Hey guys! I'm mostly a lurker around here, but I have a question about weighing in so I thought I would ask.

I have been weighing in with clothes on since I started, every Sunday morning after I wake up and use the bathroom. But today when I weighed in I was unhappy with the result - which isn't out of the norm, or anything, but this week was amazing for me in terms of diet (I became a vegetarian) and exercising (I've hiked a lot). So I decided to slip out of my PJs and weigh in without them. I had almost a two pound difference! I double and triple checked my weight, and I was still faced with that result. So my question to you is, should I start weighing in without my clothes or just continue what I have done since September of last year? What is better for me to do?

Also, I want to know if you guys record to the last increment, for example, if you weighed 235.6 would you round up, down, or record that exact number to the point.

Thanks so much for helping me out.

Weigh in without clothes definately! At the same time on the same day after using the bathroom. I've never recorded the difference with and without clothes, but I have recoreded that I can gain anywhere from .5 to 2lbs after taking a shower.

I think it's an extremely personal preference. There is no right or wrong, and either way you're still going to see the scale move.

I've always weighed sans the clothes, first thing in the morning, post potty & prior to breakfast. Clothes usually add 2-4lbs to my weight and that just wasn't something I ever wanted to deal with. I don't need to know what my wardrobe weighs, I need to know what I weigh. Just my 0.2 ¢

Doesn't matter.

This is your journey, and you can mark progress any way you want to, and whichever way is most convenient for you.

Of course you weight less naked than in clothes, and clothing weight does vary - so if you're going to be freaked out by a half lb gain when you're wearing a heavier pair of jeans or a sweater, then weigh naked (if the scale isn't in a public place like a doctor's office hallway or a Weight Watcher's meeting).

Try to remember big picture, while every pound counts, your exact weight doesn't - because there IS NO exact weight. Everyone's weight fluctuates depending upon what they've just eaten or drank and whether or not they've peed or pooped (or after a shower how much water is in their hair and on their skin), or had their hair cut.

It's really the fat loss we're concerned with (and for some of us, to a much lesser degree water loss), but that's pretty hard to measure at home, so the scale helps us make a best guesstimate.

You both have great points! The only thing I worry about is visiting the doc and seeing a huge difference on the scale there! lol That would be discouraging.. my doc makes me weigh in with shoes and everything.

Wow, thanks for the advice kaplods. I think I've had a hard time making decisions like this because most of my family has butted into my weight loss journey without permission. They're just trying to motivate me, but my grandma keeps telling me I should weigh in without clothes so I see better numbers. I'm going to think about it myself and decide.

I'm going to ask you to really think about this. Why on earth would you choose to be discouraged by seeing a higher number when you know that number is a result of the weight of your clothing, shoes, and the fact that no two scales weigh the same?

If you were given a scale and told "this scale weighs 10 lbs heavy," would you be be discouraged if you stepped on that scale and it weighed you 10 lbs heavier?

If you grabbed a 5 lb bowling ball and got on the scale, would you be discouraged of you weighed 5 lbs more with the ball than without.

All scales vary in their accuracy - so you can't compare your weight on one scale to your weight on another - and then if you further try to compare your naked weight at home to your clothed and shoed weight at the doctor's office - you're doing some messed up diet math.

The naked trick really only works once (when you realize you weight 2 lbs less with clothes). The numbers really are no "better" except for the first time.

We've all gone through this with the scale though. When I was a WW member, I always wore the lightest clothes in my closet (I know because I weighed them all). I wasn't the only one. We had one woman my size, who would change in the bathroom into her "weighing clothes" (a way too skimpy-for-her-body-type pair of shorts and a thin tank top), then would change back into more appropriate-for-public clothing for the meeting. I remember thinking that if I were her, I'd have found it less embarassing to strip down and weight publicly naked that to have worn THAT outfit even for five minutes (but whatever floats your boat, I guess).


Getting to really see the scale as a tool, not a test we're worried about passing or failing, takes some practice.


Often people will tell you to weigh less often so that you see more progress and aren't so easily discouraged. For myself, the opposite advice worked better. I weighed myself daily, and even sometimes several times a day (before and after meals to see what an average meal weighed, before and after peeing to see how much I peed - yeah silly I know).

Now I weigh daily, and I don't find it discouraging even though I'm losing very, very slowly. So I see no change far more often that than I see a loss. I don't find it discouraging, because I don't expect it to be any different. You can only be discouraged or disappointed if you expect a different outcome than the one you're getting.

+1

Without! Definitely.

As for scales that weigh you heavier like at the Doctor's, just close your eyes and tell the nurse you don't want to know because you're trying to lose weight and can't handle the disappointment right now. I've done that before and I told the nurse what I thought I'd lost and she was able to confirm that I was right. So even though my scale was FIFTEEN pounds lighter than hers, I lost at the same rate on both scales.

I weigh naked, every morning. I find its easier because I can't excuse a gain in the same way: "Oh, these pants weigh a TON!".
I occasionally step on the scale in my clothing. While I realize that there is no logical reason to be upset when weighing on different scales and seeing larger numbers, I can't stop the emotional part of me that thinks "But I saw that number three weeks ago!" So yeah, sometimes, I check and see what my jeans and boots wear or how much my weight changes with increased sodium. I know this doesn't work for some people, but for me, knowing what ranges I can expect helps. I didn't own a scale for years so I'm not used to seeing the fluxes; I'm trying to get to know them some how.

As for the rounding thing, if the number ends in .4 or lower, I round down. .5 or higher, i round up