Weigh or Measure???

Every time I go on a diet or try to change my ways I ALWAYS catch myself getting on the scale like 5 times a day. DUMB right??? I have no clue what it is about me but I feel that since I've lost some weight I'll lose some more instantly. So the question is, Should I weigh myself and go by LBS or Measure myself and go by Inches? What does everyone else do?

I weigh myself usually once a week.. if you weigh yourself multiple times a day, or even once a day, your weight fluctuates too much from water, wastes, etc so you won't get a good average unless you do it less frequently. Or continue doing it frequently and work out the average math on paper :P

I also take my inches once a week, though from my experience my inches depend more on if I have worked out that week or not :o)

If having access to bathroom scales means that you end up obsessing.... don't do it.   It's not the weighing that's the problem, it's the obsessing that you need to avoid.

Since body-weight is a good measure of progress, you could compromise, perhaps by finding a public (coin in the slot) scale in a chemist, or going to a friend's house and weighing yourself once a week.  You could also use a tape measure at home.... but if you start obsessively measuring yourself that's potentially just as bad.    

I do weigh myself EVERYDAY, at the same time, first thing in the morning.  It really is a double edge sword.  In one hand I have now been on this program for 2 1/2 months in that time frame I saw a lot of yo-yoing with my weight, but I also have been able to see a pattern.  So in one hand every day weighing will absolutely play with your mind when you see the gains, but also it let's you REALLY get your own personal weight pattern.  So for me when I get on the scale now I get it some days it will go up a little, but it really does balance out in a few days with how much water my body is holding. 

I think measuring is awesome you just plain and simple get confirmation things are working!

So to each his/her's own, but I love to weigh in everyday and it really helped for me to see my personal weight pattern. 

I'm measuring because I really don't want to know what the scale says right now.  I measure every two weeks, so I can hopefully see some progress.  Plan right now is to finally weigh myself after I've been counting calories for 4 months.  I had lost about 50 lbs, but have had some slip back on due to bad eating habits.  I'm hoping my weight will be closer to what it was after 4 months.

I weigh myself everyday and I agree that it really helps you to recognize your weight loss patterns.  For example, I know that I lose 2 lbs over night, gain one back the next day, and then over the next few days it comes off again.  This is my cycle.

Weighing yourself everyday isn't  a bad thing if you are not obsessing about it.  You need to change your mindset and realize that there are ups and downs.  I was the same way a while ago...waiting like 3 hours after I woke up to weigh myself after not eating anything...trying to go to the bathroom as many times as I could before I weighed myself, absolutely ridiculous things.  I have now somewhat detached myself from it, knowing that generally, I AM going down.

I also take measurements every 4-6 weeks.  I LOVE taking measurements.  It really helps me to see where my weight loss has occured.

So basically, change your mindset or stop weighing yourself everyday.  Definitely take measurements, and make one of those avatars so you can REALLY see where the changes are every few weeks.  That definitely helps keep me motivated.

I mostly workout M-F and do outdoor activities on weekends that I don't count as activity burned (I figure that's just daily life). So, incase I'm having a maintenience day on Sat and Sun or going over my cals, I don't weigh myself unitl friday morning after visit the bathroom.  I've worked so hard m-f that's when I feel the most accurate as far as progress is going.

As for measureing, I just started that this month.  I'm going to aim for every couple of weeks or so, but I don't really mind if it's longer. The way I see it is if I'm monitering and measuring my cals and exercising as often as I am, the results will eventually show.  The weekly weigh-ins are just to see if I should switch up my technique or not (calorie shifting or maintenince days and what not).

As for your adiction to the scale: What do you think will change every 2 hours? I mean, there's water weight and eating food, but that takes time to go through your digestive system anyways. You will drive yourself crazy or even could develope some sort of complex if you keep checking on it.  Before things get more out of hand: When you want to weigh yourself again and again (and again) just don't! Trust me, I weighed everyday and I totally think that even once a week is unnessisary.  If you work hard, you'll see results...eventually.

I weigh myself twice a week to make up for fluctuations I might see AND to keep myself motivated to continue eating right and working out.

I also measure myself every 2 weeks to see the results on my body.  Sometimes you may not see the results on the scale BUT you will see that you have lost 0.5" or so. 

The number on the scale is just a number, it's how your body looks and its composition that really matters to me.

I weigh myself daily. It is my daily reminder to myself to keep up the good work - or the reality check of "hotdogs and mcdonalds fries do not result in good things" and keep me on track. 

I log the results daily and make sure that I pay more attention to the trendline weight than the actual entered weight that day. The trendline is the one to pay attention to. The daily flucuations are only part of the big picture.

I measure myself maybe every 3 months to keep track of sizing changes - although I find pant fit helps in that department too. If I am going to see measurement changes I like to see big concrete changes - like 1" lost off my waist - not 1/8" that could be attributed to bad measuring technique. I also make sure I write down exact reference points for the measurements to ensure I take them from the same place each time.

I used to have a body composition done at my last gym every couple of months as well which was a nice way to see the increase in muscle %. I haven't figured out what my new gym charges for that service - and yes - I do know those machines aren't the 100% accurate body composition...

I weigh myself because I have found that works but I only do it once a week on a Saturday morning so that I see decent changes and don't end up getting down if my daily weight isn't a decrease.

My measurements naturally show themselves as my clothes get a bit loser and I normally have a tight clothing item that I use to see how much loser it is and therefore how many inches I am losing.

I think daily weighing unless you are large would be depressing as I know my weight only changes by 2-5 lbs per week and daily that would be negligible and that would depress me whereas at the end of the week its an obvious movement and also means that I can have a badder day if we go out for dinner and then recover during the week.  I don't believe in starving myself and this works well for me.

For me, the scale generally moves very very slowly.  More like 2 lbs a month than 2 lbs a week, and it's not at all linear.  I did weight watchers for a year, and those weekly weigh-ins had way too much control over my emotions.  I'd do everything right for a week and be devastated that I gained a pound.  Conversely, sometimes I'd go off track for a week and discover I'd lost weight.  It really made me lose faith in the entire process.

This time around with CC, I started out doing weekly weigh-ins with the idea firmly planted in my mind that the scale isn't really a good measure of actual progress.  For that, I use a tape measure and my clothing.  But I've started doing daily weigh ins and logging those.  It's allowed me a certain sense of detachment.  I find the daily fluctuations fascinating.  For example, last night I weighed myself before going to bed.  In the morning I weighed myself before using the bathroom and found I had lost 1.5 lbs.  After using the bathroom, I'd lost another 1.5 lbs.  I don't worry about the fluctuations, but it's always nice to finally see a number that's lower than all the ones before it.

I weigh usually twice a day.  Once in the morning straight after that lovely first bowel movement and again before I go to bed, in the same bed clothes where possible.  I don't panic about the nightime ones, they have been up to 4lbs heavier than the one that morning.  But its nice when its only about a 1lb heavier.  It can be misleading at night, especially if you have eaten a big meal, and the scales say you have put on 3lb, but you have only eaten 300 calories!!!!  The knowledge that the morning one is usually lower is a comforting thought.  I also find it helps me decide what I am going to eat the following day.

I also measure once a week, usually on Sunday, and it is Sundays weight that goes on record with the measurements.  I find that I can lose inches and not lose pounds, but also lose pounds and not inches, especially since I introduced a regular exercise program that includes cardio as well as muscle strengthening.

So I suggest doing both.  Work out what you feel comfortable with.  I don't find a problem with 5 times a day, as long as you realise your weight will fluctuate during the day and that weight loss won't be instant (UNFORTUNATELY!!!!)

TTFN