An interesting thought on weighing yourself every day

Joenali · March 2012

My tri team is having a weightloss competition. We are tracking food choices (not calories), water intake and workout minutes. On the spreadsheet our coach gave us it has us weighing in every day. Which I questioned right away, as I barely weigh myself as it is.

The coach made a really good point about tracking your weight every day, you can notice fluctuations (which our weight can do daily) compared to actual loss. So yesterday I weighed in at 153 and this morning it was 150. I'm interested in seeing all the ups and downs over the next 6 weeks. Hopefully more downs!!

I think this is kind of an interesting spin on weighing yourself every day

Mrs.AngelaA · March 2012

It is a much better way of "weighing" what you are doing in terms of good health and not just actual numbers. Good idea!

Gummybear · March 2012

ITA. I weigh myself every day, not trying to lose per say, anymore, just maintain, and I am not as obsessed as I've been in the past, but it is SO interesting to see what can cause ups and downs. I don't have AF back yet so I don't have monthly fluctuations, but for me the most interesting is sodium. I have a serious pho obsession and technically, it has very little bulk. But man can that sodium and msg wreak havoc on the scale for days!

BridgetMc · March 2012

I think weighing yourself everyday could be interesting and valuable, as long as you fully recognize that the short-term daily fluctuations aren't real weight gain or loss. Even if you (this is the general you, not directed at anyone specific) intellectually know that you didn't lose three pounds in a day, you have to keep yourself from getting caught up in that and focus only on the long-term trend.

babygirlpriest · March 2012

I'm sure a lot of it depends on the person but I do so much better when I'm weighing myself daily.

I've been losing weight steadily for the last 9 months and a daily weigh-in is necessary for me to keep motivated and on track. Obviously, like OP said, it fluctuates, but seeing a gradual drop keeps me motivated to continue to exercise/cut down on junk/etc.

Additionally, if I'm weighing every day and the scale goes up a bit, it's not this awful, traumatic thing. But if I've been unable to weigh-in for several days or a week and the number goes up, it's upsetting and I lose motivation.

I know it probably sounds weird, but when I check my weight daily, I don't get obsessed with a number. It's just a no-big-deal part of my daily morning routine.

ebeth_msn · March 2012

I've also heard it's a good tool for keeping tabs on your hydration.

I'd be terrible about remembering to weigh myself every day. I'm still working on remembering to weigh myself once a week.

CMarie11 · March 2012

babygirlpriest:

I'm sure a lot of it depends on the person but I do so much better when I'm weighing myself daily.

I've been losing weight steadily for the last 9 months and a daily weigh-in is necessary for me to keep motivated and on track. Obviously, like OP said, it fluctuates, but seeing a gradual drop keeps me motivated to continue to exercise/cut down on junk/etc.

Additionally, if I'm weighing every day and the scale goes up a bit, it's not this awful, traumatic thing. But if I've been unable to weigh-in for several days or a week and the number goes up, it's upsetting and I lose motivation.

I know it probably sounds weird, but when I check my weight daily, I don't get obsessed with a number. It's just a no-big-deal part of my daily morning routine.

I'm with you. I need to weigh myself everyday to kept myself in check. I know that every little loss or gain is not neccesarily "real', but if I ignore the scale for weeks on end I get off track, and 5 pounds sneak back onto the scale.

shorty20 · March 2012

BridgetMc:
I think weighing yourself everyday could be interesting and valuable, as long as you fully recognize that the short-term daily fluctuations aren't real weight gain or loss. Even if you (this is the general you, not directed at anyone specific) intellectually know that you didn't lose three pounds in a day, you have to keep yourself from getting caught up in that and focus only on the long-term trend.

This. I think that's where most people get into trouble, when they believe that they actually gained 5lbs in a day, and freak out about it.

feinicstine · March 2012

I sincerely admire and envy anyone who can weigh themselves daily. I tried it for a while and even though I was cognatively aware of the fact that my weigh was getting far too low, I couldn't bear to see the numbers go up. Going off the deep end is a total understatement.

~NB~ · March 2012

I weigh myself a few times a day, because it gives me a better idea of how much fluctuation is natural for me (2 or 3 lbs per day MINIMUM).

What I don't understand is a weight loss competition where you don't track calories, but you DO track water (which has no calories, carbs, salt, protein, or fat).

kylara111 · March 2012

CMarie11:

I'm with you. I need to weigh myself everyday to kept myself in check. I know that every little loss or gain is not neccesarily "real', but if I ignore the scale for weeks on end I get off track, and 5 pounds sneak back onto the scale.

Same here.

pennypie07 · March 2012

I weigh myself every day, but only "track" when I have a loss (of .5 or greater) and I never track gains...I just have longer gaps in between tracking losses. If that makes sense.

Weighing daily has SO helped me see how much I fluctuate from day to day. But I could see how the ups and downs could drive a person bananas too. I only focus on the downs, and just tell myself as long as I keep (even slowly) trending downward, I'm moving in the right direction. There might be three weeks where I fluctuate in an upwards direction before I can track a loss. With long-term weight-loss, I'm learning about patience and perseverence.

abvernon · March 2012

Given I had an eating disorder and poor body image issues in the past, I personally can not weight myself every day. I do weigh myself once a week, which helps!!

Meinschatz11 · March 2012

babygirlpriest:
I know it probably sounds weird, but when I check my weight daily, I don't get obsessed with a number. It's just a no-big-deal part of my daily morning routine.

This is why I do it.

kat.in.the.hat · March 2012

Meinschatz11:
babygirlpriest:
I know it probably sounds weird, but when I check my weight daily, I don't get obsessed with a number. It's just a no-big-deal part of my daily morning routine.
This is why I do it.

This. I've been weighing myself daily for over two years now (even when I was pregnant with Eliza!) and it's just become one more thing that I do. I take my weight over the week and average it out and that's what I track.

goldfish+ · March 2012

I weigh myself every day too. I know how much I flucuate normally, how much I fluctuate around my period, after I eat too salty of food (Chinese) etc. Every time I've gotten off the weighing every day bandwagon I gain 10lbs. Weighing everyday helps keep me in check. If I see I creep up a few pounds unexplained, I make sure to watch what I eat more closely the next week or so.

JW28 · March 2012

I've been weighing myself every morning for a couple of years now and it's neat to see the numbers in the long term (even if they don't move up or down). I'm trying to lose a little weight now and I would be really frustrated if I only weighed myself once a week or less, since I know that my weight can easily fluctuate by a few pounds depending on what I've eaten recently (say did a big workout and ate back the calories -> bloating), whether I'm dehydrated or not, and if I've gone to the bathroom yet. It's so much easier to track a downward trend when you've got data for every day, instead of only seeing a light day one week followed by a heavy day the next week leading to depressing conclusions that might be wrong.

An interesting thought on weighing yourself every day

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