How often is too often to weigh yourself?

I want to stay motivated, but I'm worried It might turn into an obsession. I used to do it every week, but now I do it every two weeks.

[Hidden]

Hi jennywalker,

It's really a matter of personal choice.

Perhaps the more important question is how seriously should you take the weight your body is.

I personally used to weigh myself daily - first thing in the morning, after my first wee and before eating or exercise. It's not a perfect arrangement, but it's probably the most consistent way of doing it.

BUT, I didn't compare my weight on a 'day-by-day' basis.

Actually, I plotted it all in an Excel spreadsheet to end up with a chart and as long I was generally going downwards and not too fast, then fine. If I was losing weight a bit too fast (say over the previous couple of weeks) then I'd peddle back on things a tad.

Your body weight goes up and down during the day as you eat and drink and as you go to the loo and as a myriad of bio-chemical things go on inside it.

What you need to focus on is the trend and the average rate of weight loss. Just use your results your weigh-ins to do that, check things are going in the right direction and at the right sort of rate. And, for sure, most people's weight loss journeys have their blips and spurts (and plateaux, too!).

As long as you're clear on that idea, it doesn't really matter whether you weigh yourself daily, weekly or whatever.

[margrete in reply to Hidden]

I do the same, except that I do it on graph paper rather than Excel.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I've never actually thought about it that way! I might be a bit more motivated to lose the weight if I can see it all laid out in front of me, like on a spreadsheet for example, because I'll be able to see my progress more clearly. I think I'll stick to once every two weeks though.Thanks

[Gramma]

I never weigh myself. After a comprehensive visit to Physio and a discussion with my son (a very fit Royal Marine), I was advised to measure and not weigh. If you are exercising as well as dieting, you will be building muscle as you lose fat. Muscle has a greater density than fat so takes up less space. When I joined a gym (pre Fibro), my trainer never weighed me either, only measured. I hope this makes sense! X.

[Hidden]

I weigh myself on the WiiFit. It provides a graph of both weight and BMI.

[Cleggie34]

I weigh myself twice a week at the moment. I think i'll just do it once a week once that I know I am making progress with a little weight loss.

[Hidden]

Oh and another thought - if you 'plot' your progress in some way, you get the buzz of ticking off those 'mini-targets' / 'milestones' as you travel on your weight loss journey.

I plotted my weight in stones and pounds (to tick off the 'round' stones, e.g.16 st, 15 st, etc.), in kilos (to tick off the 'round' kilos, e.g.105 kg, 100 kg, etc) and in BMI, to tick off that too!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Anything that gets me motivated will help a lot.

I want to lose 27 pounds within a year or two, so I think if I see my progress laid out, like how much I'm expected to lose per week, and try and meet those small goals it might be easier. Still quite hard but I'm getting there!!!

[wisely]

If you are weighing yourself you must also measure yourself, at least your hips and waist.

[Hidden in reply to wisely]

Yeah, I've been told that that method is more effective in measuring health than BMI, but my proportions are a bit out of whack? When I'm losing body mass, I actually put inches around my hips and thighs which is a little disappointing, and gets me down a little. I'll give it a go though!

[wisely in reply to Hidden]

Ideally you'd take your body fat percentage aswell. this is difficult to do accurately on your own. Remember losing muscle will impede your weight loss results - ideally you want to lose fat and increase muscle mass.