a friend just suggested to me that maybe the reason why i havent been loosing weight like i should is because i have been weighing myself daily. could that really be the reason my weight loss seems so slow? i exercise almost daily (about 4 times a week) and eat right. dont drink soda, no sugary stuff. just wondering maybe its a mental thing now =/
well, it could seem slower to you if you're not losing daily or even every other day, but it wouldn't be something that literally slows your weight loss. hopping on the scale doesn't pop calories into your feet.
As long as you dont obsess over it....I agee, 4 days might not be enough calorie burning, or/and you also need to see if you're over your calorie needs on a daily or weekly basis...I weigh daily!
I weigh daily and know of several friends that do. I also have a few friends that cant weigh themselves every day. They get all upset if they don't see the numbers go down, then feel like they failed so they binge. If you weigh yourself daily, you just have to keep in mind you're body weight fluxuates, even if you step on the scale the same time every day. So as long as you know you migt see the same or higher number than the day before and don't let it get to you, you should be fine. I only write my weight down once a week so I can see a visual of my progress, but I step on the scale daily to make sure I'm keeping on track.
As for your weight loss seeming slow, perhaps you've hit a plateau. You might need to change up your fitniss routine. If you're doing mostly cardio, throw in some weight training or vice versa.
I personally weigh every day because it gives me better insite into my relationship with my food. I can see better what effects my water weight and a lot more. If you have trouble seeing small numbers without getting discouraged i'd do once a week weigh ins. It really helps to have an accurate digital scale. I got the weight watchers scale at target and it counts to the 0.01 pound. Seeing a few ounce diffrance with an accurate scale really helps!
i do realize that weight fluctuates on a day to day basis. i dont freak at a 2-3 lb weight difference cause i know i didnt eat 17,500 calories in one day HAHA so it isnt real weight gain! but based on the daily weight i plan my meals, exercise, etc. i usually can only workout about 4 days a week because of my husbands work schedule and caring for my 2 1/2 yr old son. i would REALLY love to workout more. the days my husband gets off are the days i go to the apt office gym and workout on the treadmill. (hoping to get a 24 hr gym pass for my birthday) otherwise i do DDR for about an hour. i drink lots of water and make sure i do. i can tell when i dont drink enough cause i have poop problems and dont pee as much (sorry tmi but everyone poops =P) it just frustrates me that this weight is going soooo slow! ive lost 20 lbs since February =/ i dont think thats much and would LOVE to see about 1.5-2 lbs loss a week. well let me ask what do you consider official weight for the week? fisrt weigh in of that day, or do you weigh yourself a few times and make sure the scale is correct? i ask because this morning i weighed myself like normal (after morning pee and completely naked) and the scale said 199.2 (then a few seconds later when i ran to get the camera, said 200.6) but idk if i should count that or wait til monday (my NOW official weigh in day) and count it then. i made a chart to put above the scale that does daily weigh ins as well as weekly (official) tysvm for everyone giving tips ^^ i dont know what i would do without yall
I weigh myself daily... it helps me see fluctuations and helps me to monitor what works and what doesn't for my body. Everyone is different, chickie.
^_^ took a long time cause i wasnt serious until a few months ago when i went to the gyno and he TOLD ME i needed to lose weight cause my period stopped for 6 months (long sentence LOL) i guess i just wish the weightloss was more consistent then it is. took about a month to lose 1 lb >.< should have lost that in a week =/
There was a recent review of the literature (that is summarizing the results of many different studies) found that people who weighed most often, lost the most weight. This flies in the face of the common wisdom that says daily weighing is counterproductive (the theory being that the frustration of not seeing dramatic changes from one day to the next will be so severe that you'll be more likely to quit).
The problem with that theory is that it essentially assumes that we're all too stupid to realize that daily results will be smaller than weekly results.
There's also the theory that daily weighing reflects an obsessiveness that could lead to an eating disorder or other mental instability.
Again though you have to assume that most people are too emotionally fragile to use a scale with common sense.
I'm not saying weighing daily (or any specific way) is for everyone, but I think most of us have the common sense and emotional fortitude to weigh any way we want to without problems, and the good sense to recognize and change our pattern if we find it to be a problem. If that's daily, weekly, monthly, never, or every 10 minutes, I think we're all able to find what works best, just by keeping an open mind and being willing to abandon patterns that don't work.
Yeah, if you're so traumatized by the scale that you want to pig out every time you see the number - any number, getting rid of your scale may be a good idea.
It's not how often you use the tool that matters, it's whether or not you're using it in a positive, effective way both mentally and physically. If you decide that because you lost a pound, you can pig out, that's not a healthy way to use the scale (whether you do it every day or once a month).
I weigh myself daily... it helps me see fluctuations and helps me to monitor what works and what doesn't for my body. Everyone is different, chickie.
I do the same as 170starting. Mistakes that I make (inhaling a bag of potato chips) show up immediately the next day on the scale for me: 3-4 pounds of water gained. I want to get immediate feedback on what is going on.
But like so many others have noticed, there will be small fluctuations of water moving in and out of your body so daily obsessing over a 1 pound gain isn't good either.
I'm one who weighs daily (occasionally, multiple times in a day), but I only actually track it once a week. I make note of the first weight Saturday morning (post-pee and naked, like so many of you!!). This way I can get a feel for daily behaviors without visually seeing loads of the same number over and over on my tracker... but you can't let it mess with your head!
As to why you're not losing as quickly as you'd like (although you've lost 30lb and that's fantastic!! Slower weight loss is more likely to stay off.) -- here are some things you might want to consider...
1) Do you log/track your actual food intake? If not, try it for a week. For me, I weigh/measure most foods and track calories too. If that seems too involved (and it does take some time), then try just writing down a generic description of your food for a week. You may find that a) you're eating things without really being aware of them OR b) tracking makes you less likely to eat certain foods, cause you don't want to write them down!
2) How long are you exercising? My gym guy told me that for optimal fat-burning, I should be doing some form of cardio (bike, elliptical, walking/jogging) for at least 45 minutes. His explanation was that your body doesn't draw on fat-reserve to fuel itself until its used up all of... something, sorry I can't remember what, but that after like 25 minutes it shifts over to burning the fat... I'm starting to follow this advice this week, so I can't speak to its effectiveness yet!
Hope that helps -- may or may not work for you, but I hope it does!
PS. If you really want some feedback, post a days worth of food intake on the forum -- I'm seen lots of chickies give advice this way!
this morning i weighed myself like normal (after morning pee and completely naked) and the scale said 199.2 (then a few seconds later when i ran to get the camera, said 200.6)
What kind of scale do you use? For tracking weight loss (especially if you weigh every day) having a consistent scale is very important, even if it's not 100% accurate. I used to have 2 scales (well one was my brother's, but I'd step on it occasionally) and they were like 1.5 lbs off of each other, but they were consistently off. It sounds like your scale isn't consistent enough. You don't gain a lb in a few seconds. I use a Tanita BC554 Ironman Scale and I love it!!
tysvm everyone ^^ i use a health monitor scale thats about 5 yrs old. idk maybe its time i get a new one haha my son always jumps on it after i weigh myself so maybe its broken =( but i sometimes can get consistent results it usually depends on where i place my feet on the scale.
If you're the type of person to want to keep rigid track of your progress, then I think that weighing daily is a good way to keep you focused! If you're like me, though, then it can become a source of stress. I started out weighing daily, but then I'd get discouraged when I didn't see much change, and when I get discouraged I gain weight. You could try weighing only weekly for two weeks and see if there's any significant change.
Is weighing daily bad?
