Hey everyone!

I've got something on my mind so I thought I'd share here I'm trying to decide what type of weigher to be. I've tried weekly, I've tried giving up my scale except on Sundays, I've tried daily- and my weight is STILL always on my mind!

I am currently weighing in daily and I can't decide if that's healthy FOR ME or not (I know we'll all be different!) Essentially, I am trying to understand how my weight fluctuates to better learn about my own weight loss patterns. Seeing those fluctuations, from this perspective then, would be empowering. For example, I was up 3.0 lbs from Sunday. I want to learn how to say "Okay, cool- that was from those deliciously salted mashed potatoes!"

On the other hand, maybe I should just weigh in once a week because we all know how the fluctuations can cause us to worry through the day anyway. BUT, ahaha just to complicate things, I don't want to start ignoring higher weigh ins/fluctuations because if it IS a true gain, I need to be aware of it and conquer it, instead of ignoring it for ages like last time!

I know there is no right or wrong answer here, but it just helps to throw things out there! At the end of the day, I am still just about 3 months into this journey and still learning what kind of "loser" I am (as in weight loss loser- lol not being mean to myself!)

Thanks for reading! If I ever decide, I'll let you know!

-Sarah

When I first started out, I was a daily weigher and it did get to a point where I'd let a "gain" affect my mood so I stayed away for a while only weighing in once a week but now after a long while, it's more of keeping track, and knowing mostly why I am up (alcohol, delicious salty food, TOM, etc). I still haven't found a true pattern other than TOM because I don't always eat the same food every day. Also, my weight is somewhat on my mind a lot but not as much as it was in the beginning so I'd say that is normal.

Only you will know whether or not if it is healthy for you to weigh in daily but it seems to me that you are doing just fine. Congrats on your progress!!!

When I first started working out and getting serious about losing weight I was a daily weigher. Every single day I would be getting on the scale to see where I was. But then I started to get SO frustrated if the number went down or if it went up. So I started doing Monday/Thursday/Sunday weigh ins, or whenever I'm at the gym around those times. Monday because the weekend is over and I can see how it affected me. Thursday since it's the middle of the week and Sunday because I'm starting my week. Again, depending on when I go I won't do a Sunday/Monday weigh in since they are back to back.

I like to weigh daily even if it doesn't really mean anything.

Today my scale said I was up over 3lbs from yesterday, yikes!! But I did have salt yesterday and I think I only used salt 3x in the past 8 months so I hope that was part of it. And I worked out a bit hard plus walked a lot yesterday with my boots on. Not sure any of this has to do with the scale but I know I didn't eat over 10,000 extra calories yesterday! I was perfect on plan.

We have to do what is best for us. And I like looking at the scale every day, regardless if it means anything. (I only use my doctor's office as my official weigh-in weekly, and that scale is actually less than my home one!)

For me, weighing in everyday helps me NOT to freak out. I know my body's patterns now. For example, my weight does not go up and down everyday like I see other ppl's do, and I can easily be totally stagnant with my weight for 13 to 14 days, even when I'm averaging about 1000 calories a day.

This is b/c I do not lose weight the week before or during TOM. Before I had logged it long enough to firmly see that trend it was so discouraging to think, 'omg, I'm starving and haven't lost anything for two weeks!'

The one time I DO fluctuate (always up!) is if I have had less that 5 or 6 hours sleep. With my job, I usually have a day or so a week where I only get 2 to 3 hours sleep, and IF I step on the scale after one of those nights, my weight can easily be up a couple of pounds.

For that reason, the one time I do not weigh is if I have had less that 5 hours sleep.

Also, for me, slacking up on daily weigh ins is mentally separating myself from wanting to know where I'm at, and that always means it's b/c I am backsliding a little bit. It's all about accountability and 'looking myself in the face' every morning.

I *think* that if I were subject to bigger fluctuations and more ups and downs that I see, then I may not be so keen on daily weigh ins and it would prove to be more of an emotional roller coaster for me.

You have to kind your happy place with all of this. Does it make you crazier? or more accountable? does it help you to stay on track? or depress/stress you to the point of encouraging poor choices?

edit in: one thing to mention is that sodium does not seem to effect me the way it does others on here. I never monitor my salt intake and having a particularly salty meal does not equate to a gain on the scale with me. I try to eat healthy, but other than that, if I want salt on something, I eat it. I salt my pizzas LOL

Am struggling with weighing myself way to often which includes probally at least 3 times each day. Am determined to break the pattern but have not been able to. It is just so silly of me to constantly thing of my weight.

I like to weigh daily, though I try really hard not to dwell on any numbers I don't like (not always successfully mind you lol) The last two weeks with starting going to the gym 4+ days a week has put my scale on a daily back and forth of a pound or 2 and it's driving me batty. But when I do see an increase on the scale, I stop and think about how I have been the last few days, try and pick out things that could account for the gain. I also like the graphs that daily weighing gives me, I like the visual aspect of it I only weigh once a day though, always the same time, naked, after the bathroom and before the gym or breakfast. I think I would make myself crazy if I weighed myself a bunch of times a day. My scale might just go on strike if I tried that haha! I think that you are probably ok weighing yourself daily, do it for a couple months, track it, graph it, learn some of your body's trends, then decide if you want to keep weighing daily. Unless you find yourself going crazy obsessing over it that is

I tried becoming a weekly weigher and lasted two days. For me, not knowing is what kept my weight on my mind all day long.

Finally, on the third day I couldn't take it, weighed myself, and didn't think about it again.

Not weighing caused more obsession than than weighing every morning did.

I weigh daily because I like to know as much as possible about what my body is doing. While it can get discouraging if I have a gain or stall, I try to look at the bigger picture. I enter my weight into a spreadsheet and graph it, so that I can actually see that overall I'm losing weight even with all the ups and downs.

I can only speak to what I do - it may or may not work for you, as we are all different.

Whenever I dieted in the past, I generally weighed weekly...was never a once-a-day weigher, as I knew it would derail me. For the most part that worked for me, because even if the needle didn't budge, if I had stayed on plan I knew that it would show up eventually.

The last time I decided to try and take off some weight I made the decision to only weigh monthly. It was hard, but I was certainly pleased to see a 6 lb weight loss (I had a little less than 30 to lose). But then I came off the diet I was on (low carb) and switched to my current plan (intuitive eating) which encourages you to ditch the scale. At that point I wasn't ready to do that, and 11 days into my new plan I did decide to weigh, and I discovered I'd lost another 2.6 lbs, which of course was nice.

Even with those two really good weigh-ins I suddenly realized that I was DONE with the scale. Much like I was DONE with dieting itself. At the time I really didn't understand why I decided to give up the scale, but I've since come to the realization that it's likely due to the fact that I've also accepted the possibility that I may never lose another pound. At the last weigh-in I was about 20 lbs overweight...I've gained and lost those same 20 lbs at least a half-dozen times in my adult lifetime. Would I look better without those 20 lbs? Sure. Would my health improve? Probably. But I really don't care, because I know that if I go back on a diet I will inevitably get BACK on that scale and inevitably gain more weight yet again. And I don't want to go there.

Since I've removed the scale from my own life, I've given a lot of thought to it and how that would work for others. I do know that many people use the scale to see if their weight loss program is working & if their loss is not progressing the way they think it should they will "tweak" their program. I totally understand that. But over, and over, and over again on this forum I see people AGONIZING over that number and I think "Why are you doing this to yourselves?"

A bad weigh-in is an automatic trigger for many, many people, yet they continue to pay homage to the almighty scale as if it holds all the answers. And I don't believe it does. We all know how so many things can affect the number on the scale; it is nothing more than a snapshot in time. We can tell by how our clothes fit whether or not we're losing weight. Some people do measurements....if you feel you must have a number to validate weight loss, there's one you can use. But if you don't have a scale you'll still know whether or not you're losing weight.

Pardon me for going on and on about this, but the scale - and peoples' dependency on it - has really become a fascinating issue for me. Now that I've dispensed with my own, I'd love to see people at least consider not using it as their primary method of determining weight loss, or if they must, at least back its use up to once a month. Or less, if they can stand it.

Above all, I believe everyone has to decide for themselves how they are going to incorporate the scale into their own program. But based on what I've read on these forums, I truly believe the scale is over-used by most people trying to lose weight.

If you adopt an intuitive eating regimen it makes sense to lose the scale. I don't think intuitive eating would work for me, though, because my intuition is to eat significantly more than my maintenance needs of 2,000 cals per day. In my case, daily or near-daily weighing is crucial to maintenance success. It's SO easy for me to slip into denial. The scale keeps me honest.

Freelance

For me, my weight is always on my mind. The good news is that, mostly from reading others' experiences on this site, I am better able to cope with the daily fluctuations than I used to be. I generally weigh daily, but small gains don't upset me so much.

I bought a real balance scale. It was almost $200 from Amazon. I believe this scale is telling the truth, and I don't feel so compelled to weigh myself 20 times a day to see how much it varies, because it doesn't vary by any amount that can't be explained by a cup of coffee or a bottle of water. For me it was worth the expense to quell my OCD about weighing.

Once I have one sip of a drink in the morning, I never get on the scale again for the day. That sip (or more) automatically adds weight on!! So weighing just once a day is enough for me to not get stressed out.

Loved reading all these responses and the reasoning behind them. Great thread, NorthernChick!

This is me, too.

One reason that I weigh 4-5 times a week now is that my weight does fluctuate some and I like to see that. If you only weigh once a week, what if that ends up being on that one high day you've had that week? You may never know that you were really 2-3 pounds lighter than that for the majority of the week. My redline is only 5 pounds higher than my normal weight; I don't want to spend a week trying to lose some weight that isn't really even there.

If you're trying to lose, and putting a lot of effort into it, then worrying and obsessing about the scale is perfectly normal. If you were working that hard at something else in your life, you'd want to know if you were getting results, wouldn't you? Of course you would. I think a lot of times, it's obsessing about whether we're obsessing that becomes the obsession and not the number itself.

I weigh daily but I also track daily on a spreadsheet/graph.
The graphing has been crucial for me not to freak out about the day to day fluctuations. Graphics shows me the OVERALL downward trend which is what I really want/need.