Do you find that weighing yourself regularly keeps the weight down?

[Eternal Sunshine]

I found that in stages of my life where I didn't count calories or weighed myself, I gained weight. I think that one year where I ate what I wanted and didn't own a scale, my weight went up by 20lbs I kept telling myself that it's just water weight all year.

 

It's mostly due to the fact that I am always hungry and can easily eat 3000 calories a day if left unchecked. If I don't have access to a scale, I know that I can eat around 2000 calories a day without gaining. I find that mathematical principles help with the objectivity. I also like to eat what I want when there is a special day and then just subtract those calories from the next day's allowance.

 

So yeah, when they tell you "go by the clothes" or "don't weigh yourself every day", if I went by those comments I would have long since been obese

[Robert Z]

Unless you are in peak physical condition or aren't exercising, you should be adding muscle, in which case weight is a terrible indicator of body fat.

[Standard-Fare]

I've never owned a scale. The "go by the clothes" rule does work for me. I can tell I'm gaining weight when my pants get hard to zip and my bra gets tight. That's enough for me to say "OK, time to trim down a little." If it get to the point where the majority of my wardrobe doesn't fit anymore, that's when I know the weight gain is a bigger deal and I need to take more serious measures.

 

Obsessing over fluctuations in numbers on the scale just doesn't seem productive to me. But everyone should do what makes the most sense for themselves personally.

[Imported]

I weigh myself everyday, unless I am away. I even bought a wifi scale to make it even easier.

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Fitbit-Wi-Fi-Smart-Scale-Black/dp/B0077L8YOO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422367421&sr=8-1&keywords=fitbit+aria

[Robert Z]

I weigh myself everyday, unless I am away. I even bought a wifi scale to make it even easier.

 

Sure, but you are probably looking for your weight to increase!

[Imported]

Nope. Looking to stay the same.

 

 

An increase or decrease of @5lbs is easy and quick to deal with and you won't notice that with the "how your clothes fit" method.

 

 

I like micro-corrections. It's a much more steady course. By the time you notice clothes are too tight, you're dealing with 10+lbs.

Edited January 27, 2015 by Imported

[Robert Z]

Nope. Looking to stay the same.

 

An increase or decrease of @5lbs is easy and quick to deal with and you won't notice that with the "how your clothes fit" method.

 

I like micro-corrections. It's a much more steady course. By the time you notice clothes are too tight, you're dealing with 10+lbs.

 

Since you work out 2 to 3 hours a day, you are probably in peak physical condition and an exception to the rule. Beyond that, you can see natural variations of 5 lbs. Water retention alone can account for that. You may be chasing ghosts half the time.

[Maleficent]

The only thing weighting myself every day did is frustrate me. You shouldn't even weight yourself at different times in the day.

 

I know some popular diet programs require you to weight yourself once a week (always at the same time).

At the moment, I am weighting and measuring myself every month. Take pictures every season.

 

The rest of the time, I gauge my weight based on how my jeans fit.

[seekingpeaceinlove]

I used to weigh myself every day. I was obsessed with the numbers and would stress myself out if I gained even 0.2lbs. I retain a lot of water during PMS week (6 lbs) and even though I knew it would drop right off I would still be upset about it.

 

Now, I'm in the process of losing some weight I gained last year and will use my clothes and how I feel as a guide. I will only weigh myself once a month.

 

Everyone's different, do what works for you.

[Els]

IMO it depends on what you mean by 'regularly'. A year is a long time to go without weighing, but on the other hand everyday isn't necessary, either. Women's weights tend to fluctuate a lot according to your cycle (in addition to normal water weight fluctuation that happens regardless of cycle), so weighing at the same time every month would be ideal.

 

That being said I still weigh every few days. Can't help it. I also definitely have to count calories to maintain my weight - IMO there are only very few lucky women who don't have to (many men don't have to because their daily quota is much higher, lucky fellows). The counting in itself isn't much trouble once you get used to it, as you can do with a ballpark estimate, but I think we also have to take care not to be obsessed about it. Tricky balance.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Elswyth

[Imported]

OK, weight fluctuates.

 

Information is information.

 

I react on the information I have. Not on wet dreams.

 

I weigh myself at "dry weight". Which is right after waking and taking a dump (sorry!). My eating and drinking times are fairly normal and I think the information I get from day to day is pretty accurate and worthy of consideration. When I wake up, my stomach is empty of food and water or damn near and if it's not, I know...cause it feels different. Like if I had a big meal closer to bed time than I normally do, I already know what to expect. But for the most part, by the time I wake and take a piss and a ****, most things that would flucuate my weigh in is gone.

 

Now, lets just say day to day is not accurate no matter what you do. So, what makes weighing once a month more accurate?

 

It doesnt of course. If anything, it'd be worse. You'd have more of a chance for variance. You're either playing blind and getting lucky or you're playing catch-up all the time where you really did just gain 10+lbs and now have to go on overload to lose it.

 

I don't consider more information to be a bad thing here if you know how to keep to a standard.

 

An increase or a decrease in weight doesn't bother me. It's just feedback and I react to it.

 

I weigh everyday. My scale logs it to fitbit's servers automatically. I get a nice graph and can see my history. I don't stress over flucuations day to day, but a three day trend of my weight being over my max and I react by cutting calories. I think being over three days in a row is worth a reaction. If you only weigh in once a month, how do you see a trend before it's much later in the game?

 

It works great. There is no pont where my clothes are too tight. And my clothes are slim fit to tailor fitted. My weigh in chart is a fairly level line and has been for years.

 

I have used weighing in regularly and counting calories long ago. And then when I got to the shape I wanted, I stopped both. Slowly I crept up in weight till it was a struggle to drop again. I found I don't really need to count calories so long as I stay focused at my target weight and staying focused at my target weight requires I know my weight day to day. Works for me!

 

Also, my workout is balanced against each other. I run. I lift. They kinda oppose each other if you really go at it. I have a feel for pace and time for 3 miles and a feel for my max deadlift for reps. I do better in one, but worse in the other....balance is off. Generally, when balance if off, it's because my weight fluctuated. Usually I gained weight and deadlifting becomes easier, but running at pace becomes difficult. I like that I can lift more! But I don't like my running being more difficult and am not going to sacrafice one for the other.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Imported

[guest569]

Definitely helps me!! My weight goes up and down quickly so if I'm not careful i will start gaining weight.

 

I weigh myself daily. I noticed over the past few months i gained a few kgs, so I have now lost it again. Better to know now than wait until my clothes become too tight.

[Emilia]

I've only weighed myself once in the last few months, when I came back from holiday and guessed I was about 2 lbs lighter and I was right. It's all about how the clothes fit me. I can see if my body fat % is getting lower or higher.

 

Edit: when I started training harder I weighed myself every day I was in the gym before I started to make sure my weight was stable. It was so I stopped.

[Els]

 

Now, lets just say day to day is not accurate no matter what you do. So, what makes weighing once a month more accurate?

 

It doesn't for men, but it does for women because of the way water weight fluctuates during the menstrual cycle. If a woman weighs herself at the same time in her cycle every month, it's significantly more accurate than weighing at different points.

 

I like weighing every few days and taking an average anyway, but once a month isn't bad.

[guest569]

I gain 2kg just before my period and lose it just after. Often i dont realise and get upset over having gained 2kg before realising why!!

[xxoo]

 

I weigh myself at "dry weight". Which is right after waking and taking a dump (sorry!). My eating and drinking times are fairly normal and I think the information I get from day to day is pretty accurate and worthy of consideration. When I wake up, my stomach is empty of food and water or damn near and if it's not, I know...cause it feels different. Like if I had a big meal closer to bed time than I normally do, I already know what to expect. But for the most part, by the time I wake and take a piss and a ****, most things that would flucuate my weigh in is gone.

 

Now, lets just say day to day is not accurate no matter what you do. So, what makes weighing once a month more accurate?

 

For the same reason that you like to weigh at the same time every day, before eating and after evacuation, so that you can compare apples to apples.

 

Women get bloated in the week or so before their periods. Have you never noticed how much bigger a woman's breasts alone can get before her period starts? So if a woman wants to compare apples to apples, she must consider what week of the month it is regarding her cycle. Weighing in the week after her period ends is the closest to "dry weight".

[regine_phalange]

Absolutely. The one year I wasn't using the scale myself I gained 20 lbs I didn't realize because most of my pants had elastic in them and fit me. I was also wearing flowy skirts a lot. And my waist is always thin. So I was tricked. But when the summer arrived and I tried on some short summer dresses from last year, I wasn't impressed with my butt playing peek-a-boo

 

Now I weigh myself almost daily, but I don't freak out if the scale shows 2-3 lbs up. It always happens to me after exercising and some days of the month.

[deathandtaxes]

I weight myself almost everyday. Always first thing in the morning. My weight will vary daily. But what I'm on the lookout for are the longer trends. So if it starts trending too far one way or the other, then I cut back or eat more. It's a great tool for me. That, and doing an ok job of keeping my eye on what I eat. At this point in my life I'm just trying to remain at a steady weight. I lost a lot of weight many years ago and this is just one way to help it stay off. That and being active.

[Ninjainpajamas]

I don't really need a scale too often...maybe weigh myself once a month or a month and a half. I know when I've been eating too much or too poorly...which is usually a result of going out or overdoing it on meals when you're already full, my stomach is already used to the regiment so i can tell when it's more normal visually (mostly serving size) and by sensation of when I'm feeling full.

 

So for myself I know from my diet and portion sizes whether it's going to cost me or not on the scale.

 

I weighed myself recently after a few months, it felt like forever since the last time I stepped on the scale but it wasn't a surprise, it was exactly where I expected it to be.

 

I think checking your weight obsessively, which is every day or even every other day is a bit too much, you start to focus on the number rather than the focus on what you're trying to accomplish day to day overall...and I'm not sure what people are expecting to see, it's almost like that validation to their fears because they know they've been eating poorly, then it's like "ouch, I gained some pounds, I feel so horrible about myself now"...like it's a way of keeping yourself down and unmotivated almost because you "failed"...instead of seeing the big picture that you can correct those mistakes over the course of the month, rather than just looking at things day by day.

 

If I'm working out regularly, eating right, I can feel those affects. When I'm eating greasy, eating too much, I feel more bloated and sluggish and therefore I already know what that scale is going to say. I think you only need to worry about it when you know you've been "bad"...otherwise if you're working hard and even eating less, you know the numbers are going to drop...so I'd rather check the scale after I know I've been putting in the hard work, it's more of a reward than a punishment that way, and if you're doing things right in terms of exercise then you can see the results visually as well, but it's never a day to day thing for myself other than sticking to my diet.

Edited January 28, 2015 by Ninjainpajamas

[WasOtherWoman]

Yep, every day, same time, same scale (unless I am traveling). Always will.

 

If i weigh my normal weight, i continue doing what I normally do that day. If i am a bit higher, I eat a bit less. Next day I am right back where I belong.

 

I am 51 and weigh the same as I did in high school (and believe me, my body would like to be heavier.. went through a three year chubby period in my twenties, never again) . It has worked for me for many years. Personally, I think it is the only way to go. Especially for women, most of us can gain five pounds in a week very easily.

 

Easy peasy.