How often do you weigh yourself?
 

I'm in the third week of my "new lifestyle" and I'm getting a bit frustrated. The past two weeks I only lost half a pound and I have not cheated once. I am in no way quitting, but it makes me wonder...

How often does everyone weigh themselves? :?:

I've been doing it weekly, first thing in the morning. I know it takes patience and the scale can be horribly frustrating to deal with, so I'm considering weighing bi-weekly or even monthly.

I understand that it's very early in my weightloss adventure and I did lose the first week, but I can't seem to comprehend how I'm not losing weight with the big changes I've made, especially being the weight that I'm at.

I guess the real question is, how long does it take you to see results from the week you are working on? Does it mean that the work that I've done this week will show up 3 weeks from now? All I want to know is that the work that I have done so far counts for something. It's so hard not being able to see inside yourself and only having the evil scale to determine your progress.

Maybe I just need to learn to change my perspective, instead of looking at it as a week of work without weightloss results, to look at it as building some sort of foundation where each step is necessary to achieve the end goal, but some of the steps will not show numeric results. :dizzy:

Our bodies don't always respond like we would like them to.

There are a couple possibilities
1) Your body is retaining water for whatever reason
2) You are eating too many calories despite eating healthier
3) The mix of the above

#1 happens a lot, #3 happens a lot and #2 happens a lot, probably in that order for most new dieters.

Sometimes I can go a few weeks without seeing a weight change, sometimes I can go a few months, despite being 'perfect'.

I weigh myself daily but I can see ups and downs as I do that although the overall trend is downward. The scale measures so much but mostly it measures water. Your body can hold onto water for whatever reason and hormones can especially make you retain water.

So my advice is keep up with you are doing and see what happens next week or the week after. If the scale still isn't moving, look at what you are eating and doing for exercise and try to tweak those.

I weigh daily as well. The fluctuations bothered me at first to be honest, but now I understand it happens regardless of how well I stay on plan.

To illustrate, a graph of my weight loss since starting is below. You can see the thing is wildly spiky. I haven't had a day off plan since starting.

But, with weighing in every day and documenting it, I can see that regardless of the fluctuations that my trend moves downwards. You'll notice the same, it will just take more time as you weigh in considerably less often!

There's no way to answer your question about when your work will show up. The results of what you do today cannot be pinpointed to a certain date. I assure you though, that over time thoe results start adding up in a big way.

You're doing a fabulous job! Keep going at it!

http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/n...ng04/scale.jpg

I weigh everyday. I have learned a lot about my body's fluctuations and response to food and exercise. Weight loss is over the long term (and maintenance even longer) so try to make peace with the scale. A daily weight is just a snapshot, and you have to put together all the pieces to get an accurate idea of where you are and where you are going. Stick with it. Don't make any drastic changes until you have not seen much of a change for several weeks. Patience....

I also weigh in daily. For the most part it is a reminder of me game plan for the day.I spend to many years avoiding the scale. No I want to make it a tool to use to evaluate my progress like midwife says to learn. I want to know what foods my body does not respond to well like rigth now I am trying to figure out how much sodium I can have before retaining water. I may change my daily weigh in if I get upset by the slowness. Who knows. I am taking it one day at a time.

I weigh every day (most times quite a few times during the day) but I've learned to only pay attention to it once a week on my offical weigh in day. I've tried not weighing so much and it drives me crazy but I've learned not to take it seriously -- I'm just too scale obsessed to give it up.

I weigh myself once a day, no idea why lol It doesn't effect me one way or another unless I see a big dip or jump. Usually with a jump you probably know it's coming anyway.

My official WI is Saturday though.

I used to weigh weekly, but the closer I get to goal, I feel the need to do daily just to keep a tight reign on things. I only consider my Wednesday weigh in the official one, but like to keep tabs on the other days.

Recent studies showed that maintainers who weighed daily were more successful.

I've read the same thing from very reputable sources. I'm also a daily weigher, but I only record my Monday morning weigh-in as the official one. However, we all have to keep a good perspective when weighing daily as the scales don't always accurately reflect our efforts and that doggone water weight can really play headgames with a dieter. If a gain shows up on the scales and will throw you off-plan, then you might consider getting on the scales less often. Also, if the scales are consuming your every thought and are becoming an obsession, then get rid of them. These lifestyle changes are supposed to be for life. I can't imagine stressing myself out like that every day.

Also, please consider taking measurements. Sometimes, we drop inches before the scales catch up with our progress. And, aren't inches so much more important than a number on an inanimate, sometimes cruel :D, object?

Once in the morning and once at night, then I average the loss/gain

I can't stand weighing myself every day. It's like asking to beat my head against the wall.

When I first started I didn't have a scale and would have to go to the drugstore to weigh myself. It was awful. First, the machine would display my weight for everyone to see. Then they got rid of it and I was happy, until the second machine came in. It told me, out loud, my weight, that I was morbidly obese and that I was going to die.

I have issues with non-American scales.

Add me to the daily people. I weigh every morning, right out of the shower, naked. I log each daily weight in DailyPlate, but my Monday weight is what I consider my "official" one and what I set my ticker here to (except on weeks like this week when I know that my Monday weight is off due to my TOM).

I used to weigh weekly and found that *that* depressed me - if my Monday happened to fall during my TOM or after a particularly salty Sunday or whatever I'd get depressed at seeing too little of a change.

By weighing daily I see exactly what my body is doing. A prime example is this past week.

Monday 165
Tues: 164.6
Wed: 164.4
Thurs: 165
Fri: 163.4
Sat: 165.2
Sun: 163.6
Mon: 168.2
Tue: 163.2

If I were only weighing on Mondays, I'd see that last week I was 165 and this past Monday I was 168. 3# up - argh - and I'd be depressed that a week of eating on plan made me *gain* weight.

But if you look at the trend over the days .. it's mostly down ... with a spike of 168 on Monday (which co-incidentally was the last day of my period). By this morning I'd dropped FIVE POUNDS (of water weight and period bloat, obviously). But because I track daily I know that (a) the 168 wasn't an accurate representation of my weight and (b) this is what my body does every single month on my TOM. So I wasn't depressed because I knew when I stepped on the scale this morning, that 168 would be gone. :)

(You can also see on Saturday I was up 2 lbs - and wouldn't you know Friday night I went out to dinner with friends and ate kung pao spaghetti at CPK - stayed within my calorie range, but my sodium was through the roof that night ... and lo and behold, I retained water to the tune of 2 lbs.)

So by tracking daily I have learned exactly how my body responds to hormonal changes as well as to what I eat.

For me, it's the only way to go. I can predict that I will be a daily weigher for the rest of my life ... it's a part of my routine now and I know that it'll help me keep a tight watch on my weight when I'm in maintenance.

.

Sweet!
 

I'm really glad that I posted this poll question. I had NO IDEA that so many people weighed themselves daily. :dizzy:

After careful consideration, I have decided to adopt the daily method as well. With FB's wonderful suggestion, I created a chart in Microsoft Excel to track my daily weight with room for notes on my mood, special notes, etc.

I focused on this a lot today and I decided to keep at it and crank the pressure up a notch, nothing crazy though. So when my husband came home tonight we went down to the local middle school and played tennis for 45 minutes. I was TIRED, but it was good cardio and a lot of fun! :carrot:

I go to Physician's Weight Loss and get weighed three times a week. I only pay attention to the week-to-week weight loss though, so when I'm done with the program, I'll probably just do once a week.

I weigh daily. For me, that took the power and emotion out of the scale. It is just a part of my morning routine now, like taking a shower and brushing my teeth.

No time spent on your health is wasted. Even if the scale does not drop *now*, your body is getting healthier in other ways. Maybe it needs some time to repair itself. Keep it up!

I weigh several times a day (I'm a complete scale junkie!!!), but only record my Monday morning weigh-ins.

I'm at a point where I can weigh several times a day and not be frustrated over the fluctuations, but it took awhile for me to be able to do that.

I weigh daily to help me maintain "control" with my eating. It helps me tremendously.

This is a great way of putting it! Thanks midwife. I, too, weigh myself every day (er, sometimes multiple times a day, though I've been trying to stop doing that!) I just like to stay informed about my day-to-day progress, the downs AND the ups. :dizzy:

I weigh daily .I just feel better and if I see I gained a pound or so I work harder that day. :)

I used to weigh daily.. several times per day actually. But it completly controlled my emotions and made me miserable. So now I stick with weekly...

I think once I get closer to my goal I'll go back to more often weigh ins.. just to keep myself on track. Right now seeing my weight is just too discouraging to see every day. (despite having come so far.. we are our own worst critics)

Hi,

I get weighed in once a week with the plan I am on--but I would most likely weigh myself more but I don't own a scale-- I got rid of it 3 years ago- and was able to gain a lot of weight without really noticing. I would suggest that there be some accountablity because when you chose to ignore the situation it still exist.

I went from 157 lbs to 260lbs which is where i have restarted in April --after the doctor had to weigh me I remember being shocked and crying because I knew I gained but really didn't think is was that much-

If you didn't gain it over night you can't lose it over night give yourself time and watch the scale go down.

Jen

I faced the same problem for the first 6 months of trying to lose weight. I would lose then stay the same for weeks, then lose 2 lbs, then stay the same again. It was so frustrating to not see the scale reflect all of my hard work. I don't know what plan you are following, I am a calorie counter. I struggled with finding the right intake with the exercise I do. Then I didn't know how much to eat on the days I wasn't exercising. When I lost weight, it pretty much seemed like it happened on accident, b/c I didn't know which of the things I was doing caused it. That has all changed. I bought a bodybugg and weight loss has changed for me. After barely losing 3 lbs in a month, I have now lost 3.4 lbs the first week and 3.6 lbs the second week (I skipped the gym for the whole week and had TOM too). That's 7 lbs in 2 weeks! I have found this little device to be my saving grace. It tells me how many calories I am burning each day, that way I KNOW how many I should be eating to lose weight. The bodybugg has pulled from the depths of despair and made me excited about counting calories and working out again. Now I rush home to upload my data so I can see how many calories all of my hard work has burned. I highly recommend checking it out. www.bodybugg.com I hope this information has helped! PM if you want more info. Also, there is a thread that contains a lot of info. http://3fatchicks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=146354

--Misty

Every 15 minutes (kidding). But I do weigh every day and, since the weather has gotten so hot, I've actually started weighing twice a day - once first thing in the morning and once when I get home from work. I've discovered that I sometimes weigh 2 or 3 lbs less in the afternoon than I did in the morning. My "official" ticker weight is the morning weight that I see most during the week but being able to see that lower afternoon weight keeps me from getting (too) depressed about the hikes.

I just started a week ago, and so I don't own a scale. I've been stopping by the Dr's office and using theirs until I get one.

~Dolly

I always weight first thing in the morning, only count Monday as my "official" weigh in day, and frequently weight once or twice more, usually just before bed.

I think all the weighing is a little crazy, but I work hard to focus on the pleasure of seeing a smaller number than when I started. While I hate the pound or two up, reframing to say "hey, that middle number was a 5 not too long ago" lets me take pleasure in whatever the number is. Very frequent weighing has also made me comfortable with the normal fluctuations of my body.

I always weight first thing in the morning, only count Monday as my "official" weigh in day, and frequently weight once or twice more, usually just before bed.

I think all the weighing is a little crazy, but I work hard to focus on the pleasure of seeing a smaller number than when I started. While I hate the pound or two up, reframing to say "hey, that middle number was a 5 not too long ago" lets me take pleasure in whatever the number is. Very frequent weighing has also made me comfortable with the normal fluctuations of my body.

Every day. Monday morning is official weigh in day. I like to see the patterns. Just to give an idea, I'll post my loss chart too. I was very spiky the first 2-3 months. In the last several weeks I've leveled out a lot - Instead of up and down all the time, I now seem to just stay the same weight several days before dropping 1/2 a pound. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Thanks for posting this poll! Daily weighing can get a bad rap sometimes but I really think it can be a useful tool as long as a person doesn't get worked up over temporary ups on the scale.

I love the graphs people posted! What a great visual! How often do people post with discouragement that the scale jumped and they don't know what to do. These graphs show that it is normal to go up and down a bit and that it is the overall trend that counts. :carrot:

I weigh daily
I chart it with notes on what i ate the day before etc and i record my exercise on the same chart


i only look at what i weighed in May 2006 (286 pounds) vs what I weigh now....

I weighed light today... tomorrow i will weigh more... the trend matters more....

Thanks for posting this poll. I've been a weekly weigher, but that morning is always a little stressful. I thought the daily weighing would be worse, but after reading this thread maybe I'll try daily. I have seen the pattern of weight loss though. Usually I only lose two to three weeks out of the four each month, due to tom. Some months I've went for two weeks without a loss and then suddenly drop four pounds. Now I don't stress so much, it all comes off eventually if you stick to the plan.
I too gained a lot of weight by not weighing for months at a time.

Hooray!
 

I am glad that we learned something with my poll! Reading all the responses and viewing the poll results has definitely changed my mind about weighing weekly. I started weighing in daily as of Tuesday and it definitely does take the shock value out of the equation for me.

I also started a diet blog (with a link below, if you care to read it). 3FC has so many options for support and I urge everyone to take full advantage!
:p:p:p

I voted earlier, but I'm a daily weigher myself. As long as you don't mind the ups and downs it's a reasonable way of tracking success. When the trend is down a 24-hour jump (up or down) doesn't mean as much since you know it will change. I only count Sunday weigh-ins as official. My favourite chart though is a 9-week one. It's just long enough that I can get a good idea of the more recent trends. Too much longer of a period and it doesn't mean much with my current efforts.

So far with my daily weighing I've been losing around half a pound each day. I worked out like a crazy woman on Friday and Saturday's weigh in was up half a pound. My official weigh in day is Tuesday, so I'm holding myself to waiting for Tuesday to move my ticker.
;)