How often do you weigh yourself when you’re trying to lose weight?

[Anonymous]

I need to see tangible results, but it’s frustrating when there’s a two-pound loss and a one-pound gain again and again. I’d love to be the type who just chucks out the scale, but I’m not. Once a week at the same exact time? Can I hold out?

[Anonymous]

Daily, and track weight in an app or on a spread sheet that will show the overall trendline.

As you noted, weigh fluctuates all the time. This is normal and not really fat gain or loss, just differences in water retention. Once you get used to weighing daily and seeing the overall trend you stop being so concerned with the fluctuations. This is also why more data points is better. If you only weigh once a week the real trend can be masked by a fluctuation. You should also not change anything based on a single days measurements but rather the overall trend. If after a MONTH the trend line is not going down then evaluate what you are doing, but don't change anything until you have given it a solid go.

When you track the trend you will see that even when losing fat the scale number will not go down every day. it will go down, go up a little, go down, spike up, go down,....and so on. But the overall trend should point down.

[Anonymous]

Once a week. But if I get some kind of surprising result I may weigh myself again the next day just to see if it sticks. I also intentionally weigh myself in the middle of the week. I am more likely to eat out or drink alcohol on the weekend and giving my body a few days to deal with any water weight fluctuations seems to work well.

[Anonymous]

I used to weigh once a week because I'm tracking my calories so I "should" be losing. But now I weigh every morning, naked, after peeing. Like a PP said, track the trend. Are you tracking your calories?

[Anonymous]

I weighed myself about 5 or 6 times over the course of losing 40 pounds over 7 months. I didn't get on the scale at all until I was sure I had made decent progress (probably 2 or 3 months into it).

I had an eating disorder in college and associate daily weighing with that mindset. Never again for me but I get that most people don't have this issue.

Obviously, if I were just trying to lose 5 or 10 vanity pounds or something I would weigh myself more often, maybe weekly. I have been maintaining for a couple of years and probably get on the scale once a month.

[Anonymous]

I will pass on a tip I got on this forum. Download the the Happy Scale app (free for most features) so you can see all your weight loss trends. It's the overall pattern that matters--not the day-to-day weight.

[Anonymous]

I agree with the recommendations for an app that tracks the trend. I feel like I lose no weight when I see one pound up, one pound down everyday, but when I look at the graph, I see the trend over time. I've lost 25 pounds this way on the "slow and sustainable" plan.

I use Libra, for android devices (same idea as Happy Scale for apple products).

[Anonymous]

I weigh myself every day even when I’m not trying to lose weight. Only weighing during a diet and not during a time you are trying to maintain a healthy weight means you might miss sow weight gain until it becomes a problem.

I also like to measure my waistline every month or so to make sure I’m still staying on track. Mass is just one metric!

[Anonymous]

Weight loss is NOT linear. There are going to be ups and downs. I like the HappyScale app for tracking my scale numbers. I wish I could admit I weight myself once in the morning, but I also weigh myself before I go to sleep because it's accurate of what I'll weigh in the morning. I probably step on the scale 5 times a day.

[Anonymous]

Get the Happy Scale app. Weigh yourself every morning.

The app either tracks the exact amount you enter or you can select an option where they average it out. If you are losing weight, it will definitely show that and there's no reason to stress about daily fluctuations. I always spike up after a salty meal or a day or two before my period. But the app smooths it all out. Same goes for big drops - yesterday I was 145.5 and today I'm 147.5. I know I didn't really gain 2 pounds overnight, but have PMS AND had a salty/carby dinner last night. Now if it stays at 147.5/148, I'll know I need to buckle down...

[Anonymous]

Weighing once a week isn’t giving you enough data points. You’re not able to tell if your weight gain or loss is due to sodium, PMS etc. start weighing daily and then you can better see the trend.

[Anonymous]

Daily - after I've gone to the bathroom, before I've had anything to eat or drink. I've decided that it is just a data point - and not an issue of worthiness or moral good/bad, and it's actually helpful seeing the daily fluctuations and the longer term downward trend.

Similar reason why I track calories - data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Weighing once a week isn’t giving you enough data points. You’re not able to tell if your weight gain or loss is due to sodium, PMS etc. start weighing daily and then you can better see the trend.

30 days = 30 data points

Get some kind of app that tracks downward trend

[Anonymous]

I weigh myself every 2-3 days. Record it in my fitbit so I can see the trend. I've also recorded my goal in there so it tells me how much I have left to lose, and it's nice to see that number dropping.

[Anonymous]

Daily. When I get out of the habit is when I let weight creep on. Keeps me accountable.