Okay, so there's nothing wrong with weighing daily, if that works for you. I just liked the sound of the title.

Normally I *do* weigh daily, once, first thing in the morning. It keeps me on track and I don't stress too much about the fluctuations. But every so often I start to obsess about the number, and at the end of last month that started to happen. Mostly because I was stressed out about some personal life nonsense and went from being right on the cusp of the 140s back up to almost 160 (!) practically overnight. It was pretty depressing.

I was so stressed out that I had two periods last month, which did not help. It was pretty weird, and it was not helping my stress levels. So I decided to stay off the scale until December. But the stress didn't go away with the scale, and instead of focusing on my health and fitness like I said I was going to, I went off the rails a little (okay, a lot) on my diet.

The upside is that I kept up with my workouts. The downside is that I still gained back six pounds (for real pounds, not water weight) this month. I'm down two now, but I'm still not back at my ticker weight. Things are going back in the right direction now that I'm weighing daily again and sticking with my diet. Sugar is banished, and getting the carbs back under control is going okay.

I know what I need to do, of course -- I've been at this over three years now, I better know by now! -- it's just that sometimes doing it is tough. So here's my public declaration of re-commitment. And a promise that there will be no more scale breaks of more than a day or two. It just doesn't work for me, apparently.

I have to weigh in daily or I think "oh I'm doing good" then I weigh in and there is no loss...

Currently my mom's in town and though I'm eating modest portions I'm definitely not following my diet 100% - she's only here two weeks I figure if I at least maintain I'm good.

Hey it's all about progress- it's good you stopped it before you gained back 20 or more lbs or something!

Congratulations on your loss so far- it's amazing

this too: sorry you were so stressed out. Can you plan what you're going to do and eat when life gets that bad? Can you find something else to do other than eat. Make a rule maybe not to go into the kitchen if it is not part of your planned eating time? Yoga or reading or getting out and walking or calling a friend, take a bath, listen to music etc. Just some easy ideas. I know a tiny bit as I am an emotional eater and eat when stressed and I am naturally stressed out most of the time. Well not all the time. I do get stressed easy. So I dont buy the stuff I cant eat and have a lot of carb free and low cal stuff around for those evenings when I want a snack. Do you pray? I know that works for many if you believe of course. Just a suggestion. I hope the stress is out of your life cause that sounded really difficult. I hope life gets back to normal for you. Hang in there, take each day and start over, that is all we can do. I messed up last night due to being too hungry and not eating on time which is a problem when not home.
Oh well.
As far as weighing in daily I like to do that when I am losing. If I am gaining a bit I get mad at myself if it was due to me eating. Then I wait a few days of eating right and then weigh in again.

I like to weigh in daily so that I am not surprised at the end of the week. I weigh daily even if I know that I didn't eat correctly. Like last night my hubs and I went on a date and we went to Olive Garden, I only hate half my meal and didn't go over my cals for the day. Even when that said I know it has more salt and fat than anything I normally eat. The scale showed it with retaining my water and the food not digesting as fast as the veggies, fruits, and chicken does. I am a believer in the weighing daily if it works for one. If it doesn't work for someone then to each their own.

ETA: CONGRATS on losing what you have!

I weigh once a day, occasionally more often (if I know I'm retaining water, it helps remind me to drink the extra water that will help eliminate the excess).

When I forget or avoid daily weighing, I backslide.

I'm with you, OP. Mostly daily weighing works for me, especially in the early stages. If I don't weigh in the run up to finally getting started, I never do start. Then the first few days or weeks when it rolls off, well, trickles quickly, it's great. I then usually hit a slower patch or a bit of a rollback and I find daily weighing really messes with my mind.

Carolyn you know what came to mind when I read our post...your online name... thistoo...is that from this too shall pass?

Weighing daily huh? Doesn't weight fluctuate a lot? A lot meaning a pound or two? For me I think it would make me focus on the weight...the numbers... I will give this some thought and come back to read what people write.

Carolyn...**deep breath**this too shall pass! xoxo

Cathy

Yep, the weight does fluctuate alot - but as for focusing on the numbers - it's actually helped me do the reverse. Since I understand the fluctuations, I'm less concerned when I see them.

When I only weighed weekly, I was traumatized if I saw a gain or a turtle (turtle is a term used in TOPS to describe a no-loss week).

I also tended to blame even the smallest of mistakes for that gain or turtle, when it might just have been the sodium in the previous day's diet, or the fact that TOM was due...

Weighing daily helped me see how much fluctuation is normal. It made me realize we are never our weights. Weight is always a range, not a specific number.

It makes it difficult to quantify weight loss in the way we're used to, but that's because we assign too muchy importance to the number in the first place.

To help me track progress, I write my daily weight down, but I compare one week's numbers to the previous. I used to say that I only "counted" Mondays, but that implied that only Monday weights counted. I could "average" my weights for each week, I suppose - but I don't see any reason to do the extra math. I just keep in mind that the trend is important, not any individual day's numbers.

I'm mostly at peace with my need to weigh almost daily. I only stop weighing for a couple of days in a row when I know there's a reason outside of my own behaviour that is causing the scale to stall or bounce back a little, and all I'm doing is winding myself up and making myself miserable. When I absolutely KNOW it's not my caloric intake that's the problem, it's just cycle-related water retention, or possibly a bit too much sodium, or just my body pausing for a week or two after a series of big losses, I will get off the scale for a few days to spare my sanity, but really, that doesn't happen very often. I know it isn't for everybody, but most of the time, I really do need that daily feedback.

I actually keep track of the daily weight as well as the average. Daily fluctuations don't bother me; I realize that they're as much about salt and whether or not I've pooped (TMI?) as they are about real weight loss! So I weigh daily and it goes onto a graph in Excel; that way I can easily see that I am trending down even though the line is jagged.

I also keep an eye on the weekly average; that one was a real eye-opener. Take this week, for example. My official weigh-in day is Friday, and I'm up 1 pound over last Friday's weight. Should I freak out? Nope. I ate out on Thursday (salt) and my average over the week is actually down by .5 pounds. So I'm still heading in the right direction. Daily weights actually mean very little to me; it's the trend over time that matters. If the next several weeks each bring a net gain of 1 pound, then it's time to reassess my strategy of food and exercise.

When I'm OP, I weigh daily. When I "forget" to weigh I'll "forget" to be OP that day. I noticed the connection awhile back (and I know it's different for everybody)

I'm also afraid of weighing on the wrong day. What if you weigh in on the one day you've had 2 pounds of water gain? I'm still immature enough to let that be an excuse to say, "Well, that's not fair. Guess I'll eat whatever I want." I really am trying to outgrow that In the meantime, daily weighing is part of my accountability to myself.

Caroline, you are doing so well, and are so close....I hope this gives you the extra kick to go the distance.

I weigh every morning and record it... and I do freak out a tiny bit if my weight goes up day after day after day ESPECIALLY if it's not due to my food in the slightest. BUT I've learned to watch trends... charts and graphs really help me with that aspect.

It was heartbreak! Not a normal stressor for me, so I handled it pretty badly. Normal stress (work stress, for instance) doesn't make me emotionally eat anymore, because I recognize it and have coping behaviors for it. But rejection is something I haven't allowed myself to deal with in so long that I wasn't really prepared for it. (I drank a lot of beer, which didn't help. Yesterday I poured the rest of it down the sink because I clearly can't keep it around right now.)

But now that I've dealt with the heartbreak, I am focusing on the fact that I put myself out there again. I am proud of myself for being brave enough to do it after hiding from the world for so long. The outcome sucked, but that's life.

It *is* from 'this too shall pass', yes! I started a weight loss blog on Livejournal years ago (right around the time I joined 3FC), and the name was a) available and b) sort of relevant at the time. I think it still works, and it's something I need to keep in mind more often, clearly!

Weight does fluctuate an awful lot. For some people weighing weekly or monthly or whatever works best, but for people like me, that number is what keeps us vigilant. It's obvious to me now that if I'm not weighing more or less daily, I am going to start slipping. The fluctuations don't really stress me out anymore, though the really did in the beginning.

I put my weight in my Google Calendar every morning. That way it's there for me to look at every day when I'm at work, and I can see the pattern over the course of the month (or year or however far I need to go back to get me through that day!). It really does help to have it recorded somewhere.

Of course, having said all that, my scale display needs new batteries (the fancy kind, of course). I will have to find some tomorrow before work so I can keep myself honest.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Even when I don't have a lot of time to post here (which is pretty much all the time), it helps to check in on everyone else's progress. You guys are awesome.