How Often Should I Weigh Myself?

I was just wondering if anyone can point me in the direction of how many times a week i should weigh myself? I have been weighing myself everyday but my fiance says that i shouldn't because should i start gaining weight it may depress me and throw me off the diet. I just feel better weighing in everyday. Input please!!!!!!!!

For me, it's best to weigh in once a week.  I don't want to see the water weight fluctuations.  This way, I think I get a better idea of how I'm progressing.

When I go on maintenance, I've toyed around with the idea of every other week weigh ins.

I am new, but weighing each morning helps me see the overall fluctuations, up and down that occur even when I don't cheat.  If I only weigh once a week, and I saw that I'd gone UP, I would freak out.  But watching each day, I see for no obvious reason that the weight goes up and down with no apparent logical reason sometimes.  Overall, focusing on the plan and not the weight is best I believe.

I read a study that stated that people who weigh themselves daily have more success than those who weigh weekly, but I can say from experience that it is best to take the daily weight with a grain of salt due to the daily fluctuations that howe mentioned and I also liked what howe said about focusing overall on the plan itself.  I know for me, weighing daily or every other day, with the understanding that I will see more fluctuations and plateaus than if I weighed weekly, keeps my focus and resolve stronger, but I'm aiming to lose 120 lbs and I've lost 59 and I feel like I'm on a lifelong journey to better health.  Daily weighing may not work for everyone, but it works for me.  If weighing all the time makes a person crazy, he/she could weigh less often and if not weighing makes the person forget about the goal and the big picture, then weighing daily might be better.  It's all about how you feel - honoring your well-being...  Good luck!  

I'm once a day, but like others said, take it with a grain of salt, +/- 3 lbs is pretty common (and often quite unnerving when your trying to be perfect and you go up 3lbs :))

Thank you all for the feedback and encouragement! I think i may go with the majority of you and do the daily weighing! Thanks again everyone!

I weigh daily (or every other day) but I only record the weight I see on Friday. Does that make sense?

I learned, when I wrestled and rowed in high school, that the body burns a good chunk of calories at night and processes out water.  I weigh myself only in the morning before showering and after going to the bathroom.  Shower water can add extra weight, and it's before I eat breakfast, so my weight, at that time, will be about the lowest that it will be all day.  The low weight encourages me to continue my calorie counting.  Generally, though, I think it does not matter much what time you weigh yourself, as long as it's daily and at the same time.  Doing it daily keeps you aware of your state.  Doing it at the same time helps a lot in factoring out fluctuations due to water and food consumption.

 

Cheers!

-Ghostis 

I weigh myself everyday now. I find that it is helpful because I realize when I'm retaining water ect... Where as if I weighed once a week I might not understand the fluctuations like I do this way. I only report my weight once a week though.

Daily weighing is only OK if you're the kind of person that can treat a 2lb loss the same as a 2lb gain.  If you're going to get upset or depressed if the scales show a gain (because over the course of a week it is likely to happen) then don't weigh daily.  I personally weigh once a week only and that's enough to see the true trend.

I too tend to weigh daily (sometimes 2-3 times if I don't like the weight! LOL!)and it can fluctuate sometimes up to 5-6lbs over the course of a few hours- but I only record my weight each Monday morning. If you won't get annoyed at a slight gain then I'd say carry on as you are?

I like to weigh myself on Monday after the weekend. The same time frame after getting up. A couple hours can make a differences . I only diet 5 days a week and try not to over do it on weekends. I weigh  my self naked. If you don't you may want to weigh all clothing including shoes and jewelry. Also after a bowel movement. It can make a big differences.

I weight myself every wednesday morning (thats the day i started the diet).

Got some people who had been with a nutrition doctor and they told me the doctor said to weight in only once every 2 weeks...  Im not sure if i can wait that long,  tomorow is my 4th week so it will be my fourth weight in instead of the 2nd.  Maybe when im deeper into the diet ill change to once every 2 weeks

I've read articles like Tina has, many of the articles say you should weigh yourself daily to be successful.  Also, they say to weigh yourself with a digital scale in order to get more accurate results.  However, I think that there is no problem weighing yourself once a week, I used to do this when I first started dieting.

Original Post by skinnyogi:

I weigh daily (or every other day) but I only record the weight I see on Friday. Does that make sense?

Glad to see someone else does this as well.  I weigh daily but only record on Saturday.  It just serves as a daily check and balance for me personally.  It does take awhile to discipline yourself NOT to freak out when you see the 3lb gain in 1 day though.

good luck!

 

 

 

hi ,

i am also wondering how often to weight myself. what i did was that i weight myself everyday.

but this can be quite drepressing , cos i realize even though all the exercise i still gain weight .

 ppl out there .. any idea how much we should take into consideration for water retention ?

 

 

My physician suggested that for the first two weeks you weigh twice a day and record it. Once in the morning before breakfast or shower and then just before bed. Then after the first two weeks weigh just once a day in the morning.

His reasoning was that the first two weeks gives you a visual record of how much your weight fluctuates so that negligible gains and losses (+/- 2 lbs) don't upset you as much in terms of the long term goal.

I have to admit that seeing a 2 lb difference in less than 24 hours really helped me gain perspective over my "falling off the wagon" as well as how much I need to focus long term instead of daily.

My boyfriend had to perform a weighing intervention.

I was weighing myself every day, but I found that if I got off and waited for the scale to reset, then got on again, it would tell me something different. The fluctuation in my scale is about a 7 pound range - so depending on which weight I took as "real" would really change the results....I fould myself obsessing and getting on about 10 times and taking the average. I started doing this several times a day. One day when I ate a brownie and then cried over the weigh-in (or maybe it was the other way around?!) my boyfriend made me put away the scale and use it only once a week. I get on ONCE and that's the result, good or bad. I graph my weight-loss and the trend is downward, yay!

I guess the point is....if you are not an obsessive person and just want to know daily, then weighing in daily is ok. Just make sure you have an accurate scale. I was ready to throw mine out the window. However....if you find yourself focussing on the number insterad of the REAL results, it's time to scale it back a bit, haha pun intended

I used to weigh myself daily in the morning after the bathroom and before eating & showering. Sometimes I'll do it just before going to sleep to have a sneak preview of the next morning. Since sunday I could not weigh myself and it's driving me nuts! Can't wait for friday morning! My point of view: do what feels comfortable for you and forget what other people do!

i weigh myself every morning when i get up. my scale only measures to the nearest kilogram (2.2 lbs) so I don't see movement on it for a bit of water here and there, it only goes down every week or two which is actual weight loss. i find its great. my old scale measured to the nearest 0.2lbs, which was a nightmare cos it changed every day and then 0.4lbs gain would make me feel like a failure!

 

 

i think your boyfriend is right. Weighing in everyday makes you more obsessed with it all and leaves you depressed and weight gain is more than likely more inevitable.