How often should I weigh in?

[Tizmelanie]

How often should I weigh in?

[lgu230]

It's good Inga to weigh yourself everyday even though you may not log your weight in.  You at least know in what direction you are heading by weighing yourself daily.  It works for me even though at times I wonder why I gain weight when I am eating less than 1,800 calories on a daily basis.  Maybe it is my water retention.

I have lost 20 pounds up to now and my goal is to lose another 20 pounds which I know I will accomplish. 

[PatrickR]

I weigh in the morning and again in the late afternoon after workout.  But I'm an obsessive data freak, so I'm not sure if I do it to actually check my weight or just because I want more numbers.

I just got an aria scale in the last month, really love it so far.

[captmiddy]

I step on my Aria every day that I am at home (which is about 98% of the time). I step on until it says my body fat then run off to other things, don't really think to much about it unless it is significantly higher than yesterday.  I mostly use it to manage my calorie targets for the day, based on my weight FitBit and MFP can determine what my calorie number today can be to maintain my weight loss.  Day to day it is only 1 or 2 calories but I like to keep it on track. 

[lgu230]

That's good Patrick!  Nothing wrong with weighing yourself as many times as you want.  I sometimes weigh myself 2 or 3 times a day but mostly in the morning because during the day we eat and drink fluids so that puts some weight on us.

I also just bought an Aria scale about one month ago and my wife and I love it very much.  It is keeping us in check with our weight.  I also have the fitbit band which my daughter bought me for Christmas and I always log everything I eat and drink during the day.  I am averaging under 1,800 calories a day which is not bad for a man that weighs 230 pounds.  I have lost 20 pounds so far and my goal is to lose another 20 pounds.

[Christella]

You know, I hadn't really thought about this until right now! I think I'm an every-other-day weigher.

I had scheduled a doctor's appointment 6 months from my yearly physical strictly for weight loss purposes.  I had told my doctor I wanted to lose weight in that intervening 6 months...but I hadn't found Fitbit yet and as it turns out I didn't weigh myself daily or even weekly or monthly and so when it came time for the appointment, I kept postponing it for another month because I just didn't want to get on the scale, as I felt I had GAINED a lot but just didn't know for sure.  I thoroughly believe that if I had tracked my weight for that period I wouldn't have been in that position and would have probably lost weight. (I actually maintained my exact weight for 9 months...!)  Now that I found my Flex and am pretty obsessed with it, I weigh in regularly and consequently will not be in the dark about my progress for my next appointment. (in March!)

[lgu230]

Good work Christella and keep up the good work on maintaining your weight and/or losing more weight.  I too am very conscious on weighing myself everyday and logging all that I eat and drink on a daily basis.  My wife says I am too obsessed with this fitbit band and the scale but then she realizes that it is working on me because she can see that I have lost 20 pounds and intend to lose another 20 pounds in the near future.

Take care and good luck!!

[mutt58]

Don't weigh at all. Judge your weight loss by the way your clothing fits. I have gone from a size 26  to 16 in the last 8 months and have no idea how much I've lost. I just go to thrift store and buy the next size down. I try them on every week until they fit. It is much funner than fretting about numbers on a scale.

[coltonjdavis]

I weigh myself every other day.  I found every day made me discouraged and once a week wasnt enough.

[FourSpeed]

Every day, it keeps me honest. 

[Georgearroyo]

The Aria also keeps you from lieing to youself. It is what it is.

[FourSpeed]

Not what I meant.  I weight every day so if I see a gain I know to work harder to reverse it.  Lying to myself would be a bit self defeating.

[skywalker]

I just bought the Aria last week , it's absolutly great . updates from Aria are sent to my dashboard instantiuosly ,

[lgu230]

Your are correct!  It's an awesome product and keeps me abreast of my weight everyday and as you said, it instantly updates your weight plus your body mass when you weigh yourself.

Take care!

Leonard

[Vani]

I'm brand-new to fitbit, but a few years back when I was trying to lose a lot of weight (BMI 28.5 down to 19.1) I weighed myself once a month. The goal was to change my lifestyle, not quickly shed a couple pounds. I found that not knowing where I was in terms of my goal made me more strict with my nutrition and exercise because I *really* wanted to be on track when I did check in. I only saw long-term, real changes instead of fluctuations of water weight. I also gauged my progress by how my clothes fit instead of how my weight changed because I was trying to gain muscle mass and become more healthy, not just skinnier. My new fitbit is to help maintain the lifestyle change of being more active overall 

[abb123]

Vani, BMI is such a waste of time, especially if you are working to gain a lot of muscle mass.  You should consider tracking your measurements instead and getting your body fat %.  

You could be very skinny, but if you have a ton of muscle your BMI is going to seem high because your weight will be higher than it would be with fat.  BMI was developed for people who live a mostly inactive life style.  If you are putting on a TON of muscle, you could theoretically start to see your BMI climb up close to unhealthy even though you are in top condition.

Edit:  As an example, Arnold Schwarzenegger during his competition body building years was 6'2" and around 235 pounds for competition.... That would be over a 30 BMI and he would have been one of the great physical specimans of his time.  If you are just building lean muscle mass, your numbers wouldn't be this outrageous, but it is something to keep in mind.  BMI in my opinion should never be used when discussing health.

[skuggi]

I agree with @abb123 - BMI is a general indicator of mass, NOT density. Therefore, it doesn't really indicate health in terms of body composition. If your BMI is high and you are physically fit and feel healthy, you are most likely being misled due to the variation in density between adipose (fat) tissue and muscle tissue. 

[lgu230]

I agree with both of you, "abb123" and "skuggi" because according to my aria scale, I am considered obsese at 30.8 BMI.  According to a chart I looked up in the internet, at my heighth (5'11") and weight (238#), my body mass should be no more than 24.

I am not too worried about my body mass, it's just losing weight which so far I have been acommplishing and have lost 22 pounds since December 2, 2014.  I need to lose at least another 18 pounds to reach my goal of 210 pounds.  According to the heighth and weight charts, I should be weighing 172 pounds which I don't think so because I would look too skinny and my rib cage would show! Ha!  I'll be 68 in a few months and at 210 pounds I would be very comfortable because I have been at that weight before in my younger days.

[bphilb]

Like many here I weigh in everyday. I have an Aria and I love it. It has just pretty much become part of my daily routine. All said I'm think it vaires by person. As long as you are following a healthy routine the weight will come off wether you watch it or not. I like seeing the data and log into fitbit daily to see my progress.

[watherto]

I weigh daily, but I don't allow myself to get too worked up if there is a fluctuation in either direction, unless there is a trend over a few days.

[ajamar20]

I weigh in every morning at the same time. I know they say you shouldn't weigh yourself every morning becuase it may be discouraging, but I think I would be more discouraged if I worked out for a week and then weighed myself and didn't see any progress. I like seeing the slight changes and knowing that I am improving myself.