When I first started trying to lose weight a couple of months ago I weighed myself several times a day. It was honestly to the point of obsession. I would go to the bathroom JUST to weigh myself. Eventually I quit my diet and quit hopping on the scale. I quickly gained back the 15 lbs that took me 3 MONTHS to lose and ended up gaining even MORE. I just started my FINAL lifestyle change yesterday and Ive decided to force myself to weigh in just once a week. The constant fluctuations mess with my head and get me depressed if I see a gain when I know I was following my health plan.
Is it a hinderance do you think? I was weighing once a week, but the last few months Ive found myself stepping on the scale everyday. Im thinking about telling someone to hide the scale until my weigh day, I think its making me discouraged, because everytime I see a pound go up...I get sad.
I think it depends on the individual. From personal experience, I could not handle the daily ups and downs. I used to weigh myself 2-3 times a day (sometimes more!) and it was a complete emotional roller coaster. When the scale was down, I was euphoric, motivated, happy with myself. When the scale was up, I was devastated, felt like all my hard work was useless, felt like giving up.
When I changed my life in July 2004, I very firmly made myself get off the roller coaster. I limited my weigh-ins to Sunday morning - get up, pee, strip, weigh, record weight in an excel spread sheet (and my special secret - if I didn't like the weight on Sunday, I allowed myself to weigh myself on Monday, I usually saw some positive change on one of those days).
Graphing my weight loss was really helpful to me, because although I had a few weeks where I didn't lose any weight, or "only" a pound, I really loved looking at the overall downward progression of the chart over months. I could really SEE progress and that I was really losing weight.
Other weight-loss goals are also good. Definitely get your measurements (I waited 2 months to measure, I so wish I had done it on day 1). Make some exercise goals, even if you don't lose any weight that month and the tape measure won't budge, at least you can give yourself a shiny silver star sticker for making your exercise goals for the week. Keep a pair of big pants, try them on and watch them slide down!
And definitely definitely remember all of the factors that can affect the scale that have nothing to do with the weight on your body you want to lose. A glass of water is heavy, dinner is heavy, your period might make you gain 3-4 pounds, salt can make you retain water. Try to wrap your feelings of success around non-scale related factors so you can stay positive and motivated!
I weigh myself weekly......and sometimes bi weekly........this is a must, cuz I remember back in the day when I didn't weigh myself for months on end
and all of a sudden I realized that I gained alot of weight. Now I focus on
eating a lil less and exercising more.....and weighing is a must, weekly.
I think if i did this daily, i would get discouraged especially if the #'s don't go
down.
I am one of the ones who weigh myself every day. I find that it makes me "accountable" to what I eat...for instance, if I know I have six days until next weigh-in to work off something I ate, I am more likely to indulge. I am much less likely to, if I know I am going to weigh myself the next day. It iis interesting to see how much weight fluctuates in a course of a day...I used to weigh myself around 3:30 a.m. some days, after getting up to go to work. After doing a short four-hour shift, I'd be so exhausted from getting up so early for other shift that I'd take a nap, sometimes for 6 hours or so. Waking up, I'd feel thinner, so I'd hop on the scale to find my weight had gone down by a few pounds since just that morning.
If weighing yoiurself daily does nothing more than cause stress, I would stick to weighing in once a week or so. Do what works best for you.
I've been weighing weekly, on a Wednesday, since I started this in January. I like that I can see a (downward) change most times I step on the scale and I'm focusing on a slightly wider frame so it saves me the stress of the daily ups and downs. On the other hand, I can see that being less sensitive to the fluctuations of the scale would be helpful in the long run. There's no harm in trying either - go with what works for you .
If you can handle the daily fluctuations of weight gain/loss - then daily weighing isn't going to be a problem. It seems that a lot of people weigh daily, but can't deal with it LOL!
Keep in mind that it takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound (and the reverse to gain) - so if the scale is up a pound the next day, did you really eat 3500 extra calories?? It's weight loss over the log haul that matters.
I think IF it's causing you to be discouraged.. then YES, it's not a healthy habit for YOU. Our bodies will naturally go up and down and up and down in weight.. even if we have a perfectly healthy day with exercise, we can gain weight the next day- we don't just go down, and down, and down every day. So if you are able to accept that and SEE small gains, I think it's ok to weigh everyday.
I DO weigh everyday.. because it doesn't hurt me, and I know my weight will fluctuate. IF I had a good day, I don't care if I gain.. because I know I had a good day, and that's all that matters to me, kwim? I even get on after a bad day, because I don't believe in "hiding" when I did "wrong".. and seeing a gain because of a BAD day will always snap me back in place
I can't weigh more once a day though (i.e. morning, AND night) because for ME it's too obsessive... but, again, some people CAN and not have issues.. really depends on the person!
I find weighing myself all the time really, really interesting. I know that because I have just excercise or I've just had dinner or it's my period I'm not going to see consistent figures. I just like seeing what the difference is after I have done a certain thing.
Sometimes I weigh myself before and after I pee, just to see how much I peed. >_<
*ahem*
Some people might call that obsessive, haha.
I only count the weight officially on Monday mornings though. Otherwise I think I would get confused and discouraged from not really seeing much of a trend.
Even though I'm losing weight, I don't want it to become the focal point in my life (and I can be really ridiculously obsessive about things -- things can turn badly quickly for me!) so I've decided on a weekly weigh in. I think it depends on the person, though
i am a daily weigher. Honestly it keeps me in check. Sometimes I can go on a hiatus, come back and be up 5 -10lbs on the scale. But since I have decided to weigh everyday, it actually keeps me from going on these hiatuses (sp?)
.
