How often do you weigh yourself?
 

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.

Originally Posted by krampus:
Every morning. The number means a lot less when you see it every day.

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.

Originally Posted by Pink Hurricane:
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.

Exactly the same for me.:high:

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.

Εvery day. Sometimes, every time I go to the bathroom. It's obsessive alright, but I don't let it get to me, so I don't mind. I like to see the fluctuations. I've tried weighing once a week, but that's when I really got obsessive. I just can't stay away from the scale. Since I'm desensitized to it, so to speak, it's fine.





















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My official weigh ins are every other Friday. Depending on how on track I'm staying, I tend to weigh myself every few mornings because I'm excited to see how doing well yesterday did. SO it varies. Some weeks when I get off track and feel bloated I don't even step on it because I'll get discouraged at a flimsy gain. I always weigh myself in the morning after using the bathroom before I eat, drink or shower.

I find it helps to keep my scale in my bathroom cabinet to keep myself from weighing obsessively.

First thing every morning. I record it every day in MFP and then 'officially' once a week in my diary. It's not a big deal for me.

I weigh myself everyday, but like most people I have an official weigh-in day, Wednesdays.

I weigh every morning and record every change in FitDay.

While my balance scale was expensive, it is very consistent. I believe it and I don't obsess. I definitely recommend the balance scale if you care to spend the money. I got mine at Amazon and I think it was about $170 with shipping.

I also weigh in first thing every morning, after I go to the bathroom and before breakfast. Thursday is the "official" day. Sometimes... if I have a particularly large BM, I will check the scale again :)

I bought a digital scale yesterday. It is basically consistent with our dial scale but I like seeing a definite number rather than trying to guess if it's on 22 23 or 24.

Every morning and then I record that weight in MFP. I like to do that. Not sure why, but it makes me feel better and on track everyday.

Before I workout and after I workout.

Thank you for all of the suggestions!

I think I'm probably going to bump up from once a month to once a week just to be safe. I still feel like for me personally, every day would lead me back on that path of becoming obsessed with my weight. And I'm not confident in my numbers yet that I can say I won't feel disappointment, even if I know logically it's just a food difference.

I just wanted to apologize for all the 3 in my last post. What I'm about to say is completely true. My cat likes to talk on the internet. She's posted many times before, but I normally see it and delete it. This time I was posting a quick reply and because of all the times she hit enter, I didn't see it. I'm sorry.:p

I weigh myself every day in the morning in the buff before I have breakfast. It is a daily reminder to keep on track. As soon as my weight goes down I count it as a loss. Weight fluctuates from day to day so I don't worry if my weight bounces back up a few pounds. I just focus on long term loss.

The bottom line is you have to find out what works best for you and keeps you motivated instead of discouraged!

Marniadec, that's hilarious! When I saw your post, I figured it was cat. :)

chellez, I'm a once a week weigher too. Same day, same time, same clothes (or lack thereof).

Originally Posted by forkeeps:
chellez, I'm a once a week weigher too. Same day, same time, same clothes (or lack thereof).

I definitely think lack thereof is best. A girl at my gym was telling me how she weighs in with clothes on and after she eats and it sounded like a basis for a math equation I'm not interested in! :dizzy: I'd rather just wake up, get on, get off and get it over with.

I weigh myself every morning after I wake up, after I use the bathroom and before I get dressed for the day. The little fluctuations are frustrating, but I try really hard not to let them bother me. I think I would fall off plan very quickly if I weighed once a week or less often, so this works best for me.

Originally Posted by Marniadec:
Εvery day. Sometimes, every time I go to the bathroom. It's obsessive alright, but I don't let it get to me, so I don't mind. I like to see the fluctuations. I've tried weighing once a week, but that's when I really got obsessive. I just can't stay away from the scale. Since I'm desensitized to it, so to speak, it's fine.

Ditto. Marniadec took the words out of my mouth.

i used to daily but now only once or twice a week. my losses have slowed down as i've become closer to my goal weight.

Originally Posted by chellez:
I definitely think lack thereof is best. A girl at my gym was telling me how she weighs in with clothes on and after she eats and it sounded like a basis for a math equation I'm not interested in! :dizzy: I'd rather just wake up, get on, get off and get it over with.

Yes, definitely! I think that is one reason why not being consistent of when and under what conditions we can weigh ourselves can make us batty. When I was first trying to figure out how often to weigh myself I used to do it several times a day. The results were very varied based on if I was wearing clothes and how heavy they were, how much I had already eaten or drunk that day, whether or not I had had a bowel movement (I hope that wasn't too much TMI), if I had exercised, etc.. I think that weighing in the morning helps because your body has had some time to settle from the day before. In fact if I forget to weigh myself in the morning before I eat I don't weigh myself at all that day. I know it won't be an accurate comparison to my weight the day before.

I did find though that doing experiments with weighing myself more often gave me enough perspective to be comfortable with weight fluctuations from day to day or hour to hour.

I officially weigh in once per week, but like to hop on daily, mainly so I know what to expect on Sunday. The numbers are pretty up and down but I can usually tell if they are going in a downward trend and I am able to not take daily numbers too seriously. I have considered weighing daily and averaging the weekly number (to compare it to the previous week's average and measure pounds lost), but so far I do not see a need since I have liked my Sunday readings, haha

I weigh myself every Monday, unless it's the beginning of a new month, which I weigh myself then just so I have an accurate weight loss per month as well as per week.