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 dont log my calories or measure i just eat what i feel is right. i do know the correct portions for meat (about the size of your palm and as thick as a deck of cards) i usually eat at dinner two large serving spoons of veggies that were having and one scoop of whatever else were having as the second side. i always eat one serving of protein. normally i will have a banana or 100 calorie cottage cheese doubles (1 serving) after i work out. i always eat cereal in the morning. its either honey and oat blenders with almonds or honey nut cheerios. occasionally on days my husband is off ill have have eggs bacon and maybe a pancake for breakfast. i always make a point of cooking my own meals and try not to eat tv dinners anymore. i dont eat sweets unless im forced to haha and then i make sure i eat the serving suggestion. (basically i dont write down anything but try to keep a mental record of what ive eaten) i also have been upping the things i do around the house. my husbands job used to be to do dishes and now i made it my job =P when i exercise i always make it an hour. i try to sip on water in between songs on the treadmill and on DDR to stay hydrated so i wont retain water as much. i always try to keep moving.
Everytime I get on my scale (it's a cheapie), I get a different result. I count only the first time. That is how a doctor's office would do. The important thing is not that you've lost (or gained) in a few minutes/ days/ weeks/ months, but that over the long haul, you are losing weight.
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 agree with a lot of the ladies! I weigh everyday! But if I miss a day? Eh whatever! As long as it isn't an obsession! I use it to track what foods really make my weight fluctuate!
I could't handle weighing myself every day. I "gave up dieting" several months ago because I felt like a "failure" if I didn't lose at least two pounds a week (because I had so much to lose). I went to my doctor's office about two weeks ago because I wanted to talk to him about weight loss surgey. Discovered I lost over 50 lbs -- I realized by giving up dieting I also gave up the stress. I had been eating sensibly for several months. Its not for everyone I guess!! Most people feel they need more control. Now I figure I'll weigh myself every other week to keep track of my progress.
You're doing great and seem to have a handle on your scale so I'd keep doing what you're doing! If it ain't broke, dont break it.
To answer the question in the title: I think weighing daily is pointless because our bodies doesn't drop that much weight i 24 hours, and even the smallest flunctuation in water/ bathroom visit/ etc can make it seem like you've gained more or lost more than you actually have. Also, there is the emotional component, it seems obsessive to stare at a scale every freaking day.
kaplods, thank you so much for your post in this thread. I've read posts on this very site where people have said that daily weighing is a "bad habit", and I've always vehemently disagreed with that perspective. First, there should be no moral judgment regarding when or how often different individuals step on the scale - weighing yourself is not an inherently unhealthy or negative habit that everyone should "break". Second, everyone is different. For some people, daily weighing is a source of frustration and discouragement, but for many others daily weighing is a tool that helps their weight loss, focus, and committment. I fall firmly in the latter category. As you said, we're all adults and can figure out ourselves whether daily weighing helps or hurts us, and adjust our habits accordingly.
I actually spent most of the last 40 years thinking that weighing daily was "bad," or at least obsessive and pointless (but I often did it anyway, and then I just felt guilty about it, and felt frustrated when I didn't see the big losses).
I think it really changed for me about seven or eight years ago, when I started keeping a symptom diary when my health issues were at their worst. We were trying to find a diagnosis (and then later compile evidence for my disability case), and the symptom diary I was using (MemoryMinder) had a space to fill in weight. Because there was a space, I filled it. There was also a space for body temperature, and I took my temperature every day, so I could fill that space too.
Because I wasn't expecting the weight to change (I wasn't focusing on weight loss at the time, as much as symptom control) there was no frustration when the weight didn't change.
I started seeing patterns I wasn't aware of. I knew for example that I gained wieght around TOM, but for the first time I could really pinpoint that the cause was TOM, not TOM hunger/overeating (the weight would appear days before the hunger, and would appear regardless of calorie intake).
I went weigh-in crazy for a while. I would weigh dozens of times a day, and I learned a lot about how my body works. When I weighed myself right before bed, and again first thing in the morning after using the potty, my morning weigh-in was almost always 2-3 lbs lower than the night before.
For a while, I also used the scale to remind me not to binge after an off-plan bite. Getting on the scale was almost like a reset button or at least a worst-case scenario you can't gain more weight from a food than the weight of the food itself. So I couldn't gain a pound from eating a 2 ounce candy bar. Seeing the extra 2 ounces on the scale, helped me not let a 2 ounce candy bar become an all-day binge (so I could "start fresh" the following morning).
Getting on the scale gave me a tangible symbol of "starting fresh."
For a while, I got on the scale every time I went to the bathroom. Before and after every meal...
I wasn't doing it to be obsessive, I was doing it to learn and practice what I'd learned.
When I decided that losing wasn't the only kind of success, that just staying the same was an acheivement worth celebrating, it was a huge moral boost to get on the scale and see the same (or very similar) number.
When only losing was success, I had a lot more opportunities for failure than success. Eventually the failure would overwhelm me, and I'd quit. But when I chose to see "staying the same" as just as much a success as losing, then I got to succeed every day (and more than once a day, if I wanted to).
Succeeding more often than not, turned out to be the secret for me. I truly am never tempted to give up, because I am too proud of the success I am acheiving. Even when I'm not motivated enough to lose weight, I'm almost always motivated enough to keep from gaining. And since only gaining is failing, I only have to commit to not gaining. It's been an easy commitment to make, and I never feel like I'm failing.
Others may see my slow progress as failure, but this is the first time I've ever been on a six-year downward or at least stable trend. I still can hardly believe that I've gone six years without a significant gain (sure I have fluctations, but I've never let a bad weekend become a bad month, and I've never gone off plan long enough to regain).
For me, the daily (and occasionally more often) weigh-in is helping me stay focused. If I had to weigh myself ten times a day for the rest of my life, to stay on track, I would do it. Obsessive or not, I'd weigh as often as I found helpful.
For me, twice a day is usually enough (I love seeing that two pound or more difference in the morning, even when I know it's not always "real" weight loss), but I don't hesitate to weigh as often as I need to. If I slip and getting on the scale helps me remember not to turn the small slip into a huge one, I'm going to get on that scale, and the heck with whether anyone (including me) considers it "obsessive."
I weigh daily or I lose momentum but there is no rigid rule. The only way weighing daily could inhibit weight loss would be if seeing a number you didn't like led to a binge. The mind is the biggest influence on whether we stick to losing weight or not but it cannot influence what the scale reads out.
As to tracking: I record my lowest weight on my ticker as it happens. Provided I've stuck to my Plan, I don't bother to record any little bounces, as these can only be water. On the other hand, if I know I've overeaten and "deserve" the weight gain, I do record it.
I weigh daily then average out my weight on a Sunday. For me, I don't like the idea of the number on Sunday defining a weeks of hard work if I just so happen to be storing more water or something similar. I find that getting the middle number of all the weights I recorded reflects the weight I'm at more accurately than a one off weigh in, then I record it on a chart and keep going!
To answer the question in the title: I think weighing daily is pointless because our bodies doesn't drop that much weight i 24 hours, and even the smallest flunctuation in water/ bathroom visit/ etc can make it seem like you've gained more or lost more than you actually have. Also, there is the emotional component, it seems obsessive to stare at a scale every freaking day.
It seems obsessive to take less than one minute to get on a scale and get off on a daily basis?
Hmmmm.....this is an interesting thread. I am a daily weigher. I don't think it's obsessive to weigh yourself each day and work out which foods, behaviours affect your weight loss. I call it a clever thing to do
I can be obsessional about the reading on the scale. I reached goal a few weeks ago, and have been trying to lose 6 more pounds. The scale does not want to oblige and I am (admittedly not for the first time) stressing about the numbers. BUT - I would stress about those if I saw them once a week too. This is a very personal thing, and if you want to weigh yourself daily, then go ahead.
I could't handle weighing myself every day. I "gave up dieting" several months ago because I felt like a "failure" if I didn't lose at least two pounds a week (because I had so much to lose). I went to my doctor's office about two weeks ago because I wanted to talk to him about weight loss surgey. Discovered I lost over 50 lbs -- I realized by giving up dieting I also gave up the stress. I had been eating sensibly for several months. Its not for everyone I guess!! Most people feel they need more control. Now I figure I'll weigh myself every other week to keep track of my progress. 
