
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    I weigh in on Tuesday mornings because that way I'm still a little conscious over the weekend but if I do mess up, I can try to get back on track on Monday. It usually works for me because I lose most of the water weight I gained over the weekend by Tuesday.
  • trishgrace
    trishgrace Posts: 285
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    I weigh myself on Friday mornings before I eat or drink anything. It works best for me.
  • jackieatx
    jackieatx Posts: 578 Member
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    Or weight yourself every day, multiple times even, and learn to see water cycles and the effects of glycogen on the scale.

    At which point you will figure out that it is very difficult to make sense of how much fat you have via the scale, and that weight is highly variable.

    My main weigh-in daily is after exercise. This is always my lightest weight. After that I eat dinner and eventually go to bed. Weighing myself in the morning I usually weigh a solid 3-4 lbs more (at times 5-6 lbs) than the night before. Easily explained by the half gallon or more of liquid I tend to take in with and after dinner (a lot is milk for protein). Drinking coffee in the morning will usually speed up getting rid of the excess water, and by lunch if I haven't eating anything yet I'll be down a pound or two. By late afternoon, when I'm getting ready to exercise, usually I'll have gained a hair in the afternoon or maintained, usually because of liquid intake. Then I exercise, drop 2-3 lbs, and back at my low point, and start the cycle all over. The notable monkey wrench is glycogen. If I eat a dish with a lot of pasta for dinner, I'll be on the high end of gain overnight, upwards of 5-6 lbs, and won't lose much extra during the day. However I will have an unusually big loss during exercise, 3-4 lbs, assuming I worked really hard and be back to the low point after exercise. Even things will be low or high after exercise, some days I'll be really thirsty and my weight will be low, other days I'm probably still holding a good bit of glycogen and/or overhydrated and my weight is high.

    The body doesn't really respond to day to day deficits. The scale lags behind your diet typically, average up what you did last week (or actually 2 weeks ago I find, it takes my body 2 weeks to react to deficit changes) and that's what you can expect to see on the scale this week, mostly hidden by the water and glycogen cycles in your body.


    Thank you for that!
  • sarahcuddle
    sarahcuddle Posts: 349 Member
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    I just started about a month ago but I weigh myself once a week on a Saturday morning as soon as I get up. If you do slip a little over the weekend at least it gives you the rest of the week to recover it!! I looked at your profile and you are a real inspiration to me. Lots of luck in the future, but I'm sure you don't need it as you are doing so well. When there is a lot of weight to shift it takes a long time and there are bound to be times when you relax the rules a little.

    Sarah

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