Weigh In Routine

I was wondering how people go about tracking their weight and why they belive it is adequate for their goals. Aren't all health metrics (body fat%, BMI, etc.) all supposed to be about your body and your body only? 

I weigh in naked, right after waking up and performing bodily functions, only once a week (Sat. morning). It seems to me that anybody wearing clothes or weighing in more than once a week is introducing unnecessary variability and, for the obsessive, unnecessary headaches.

I weigh in every morning.

I know a lot of people say not to do that, but it really helps me see how the things I put into my body (sodium, alcohol) affect my weight fluctuations every day. It also keeps me on track. Waiting a whole week to weigh myself would probably torture me. Last week I had to go 4 days without weighing in since I was on vacation and it drove me CRAZY

I used to weigh once a week, but now I weigh everyday, in my knickers, after voiding my bladder. I like weighing everyday for the same reasons ljpenfound mentioned. I never used to want to weigh everyday because I just knew I was going to get obsessed with it and also get discouraged by the slightest gain. In fact, it has been just the opposite. Well, okay, I'm obsessed with weighing now, but more of an excited kind of obsessed. Like I can't wait to see what sort of mood my body is in, lol. It's also made me realize that slight weight gains are nothing to get upset about, and it's easier to know what to blame for the gain, and what to fix.

I dont weight myself everyday but i do it atleast three times a week.

Tuesday, Thursday n Saturday. Its just easier for me to track this way then every day as some mornings i could get distracted and not get to do it. Plus our scale is in the kitchen area, and i prefer weighing myself when im by myself in the mornings when nobody is around.

It's funny, when I'm not actively trying to lose weight I sometimes don't weigh myself for 2-3 weeks. In those weeks, I don't usually put on any weight either, maybe a kilo more or less but I've maintained the same weight since December without trying too much.

However - at the moment I'm counting calories, being super aware, and that makes you want to see rewards. Who doesn't like instant rewards! I don't think weighing yourself on a daily basis can ever give you a realistic idea of what your weight is on any particular day. On the other hand, weighing yourself only once a week and then taking that weight as "this is what I am" isn't right either. You need to be aware that your weight at any moment in time is only an approximation of you - like, I know that I weigh x because the scales have told me something like that for the past half year. Now that I'm counting calories, I weigh myself more but believe the scales less.

Original Post by warriormorals:

I weigh in naked, right after waking up and performing bodily functions, only once a week (Sat. morning). It seems to me that anybody wearing clothes or weighing in more than once a week is introducing unnecessary variability and, for the obsessive, unnecessary headaches.

Me too! Exactly!

i like 1st thing in the morning everyday and i log it in to cc bc i like to look at the trend line.

There are so many different views on when to weigh and how often to weigh.  I can understand why many people want to weigh first thing in the morning--most of us lose weight overnight.  So if we can also get a RR visit in, there is a really good chance we are going to be at the low end of our weight range for the day.  Also, if we want to, we can engage in a vigorous workout and weigh when we have burned a bunch of calories and lost some water weight. In other words, we know when we usually will weigh less or weigh more.

However, if we want to weigh our heaviest, why not weigh after our biggest meal and before we do any exercise after eating it?

I have been criticized several times when I was weighing myself several times a day--well, at least the average weight for all my weigh-ins is as honest as trying to weigh when we figure we will weigh our less.

My decision that I think is an honest weight for me is to weigh first thing in the morning and last thing at night before I go to bed.  Then, I average the two and that is what I call my weight for the day.  I almost always weigh the most when I go to bed at night.

I know many people say to weigh just once a week, but for some of us, we can gain 2 or 3 unwanted pounds in that week before we become aware of it.

I weigh myself every Sunday morning at 6:30am, in boxers, and with an empty stomach.

--whoopsie--double post...accidentally hit the F5 key!

I weigh myself consistently every morning.  I do not, however, ever see more than 1 lb fluctuation unless I have been consistently overdoing sodium or alcohol for a few days.  I drink too much water to retain much (one of the few healthy habits I kept effortlessly all of my life). I also am a biology major and understand how water retention works, and don't get too fazed about it.  If my weight went up and down more than 3 lbs easily, I'd think I go insane though. 

Normally, I weigh myself once a week.  Lately, I've been trying to keep up with how much I take in  and burn out so when I reach a 3500 calorie deficit I weigh myself the following morning just to see if I really lost a pound. It's just a game I like to play with myself to make weight loss a little funner.......

I only weigh myself when it feels like I have lost weight and it is almost always is correct.  Ritual weigh-ins proved to be depressing for me.  Generally when I feel I have lost weight I weigh and that weight become my new standard and my lbs will fluctuate around that figure for a while until I get that feeling that I have lost again. 

I'm surmising that our personality-type dictates our attitude about weighing-in.  I get depressed when I don't weigh-in for several days and see that I have gained weight.  I definitely, on the other hand, am happy when I weigh-in daily and am within my maintenance weight window.

There are so many people who have posted their amazing weight-losses that it seems to me "it's all good" about weighing in, regardless if we completely disagree about how often and when. 

Hmmmmmmmm....well, OK.  Maybe it's not "all good."  1) If a person so obsesses about weight loss, that he/she becomes emotionally unstable, then weighing-in several times a day would not be good.  2) If a person only weighs-in occasionally and realizes he/she is gaining weight, gets depressed, and goes back to not eating healthy--that is not good, either.

I am really enjoying the healthy debate in this topic, and the more I read the more I realize (and agree with pilgrimdude) that there is no right or wrong way to go about weighing yourself as long as it doesn't adversely affect your emotions and you use it solely as a calibration tool for your eating/activity habits. I might try daily weigh ins for a while and see how that goes, if I don't overreact to it I might learn more about my water retention and other stuff I am not capturing through my weekly weigh ins.

I am a freak of nature.  I weigh myself every time I am in the bathroom just to see how my weight fluctuates over the course of a day.

My official weigh in is weekly, after I've gotten up for good and voided the waste, stark naked as a jay bird.

What I like to do is weigh like that everyday, then weigh myself after getting dressed, then again after putting my shoes on.  So I know what I weigh, what my clothes weigh and what my shoes weigh (together my clothes and shoes are usually 2.2 lb).  The scale is in the bathroom so every time I go potty I step on as I leave.  I seem to have a curiousity obsession with my body.  I am not emotionally affected by this.  Actually I've become rather good at estimating how heavy I will be after eating a meal.

This will end as soon as I go back to school because I don't have a personal scale, not enough money to want to spend on one and do not feel like schlepping myself to the school gym every morning.  I will still go weekly.  Probably weighing after my PE class (~4pm).  In any case it will probably be after I have eaten.  No big deal.

Pilgrim, I like your concept of averaging your weight in the morning with your weight at night...sounds like an honest plan.

Original Post by nikebowler:

Original Post by warriormorals:

I weigh in naked, right after waking up and performing bodily functions, only once a week (Sat. morning). It seems to me that anybody wearing clothes or weighing in more than once a week is introducing unnecessary variability and, for the obsessive, unnecessary headaches.

Me too! Exactly!

 Me too! Me too!...except I am thinking when I reach my goal weight I will do it daily that way I can keep on top of things and make sure I'm doing what I need to maintain.  I will do this for a while at least.  Cause I used to be a yo-yoer and now I'm determined to be healthy so I just wanna make sure I stay on top of it until I know for sure its a firm habit.

All of you are really bringing up wonderful points.  I think we are all being intelligent on how we look at weighing-in.  The following is what I found out for me personally about weighing every day and only weighing in occasionally:

1. I conducted my experiment of  6 days of intense exercise combined with calorie deprivation followed by 2 days of no exercise and calorie overload. 
2. I quit writing calories and logging my meals and only occasionally weighed-in.
3. I went on a 4-day family reunion, celebrated my wife's BD, had an anniversary feast, broke my exercise bike, went a few days without exercising, quit writing down weigh-ins, ate and drank pretty much whatever I went, etc.
4. Ok, from June 15 to Aug 3, I stayed in my 5 pound "weight window" 99% of the time as far as my average weigh-ins went.  Over 90% of the time, I stayed within 3 pounds.  During that time, I wrote down meals, calories, and weighed anywhere from 2 to 8 times a day--usually 4 or 5 times.
5. Then from Aug 1 to Aug 18, I have been playing around with not exercising all the time, or exercising too much, not weighing-in, not recording what I eat,  deliberately not eating enough, eating way too much, drinking a bunch of beers, etc.
6. My weight has fluctuated as much as 16 pounds in those 17 days.  Yes, 16 pounds.  Now, I know that water retention, sodium, when I weighed, whether I needed reading room time, had I just eaten, had I just gone for a walk, etc., etc. all figured prominently in that fluctuation.
7. However, I also found out convincingly that I must weigh myself daily and record my calories daily and be accurate in recording my exercise and meals because I will not be able to maintain if I don't do that!  That is precisely how I lost my 45 pounds in the first place--by diligently recording my weight and calorie intake.

I super admire you people with the mental strength and the intuition who can maintain and lose weight instinctively without having to daily log things.

I lost a lot of weight in my twenties, and maintained for about 5 years without weighing (myself or the food I ate).  I thought I was "cured" of my weight problem.

Then, life intervened.  I married a guy who loves to eat my cooking, I got older, my job got more sedentary.  I gradually gained about 5 pounds a year over the next 20 odd years, which adds up to a lot of weight!

Now, I am back weighing myself daily, weighing and logging the food I eat, moving at least 30 extra minutes every day, and steadily losing weight.  I now believe that I am not an intuitive eater, and believe that I will have to continue all these practices for the rest of my life in order to maintain the healthy weight I plan to get to sometime next year.  That way, I will be able to nip any problems in the bud, it is far easier to lose a few pounds than to be facing more than a hundred excess pounds.

I totally agree with other posters that each of us needs to find our own path to health, what works for me may not work for others.  But, it is really helpful to hear what is working for others, sometimes I get an ah-ha moment when I read the forums here.

dkenworthy:  I think you made a great post.  I certainly am in a similar situation.  I am close to getting back to my weight window and I plan to stay there.  Thanksgiving, big football gmes, Christmas vacation time, all the children coming home, and bowl season will all conspire against me--but I am going to follow your advice and nip any problems before they become problems. 

Best of luck in reaching your weight goals!  You seem to be on top of things! 

Original Post by prinzessin_naseimbuch:

I am a freak of nature.  I weigh myself every time I am in the bathroom just to see how my weight fluctuates over the course of a day.

My official weigh in is weekly, after I've gotten up for good and voided the waste, stark naked as a jay bird.

 

I'm the same way, haha ;). I weigh myself as the mood strikes me throughout the week to keep track of my fluctuations. My official weigh-in day is Sunday, as soon as I get up and perform bodily functions. I don't weigh in naked, but underwear and a cami can't add too much extra weight. :)

And something that no one seems to take into account is the weight your hair adds. Seriously! My friend with really long hair decided to get a pixi-cut, and she lost nearly 4 pounds from just her hair. ;) Random, but true.