Location: The beautiful Pacific Northwest! Tacoma, Washington
Posts: 500
S/C/G: 330/268/150
Height: 5'7"
looking for opinions
Do you think it's best to weigh daily or weekly or what?
My mom insists weighing daily works best for her. And i've been doing it daily because i thought it would keep me accountable. But i am getting aggrivated that I haven't lost a pound since Tuesday even though i have stayed on plan. Any thoughts?
I've decided maybe i should switch to biweekly weigh-ins on Sun and Thurs. What do you think?
At a certain point I had to learn that if I was going to weigh every day that I would have to learn to accept that weight loss would not just happen in a day, and if my weight stayed the same, that was a good thing. I am averaging a small loss now about every two weeks, and I'm better with that than I was. So if it will make you less crazy to weigh in less often, then do it. If it keeps you accountable, weigh every day. But it might be unrealistic to expect a loss every few days, especially as you get further in. Just keep going, and you will succeed.
Honestly, that decision is totally up to you and how you feel.
Your weight has stayed the same since Tuesday? Wow! I fluctuate up and down few lbs from 178 from a day to day basis. I do weigh daily but try not to let the higher numbers bother me especially if I know I have been on plan the whole time. If you still want to weigh daily, go ahead but pick only one day to record your weight (or be like me, pick the lowest out of the whole week, heh.) The scale will go DOWN eventually!!!
I used to weigh myself daily until I hit a plateau and then found it was best for myself to take a break from obsessing and just work on getting over it. I've FINALLY gotten over it and I'll probably go back to weighing in daily. I wouldn't say it's better than weighing in weekly, I'm just a curious person and have the understanding that some days the scale may creep up a tad bit.
I am one of those who weighs every day. I think you have to try out a few different schedules to determine what works best for you.
Question- are you taking your monthly measurements? Have you set some other goals for yourself, such as improved blood pressure or glucose levels? During a particularly rough plateau, I started measuring daily walking distances so that I could give myself a sense of success even when the scale didn't.
It definitely depends on the person... you can't take it to heart if you weigh yourself everyday and it goes a little up or stays the same. I find it more motivating to see change in the scale, so I tend to lean towards a weekly weigh-in. Or I'll weigh myself if I'm feeling especially skinny after a workout because I know I'll like what I see! lol
But seriously, the scale is such a powerful tool. It can ruin your day or make you feel accomplished. If you get frustrated weighing yourself everyday, don't do it! Weigh yourself to check progress after several days or a week of hard work rather than to check how much your water weight shifted from the day before.
I used to be a weigh-every-day person. I am now a weekly weigher. Regardless of which you do, it is good to get to know the scale and its tricks better. For a couple of days, I weighed every single time I passed by the scale. It really is amazing to see how much change things do or don't make. Just play with it. Decide which is more motivational (or less discouraging) for you, and use it as a helpful tool.
I used to weigh myself only once per month on a certain day, but this time around (after a regain), I have decided to weigh myself once daily when I first wake up in the morning. I like to see the patterns of my weight loss, and I think this works best. Of course, I'm not seeing more than one- or two-pound losses instead of eight or ten, but that's okay with me. After reading some great advice by kaplods (thanks again, if you're reading this!), I see weight loss as maintaining my weight and being happy if I lose any. Just my (new) point of view!
I'm also a daily weigher. I also have my weekly "official" weigh day.
For me, stepping on the scale every day is what keeps me accountable and on track. Whenever I start skipping days, I start worrying about gains, and that leads to avoiding the scale and it's a negative cycle that usually results in gaining weight. If I can face the scale daily and take the gains, losses and fluctuations as they come, I'm much better off.
Your plan of Thursday/Sunday sounds great! If daily weighing just stresses you out, then don't do it! If twice a week is still too much, then try once a week. You'll find your groove!
I'm also a daily weigher (twice daily, actually). I weigh first thing in the morning after using the potty and last thing at night. I only weigh at night because I like seeing the loss every morning, even though it's not a "real" loss.
If you're going to weigh daily, you need to have different expectations for the scale. You're not going to see a loss every time you get on the scale. However, even when you weigh weekly or monthly, there's no guarantee of a loss (and if you don't see a loss after a week or a month, the discouragement is even greater).
However, to stay sane with daily weighing, my biggest goal isn't weight loss, it's "not gaining." And while I'm at the important business of not gaining, I figure I might as well try to lose "just one more pound" while I'm at it. This way I get to celebrate more often than not, AND there's never the temptation to think that if I'm not losing, I might as well be gaining (and at least get to eat what I want).
By focusing on the not gaining, rather than the losing, I've been able to stay on the right path for the longest time I ever have managed, and have lost the most weight I've ever lost too (even though technically I'm not even trying to lose weight so much as "not gain, and maybe lose just one more."
It's one of those things where you need to try it out different ways and see what works best for you. If not seeing immediate progress is discouraging to you, maybe less frequent weigh-ins are a better idea.
I weigh in twice a day too...my official weigh-in is in the morning. I go again right before bed to see how I did for the day. I count it as a victory if my night number is the same (or give or take a few tenths of a kg) as that morning's number, since it seems like if that's the case, I've done a pretty good job of balancing my food intake and exercise to burn it off. I keep a daily weight log in one thread to keep me accountable (today was my first red number for the month...booooo) and do my official weigh-in for two challenges on Thursdays.
Last edited by Hotaruchan; 07-15-2012 at 03:16 AM.
I was weighing in daily and it left me unmotivated and discouraged because I didn't see any changes. And in fact, I didn't start to lose until four weeks after I started! I've decided to have one official weigh in each Thursday and since this it has gotten me into the frame of thinking I can go a couple of days a week without stepping on the scales. I will step on the scales a few times still but the number it gives on Thursday is what I record. I also take measurements each month of my calves, thighs, hips, stomach, waist, underbust, bust and upper arm. If you're not losing from the scales, could be losing measurements.
Last edited by Dreamer2012; 07-15-2012 at 08:52 AM.
I like weighing daily because it gives me the chance to correct small gains (if I have reason to believe they're real gains, rather than extra water retention) before they snowball into larger gains. But, as everyone else has said, it's en entirely individual thing. Whatever feels right and keeps you most motivated is the way to go.
I weigh once a day, first thing in the morning. I tell myself it's just data. And then I emphasize that by putting it in a spreadsheet. I pay more attention to the graph of the data than the numbers -- if the trendline is going down, then I'm doing fine no matter what today's weight happened to be.
looking for opinions
