Weighing yourself - too much detail?

[LittleGreyCat]

Part of my routine is a daily weigh in at the same time of my morning routine; after morning coffee and "ablutions". This keeps me aware of my weight and if I am gaining/losing/staying steady.

I'm on a weight loss kick at the moment and started wondering why the weight loss was sometimes inconsistent over a few days.

My scales were set for stones and pounds (old fashioned, me) and I thought I would change it over to pounds in case there was more granularity. Yes, on that setting it weighs to the nearest 0.1 of a pound.

This in turn led me to check how rounding was done with stones and pounds. Turns out that it rounds down; that is everything from 4 lbs to 4.9 lbs shows as 4 lbs.

Tried to put a table in to illustrate but too complicated.

Anyway if you are consistently losing just under a pound a day you will have "no loss" days now and then with no apparent explanation. You can also put on nearly a pound with no apparent gain (I must be O.K. - ate that and stayed the same) and lose nearly a pound with no apparent loss; conversely you can flip between weights if you just lose/gain a couple of ounces.

One good reason perhaps not to weigh yourself every day if you are not on a weight loss kick. Perhaps analogous to how often you test your blood glucose depending on where you are in your diet normalisation.

Anyway, I'll stick with the decimal points for the moment because taking a little bit off every day is very motivational. Went down from 173.6 lbs to 172.9 at last weigh in. Or 12 stone 5 to 12 stone 4.

I will be particularly interested to see if the daily rate of weight loss slows down gradually as I lose more weight.

I think it will also be motivational if weight appears to have plateaued but you are still losing weight at perhaps 0.3 lbs a day which is roughly 2 lbs per week.

Your mileage may, of course, vary.

 

[dawnmc]

Flummoxed too. For almost 2 weeks I have cut out any grain, and kept my carbs below 20g a day. At the end of the 1st week I had gained 3 lbs!!! Will check again a the end of week 2. Getting over a stinking cold too so haven't eaten very much, but still...

 

[zand]

If I am concentrating on weight loss I weigh every morning. If I am not, I weigh every 4 or so weeks. I find it is helpful to know the daily fluctuations so that I don't get to the end of a week/month thinking I haven't lost anything when in fact I have lost some but it is only a temporary weight gain hiding this fact.

 

[bobrobert]

Once a week is the recommendation. Body weight will always yo yo and every day is too much???

 

[Nicksu]

The problem is that your weight can vary by about 2 pounds (and sorry to have to say this) if you need to visit the bathroom! I've found that recently. I only weigh myself once a week because of this. Also, if you have been exercising a lot - remember muscle weighs more per square inch than fat. So you can be exercising like crazy - losing body fat and inches, and still seem to be putting weight on! I seem to have put 2 pounds on in the last month, but my clothes are looser - so I think I'm in that category. I need to change my exercise routine so I can lose some more fat - I seem to need the change in routine on occasion to do this.

 

[Judlepip]

@LittleGreyCat - your post "I will be particularly interested to see if the daily rate of weight loss slows down gradually as I lose more weight." I find the loss slows considerably after the first week or so, don't lose heart - it's all good!

 

[noblehead]

The last time I was on a weight loss diet (which was around this time last year) I just weighed myself once a week sticking to the same day and time.

 

[Nicksu]

@LittleGreyCat - your post "I will be particularly interested to see if the daily rate of weight loss slows down gradually as I lose more weight." I find the loss slows considerably after the first week or so, don't lose heart - it's all good!

I'd agree with this - 1-2 pounds a week is normal after the initial fast weight loss if you go low carb. I lost a stone in probably a month and have now lost 2½ in 4½ months. Another 2½ to go - sigh. Still, the best thing is being able to get back into my downsizing wardrobe. I feel a shopping spree coming on! Keep on going, and go by how your clothes fit - not just the scales.

 

[douglas99]

Any diet has a fast initial weight loss, simply as your body pulls out the easily available glycogen stores, then you lose the water it was stored in, which is about 3 or 4 times the amount of the glycogen.
Then it slows down.

Rebound weight gain is high initially for the same reason, any excess will fill the stores back up again.

 

[jonbvn]

The key is to weigh yourself at the same time under similar conditions in order to get a good gauge of weight change. Personally I weigh a couple of times a week in the morning after my ablutions before breakfast.

 

[JohnEGreen]

I weigh my self daily just as I test my BG daily I'm not obsessed with either just feel I have more control.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

I'm on a weight loss kick at the moment and started wondering why the weight loss was sometimes inconsistent over a few days.

I have weighed myself daily for several years despite the advice of the "dieting" brigade from whom I have learned a lot about portion control. I used to do the Tesco Diet thing, lots of good recipes and even a Low carb section although I was still listening to my doctor then.

What I found was that my weight could vary by several pounds, up and down, on a daily basis, but the one thing I quickly realised was that it wasn't weight gain or loss as such, but the results of two things. Water retention could easily add several pounds especially when I was drinking 3 pints of water with soluble cocodomol (contains lots of salt). The other problem is how the intestinal track was doing, especially if that was slow and also could contain more liquid than you would really want.

So, while I think it's a good idea, there will be some surprising ups and downs to contend with. In fact what I ended up doing was plot every day on a spread sheet and use the trend function to see if the overall result was up or down. It meant I had to use my brain a bit which I believe burns 25% of your daily calories, although doesn't increase by much if you have to think hard. LOL

 

[LittleGreyCat]

Possibly too much information, but I have a "bowel" routine where I go once a day before my shower. So in the morning after lightening the load I am probably about as light as I am going to be for that day.

Just for scientific interest I have weighed myself last thing at night, when my bladder and/or the cat prompt me to get up for a wee at around 4 in the morning, and at my regular weigh in around 9 in the morning..

I have noted that I weigh about 2 pounds heavier last thing at night and 1 pound heavier at 4 in the morning. So my recorded morning weight is probably the best I am going to get. I am assuming that most of the weight loss is water from metabolism because even my ageing kidneys can clear anything I drank the previous night by morning.

There is, of course, the issue of the morning coffee with butter and cream which must add a little to my weight. However the main thing is to have a consistent weighing point each day.

I find even minute gains help to motivate me.

Then again I can go on holiday for a few months without weighing myself at all and then find I am a similar weight when I get back, so weighing every day is often just a routine which keeps me comfortable (sometimes too comfortable, which is why I am now working to lose some weight).

 

[Freema]

I only weigh myself a few time a week... but still get surprised when all my effort some days seems to have been in vain... but in a longer view I loose quite steadily...

I think some people can become neurotic if standing on the weight many times a day and even just once a day.. well some say it is better to measure ones legs and stomack and arms and find out that way if one gets thinner or bigger after ones specific wishes...

 

[douglas99]

Possibly too much information, but I have a "bowel" routine where I go once a day before my shower. So in the morning after lightening the load I am probably about as light as I am going to be for that day.

Just for scientific interest I have weighed myself last thing at night, when my bladder and/or the cat prompt me to get up for a wee at around 4 in the morning, and at my regular weigh in around 9 in the morning..

I have noted that I weigh about 2 pounds heavier last thing at night and 1 pound heavier at 4 in the morning. So my recorded morning weight is probably the best I am going to get. I am assuming that most of the weight loss is water from metabolism because even my ageing kidneys can clear anything I drank the previous night by morning.

There is, of course, the issue of the morning coffee with butter and cream which must add a little to my weight. However the main thing is to have a consistent weighing point each day.

I find even minute gains help to motivate me.

Then again I can go on holiday for a few months without weighing myself at all and then find I am a similar weight when I get back, so weighing every day is often just a routine which keeps me comfortable (sometimes too comfortable, which is why I am now working to lose some weight).

My weight can vary considerably during the day.

I weight in the morning, as it's most consistent.
I've slept overnight, my body has been using stored energy, my stomach contents are fairly static.
Throughout the day, I may have eaten more, or less, I've replenished some glycogen, or had an excess, so my weight goes up, but by a variable amount normally.
But day to day its a fair guide, along with the mirror.

 

[BrianTheElder]

I weigh myself every day at the same time because it's the scientific thing to do. When a variable fluctuates a lot, the thing to do is measure it often so you see the variation. The problem with measuring less often is that you don't see the peaks and troughs, so don't understand what's going on.
The logical extension of weighing less often is to weigh at long intervals, but what if the day you weigh yourself happens to be one of those days when a strange fluctuations happens?

 

[Energize]

It's interesting to read that others weigh daily, weekly, ad hoc etc. I tend to weigh myself every morning, after the loo but before shower. However, I then weigh again AFTER my shower and, strangely enough, I usually weigh LESS after my shower than I did before my shower.

Can anyone explain why this is? I wonder if it's coz I've washed all the dirt off but I'm sure there has to be another reason

I weigh every day because I'm likely to get out of the habit and forget. This certainly helps me keep focused on what I eat, the same as does testing glucose levels with Libre - I don't like spoiling a good graph but on a 'bad' day, when my levels won't come down quite enough, I can get very tempted to eat something to make me feel better So far, I've kept strong ...