I am not at maintenance, but I thought I'd ask the experts - how often do you weigh?
In the past I weighed once a week. Now that I'm in menopause and the weight comes off slowly and sometimes weeks will pass and I won't lose, I'm wondering if I should maybe just weigh in once a month to see true progress. I don't know.
What do you folks do? Your opinions are very welcomed. Thanks!
I always used to weigh in once a week. I used to pick Monday's in an attempt to keep me on track all weekend knowing that I had to weigh in come Monday morning. Now, however, I am weighing in every day or every other day simply because I am using the wii fit system and it has a built in scale. It can be frustrating to see every small and natural fluctuation in your weight with the more frequent weigh-ins but I also suppose you see the effects of a bad food choice quicker. I guess it's really six of one and half a dozen of another.
While I was losing I weighed once a week on Friday morning. Once I started maintaince I began weighing more often, then it became everyday. With me it becomes a problem when I let the scale determine my mood (and eating patterns) for the day. I'd see a pretty good number and think I could "pig out" a little. Then of course the next day I would see a bad number and I would be depressed all day... So at least for Lent, I'm back for weekly weigh days, on Wednesday. (Like how many people give up the scale for lent?? )It was hard going back to weekly, but it really has helped me not think about stupid food so much. Now, I have (always had) an issue with the scale, but there are lots of maintainers who have no problems what-so-ever with daily weighing. So...it's really a personal and mental thing I guess.
When I was losing I weighed once a week. Now, I'm losing again, and it changes around a bit, with a minimum of once a week (same day, same time to be consistent). Sometimes I'll weigh every day and it's definitely made me aware of water fluctuations from a high-sodium meal, or a hard workout, etc. Sometimes that starts to drive me crazy and I will literally put the scale away, and just take it out for my once-a-week weigh-in.
The important thing for me is to weigh once a week, to give myself that accountability. If I try to live "intuitively" I will inevitably gain weight.
I weigh every morning, same as I did when I was losing. Personally I am more comfortable with watching the daily fluctuations than with only weighing once a week, and not knowing whether that one day happened to be fluctuating high or low.
Something I can only imagine will keep me in maintenance is daily weighing. I know from past experience just while losing that if I weigh weekly, I allow myself to skip a weigh in if I'm scared and that turns into several skips and then a year being off plan because I'm afraid to face it. Even now, with daily weighing, there have been a few days I've wanted to skip. But I make myself do it because I think for me I have to. I can't have an excuse not to get on that scale. I've never weighed, seen the number and then NOT done something about it. That only happens when I'm avoiding the scale.
Daily weighing has been freeing for me. It has given me armor so that I am not afraid of maintenance. I know I will maintain. I have no doubts. I have doubts about getting the weight off, but I'm not afraid of maintenance because I weigh every day.
I weigh myself every day, just like I did when I was losing. And I chart it. For me, once a week wouldn't work because I can do a lot of damage in a week! Every day weighing keeps me accountable and shows me that there are consequences to bad choices.
But it's definitely a personal matter and some people find that frequent weighing messes with their heads. That's something that each of us needs to find out for ourselves. Regular weighing is necessary for maintenance, but how frequently is personal.
I've been doing it for so long that it's easy to keep the number in perspective, especially because I know exactly what certain foods and situations will do to my weight. I can usually guess my weight every morning within .2 pounds, just by how I feel and what I know I did the day before.
I weighed twice per week when I was losing, but only logged once. The same day was logged every week.
In maintenance I log and chart every day. It gives me a very clear picture of impact from diet and exercise, which I like. The more information I have the better I feel.
I weighed daily as I was losing and I weigh daily now. Like others have stated, it keeps me on track. The only time in my life that I have steadily gained is when I was not weighing myself regularly.
I weigh often, and since we don't have a decent scale at home, I use the gym scale as my "official" scale. So basically I weigh whenever I'm their - usually 4-5 days a week, but only Fridays are recorded.