I've been trying to lose weight now for years and was successful in shedding a few pounds a few years ago. The problem I ran into is that I became weight obsessive, literally getting on the scale 4 to 5 times a day just to make sure I wasn't going up too much.

So this year I decided to do something different and I weighed myself on January 1st and came in at 204, but I told myself to work out and eat right for a whole month before I weighed again. I got on the scale this morning (the 31st) and I was 202. Now a loss is a loss and I'm pleased, but being that I'm cutting calories and working out in hopes of losing 2 lbs a week, I was confused.

My question is how often do you weigh so that you don't become obsessed with the scale? Once a week? Once every few weeks? Once a month?

I weigh 3-5 times a week. I feel I have to keep myself in check but also see if things are going well. If I know I have been on plan and the scale goes down, great. If I feel I've been on plan and nothing happens or very little, I don't flip out, give it a week, see what happens, then re-assess. I find that when nothing happens the second week, I go back to logging EVERYTHING, and find my problem. You'd think I'd just stick to logging things in the journal, but that would be too easy


Good luck!

I officially weigh myself every Monday morning. That's the weight I use for my ticker here and in my Weight Watchers app. But I hop on the scale almost every day, just because I'm curious

Something I decided was to not make the scale a bigger deal than it needed to be. I've tried weighing only once a week - but I would have to force myself not to "cheat" by weighing in additional times. I tried daily weigh ins and found that that felt like pressure too - there were days where I knew I had eaten something salty even if it was on plan, but seeing an increase on the scale bothered me.

So I picked one day a week to be my "official" WI and that is generally when I change my ticker. But if I am curious and want to check other days, I do - I never waste the willpower of forcing myself not to weigh in. And one benefit of having done daily WIs for a few months is that I do know it's normal for the scale to go up and down so generally speaking a small increase doesn't bother me too much any more, esp. when I can reasonably explain it.

To me, the bottom line is that while to scale measures progress on losing weight, it's also a tool. What schedule motivates you best? For some people, taking long breaks between WIs works really well. For others, seeing that number every day is what helps keep them on track. I've found that for me personally, this middle ground works well but I also know that I need to WI at least once a week, or I'll risk falling off track otherwise.

Every morning. The number means a lot less when you see it every day.

Only once or twice a month, after TOM, in the morning, after going to the bathroom and totally naked.

If I weigh too often I become obsessed with the number.

ditto. I used to think it was obsessive to weigh in every day, but now I see that it works for me.

Oh, and it has to be the same floor tile.

Every morning, but I only have one official weigh in day once a week to count towards my weight loss. I weigh every day to see what might cause fluctuations and it helps keep me on track. Some days I don't weigh in, but it doesn't bother me, it's not super crucial.

I jump on the scales once a week at the same time after breakfast on a Wednesday morning. Guarantees a consistent reading, rather than weighing in at different times of the day

Every morning, before eating or drinking.

During my weight loss phase, I weighed every day. I liked being able to see the results that different foods had on my progress, liked being able to see how my body reacted to extra sodium, or extra protein, or whatever. It became a bit of a science experiment and I learned a lot that has helped me in maintenance.

In maintenance I weigh once a week. I also wear clothes that really fit without a lot of room to spare so I'm usually aware during the week if the number is trending upwards, but trying to stay the same is a different kind of battle.

Exactly the same for me.

I weigh every morning right now. When gaining weight, I didn't weigh for weeks (or months) at a time because I didn't want to see the evidence.

I was going to only record weekly, but my second WI didn't show a loss on Monday--although it did both Sunday and Tuesday. DH suggested I weigh daily and record in MFP daily so that the fluctuations wouldn't upset me so much. So, that's what I'm doing.

I weigh first thing in the morning--after toilet, before shower, naked. I sometimes want to step on the scale in the evening but I don't let myself.

I think I'm going to buy a digital scale--I just hope it doesn't up my weight when changing scales--that would be discouraging, even if more accurate.

I weigh everyday. I also graph my weight, it helps put things in perspective.