The Scale!
- Thread starter EHinata
- Start date
BobbyBrown
New member
I think we're supposed to weight ourselves once or twice a week, but most of the time I can't help weighing myself every second day.
My problem is that if I do that, I get excited/depressed about small changes.
My problem is that if I do that, I get excited/depressed about small changes.
there are two different schools of thought on it.. and i think a person has to do what's best for them.
Weekly weighing - you tend to see bigger changes and it's more motivating... BUT if there's an increase, it can be frustrating to drop 5 lbs instead of 1.
Daily Weighing - smaller changes so it's less motivating, but if there's an increase, youcan make a mid week adjustment and not end up with a 5 lb gain. and if you know you are weighing in daily, you might be less tempted to polish off that cheesecake because you know you have to get on the scale in the am.
I'm a daily girl myself.. it's just habit now..
Weekly weighing - you tend to see bigger changes and it's more motivating... BUT if there's an increase, it can be frustrating to drop 5 lbs instead of 1.
Daily Weighing - smaller changes so it's less motivating, but if there's an increase, youcan make a mid week adjustment and not end up with a 5 lb gain. and if you know you are weighing in daily, you might be less tempted to polish off that cheesecake because you know you have to get on the scale in the am.
I'm a daily girl myself.. it's just habit now..
twolilangels
New member
We had a broken scale for the longest time, then I finally broke down and bought a new digital scale...nothing fancy...I wanted to be able to weigh myself here at home more regularly rather than having to go to Curves whenever I wanted to weigh in...Funny thing is it sat in my kitchen for probually 2 weeks and everytime we walked through the kitchen we all would stand on it...even my 2 year old, LOL...We still stand on it all time, Im talking everyday all throughout the day...Usually however I count my wieght on the weigh in days and then on wednesdays I jump on and take note of that weight also...
mikelikes2bike
New member
For the most part I'm once a week, but lately I've been stuck and have been checkin in twice a week now. Curiosity gets the best of me 
Its best just to do it once a night/fortnight on one of those big scales you find at chemists for 30p. They are most accurate. You wont see any stable results over 1 day, it takes a week or 2 to see a proper weight change which will not go heavier as long as you dont eat too much. Weighing every day isnt a good thing to do at all.
Its also better that way because you dont see a .1/.2 difference, as the weight loss will build up and you should be pleasantly suprised with say 3.5 lb over a week.
Its also better that way because you dont see a .1/.2 difference, as the weight loss will build up and you should be pleasantly suprised with say 3.5 lb over a week.
M2M
New member
There's a study published in Prevention Magazine that would contridict the above opinion.
Like Mal said, you have to find what works for you - if you don't mind the small ups and downs of daily fluctuations then weigh daily, if it drives you crazy, weigh less.
Here's the article:
People who are trying to either lose weight or avoid gaining do better by weighing themselves daily, according to a new study in the December 2005 issue of Annals of Behavioral Medicine.
The research team evaluated self-weighing practices of more than 3,000 people participating in either a weight loss program or a weight gain prevention program. The study's key finding: Higher weighing frequency was associated with greater 24-month weight loss or less weight gain.
Says lead researcher Jennifer Linde, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota: "If people see that their number has gone up, they may realize it's time to do something. It's probably easier to make that small correction than to try to compensate after gaining a lot of weight."
The first study group consisted of 1,800 obese or overweight adults enrolled in a weight loss program. Participants all had a body mass index (BMI) of at least 27. They were randomly divided into three groups: a telephone-based weight loss intervention, a mail-based weight loss intervention, or a usual-care control condition. The researchers weighed them every 6 months for 2 years.
The other group consisted of 1,226 overweight adults--BMI above 25--enrolled in a weight gain prevention program. They were randomly divided into three groups: an educational weight control intervention, the same educational intervention plus a reward for returning self-monitoring postcards, or a minimal-contact control condition. The researchers weighed the participants at the study's outset and every year for 3 years.
For the weight gain prevention group, the researchers found that "the control group decreased weighing over time, and both intervention groups increased weighing over time." Even though weight maintenance was the goal for this group, daily weighing led to weight loss at the 12- and 24-month time points.
Well-known behavioral programs such as Weight Watchers have not widely recommended that followers weigh themselves daily; instead, many programs recommend weekly self-weighing. Public health recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control do not include self-weighing at all.
The researchers say their results suggest that "clinical as well as public health recommendations for regular weighing should be considered."
"It is not surprising that daily weighing correlates with success--people who do well like the feedback," says Kelly D. Brownell, director of the Yale Center for Eating and Weight Disorders. "I suspect it helps people who are succeeding and is a problem for people who are not losing or losing slowly, but the only way to tell is with a randomized trial that assigns people to different weighing schedules."
Thats only one opinion though, just like mine is. Its best not to every day though, who wouldnt get annoyed if one day it says you are heavier than you were the day before, then the next day it says you are a lot lighter than you were that day before?
Still best to let the pound loss add up so you get a nice big weight loss figure after the end of the week/fortnight.
If you are obsessing with your weight every day on the scales you are not doing it right. Also, if water retention shows you are a lot heavier you will just get stressed and annoyed, which isnt good for you as it makes your immune system weaker. And you dont want that all thru a diet.
Still best to let the pound loss add up so you get a nice big weight loss figure after the end of the week/fortnight.
If you are obsessing with your weight every day on the scales you are not doing it right. Also, if water retention shows you are a lot heavier you will just get stressed and annoyed, which isnt good for you as it makes your immune system weaker. And you dont want that all thru a diet.
But still at the end of the day, there is no fact behind this. The ammount of people who thought it was better to weight in every day from those 3000 all have their opinions. If you look at it logically, you could ask 3000 other people to take part in the experiment and most of those would think its better not to weigh every day, and get better results. It was just by chance that most found it better to weigh in every day.
comment deleted - moderation
Last edited by a moderator:
changeforlife
New member
I think weekly is best. Only because it REALLY frustrates me when I step on the scale daily and see no change.
taking measurements is an excellent thing to do - especially if you're doing a lot of working out...
Amunet
New member
I WAS checking my weight every single day.
I've been trying to get out of that habit though b/c watching the scale fluctuate so much was driving me crazy.
I'm down to about every other day or more, but I want to get to once a week.
You just have to do what works for you.
If you want to check everyday and it doesn't bother you to see the scale go crazy... then stick with that. If you feel more comfy doing weekly.. then do that way.
Just gotta find what you like
I've been trying to get out of that habit though b/c watching the scale fluctuate so much was driving me crazy.
I'm down to about every other day or more, but I want to get to once a week.
You just have to do what works for you.
If you want to check everyday and it doesn't bother you to see the scale go crazy... then stick with that. If you feel more comfy doing weekly.. then do that way.
Just gotta find what you like
Last edited:
M2M
New member
No easyE, again, perhaps you didn't read the study. The study was *performance* based - not opinion based. They didn't just ask 3,000 people what their opinion was. They looked at the actual weight at 12 month and 24 month intervals and found that the people who checked their weight daily lost more weight and kept it off for longer periods of time.
That's not merely an "opinion"
That said - everyone has to do what they're comfortable with. If seeing daily fluctuations drives someone crazy, then don't weigh daily. It is an *individual* choice but the statistic supports daily weighing, so if that's something a person can live with, there is nothing wrong with it.
hmmm....
Dieting is also about healthy living. You have to change your lifestyle completely if you want to keep the weight off. How can you enjoy life if you are on the scales every day?
You should just create a diet plan thru trial and error, see the effects it has on your body and if the effects are good, keep the diet plan and weigh in every week/fortnight until you need to change the plan for some reason. That way you dont need to stress over the scales all the time. I dont see how checking your weight every day could possibly help you lose weight. There is probably an experiment out there which tested the exact same thing and found that most people lost more weight by weighing in every week or so. One experiment you found doesnt prove anything, it just means that for the selected people (whom are nothing compared to the worlds population) lost more weight from weighing every day. I dont believe that works, especially in the long run.
nvme
New member
I check everyday , as a woman especially, my weight varies bloating etc -
I can imagine my freakout if I waited one week got on a saw a small gain do to my every changing freaky body (haha) I'd be depressed. My weight varies usually 1-4lbs daily depending time and other factors of course (lowest always in the am) .
It really comes down to what your comfortable with.
I can imagine my freakout if I waited one week got on a saw a small gain do to my every changing freaky body (haha) I'd be depressed. My weight varies usually 1-4lbs daily depending time and other factors of course (lowest always in the am) .
It really comes down to what your comfortable with.
M2M
New member
I agree with you.
Many people enjoy their life just fine checking their weight every day. Just because it might bother you, does not mean it bothers everyone.
That is pretty much what most people do - regardless of how often they weigh.
NOT everyone stresses.
Of course not, because you didn't read the article
Checking your weight every day CAN and DOES possibly help you lose weight - that doesn't mean it's right for *every* body.
Your one stop answer dosn't apply to everyone either.
If you have any studies to provide, I'd be very happy to read them. If not, it goes back to individual *choice* and *preference*
LOL! Ummm...ok.
And there's one opinion.
