how often do you weigh yourself...?

[overlandflyer]

is it just an old wive's tale that you should not weigh yourself when trying to lose? i work a lot in my basement and so i pass by a scale dozens of times a day. for about two months now i have been weighing myself at least 3-4 times a day and writing it down. i include a time and i also use a code which is related to what i'm wearing... or not. the result is that i find this amazingly motivating. i highlight highs the last time they're seen and low's the first time they appear.

this morning i hit a new low (a digital scale realatively accurate to +/- ½lb is pretty essential to this). i realize this afternoon that may change, but the motivation sure isn't going to wear off if i see that.

by the way, if you are just starting out i would not recommend this. wait until whatever program you decide on to kick in. i started only after i noticed my belt had shifted two holes to the good side. look up the word hysteresis... nothing changes overnight and initial results will definitely lag behind any process to enact a change.

cheers...gary

 

[Trusylver]

Because weight fluctuates throughout the day, and to a lesser extent day to day, it is not a good idea for some people to weigh often as seeing any slight increase tends to freak some people out and is not good for their mental health.

 

[overlandflyer]

while a snapshot of a single day may look weird...

09/10/2018 ... hsw 204.0 07A sh 200.5 10A st 206.0 03P ... 10A to 04P eating day

when i look at a column that takes in a month, a trend will be visibly obvious... here is a month worth of mostly early morning weigh-ins. started and ended at a new low.

View attachment 26305

i also set relatively moderate goals further down in the spreadsheet based on past performance and so far i've met or exceeded every one.

 

[Trusylver]

Most people are not dedicated to looking at trends and only interested in the numbers on the scales at that moment, so while weighing often is fine for some and great for those of us that can be a little obsessive over gathering data for many a minor fluctuation up causes panic. It is a case of not having a single method to suit everybody, in the same way there is no single perfect diet for everybody.

 

[overlandflyer]

this is true... i realize it will be different for everyone. i just wanted to point to the positive aspects that i enjoy seeing/ using for encouragement. i will also repeat that if this is started on day one of your change in diet, you will definitely not see a stable loss for days or even a couple weeks. during this time i think of my body as saying..."this is interesting, let's see if he can keep this up... then i may start changing". so i wait until i actually feel a change, usually in the way clothing fits.

alternately, say on Thanksgiving i decide to can the intermittent fasting and go nuts for a day. after being on this diet for months now, i doubt if i will even see a small ripple in my downward trend given that i return to it the following day. my body dialog will be more... "WTF... let's not do that again!".

perhaps this has something to do with an engineering background... math, tables and stats come pretty naturally to me.

 

[overlandflyer]

well, not getting any feedback on this ... perhaps a topic already well covered. anyway i thought i'd throw one more motivational shot out there...

sometimes i wonder about my digital scale and its moment to moment accuracy. i usually step on and off three times just to make sure i don't get an anomaly, but to give a better check, at times i weigh myself holding something i know to be a certain weight. so it almost always agrees, but then i got to thinking... the 8 lb jug i was holding was the same weight as me holding nothing less than a month ago. i picked up another jug and that was me about 7 weeks ago! gravity is becoming my friend again!

cheers...gary