Research shows that weighing yourself daily does work :

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3788086/pdf/nihms436312.pdf

So all I need to do is weigh myself everyday and I’ll lose weight?

Noice.

*eats kebab*

So all I need to do is weigh myself everyday and I’ll lose weight?

if weight loss is your goal.

An app that shows a graph means you just need to step on it daily and the app will show you a smoothed out trend graph so you can see whether you are headed to your goal. Weighing at longer frequencies means that a daily fluctuation (like last nights kebab) could mask your weekly loss, so therefore be demotivating.

I don’t think you can be as simple as that- different people respond in different ways.

Two examples:

My wife is doing a traditional calorie counting method. She also weighs every day. And if she ‘gains’ weight she feels bad about it – whether justified or not (it could be hydration, TOTM, etc.) – and has to work hard to convince herself that she isn’t wasting her time and would be happier eating pies. Yes, she also sees a longer term trend but that doesn’t deal with the instant kick in the guts feeling when today’s weight > yesterday’s

I do a non-traditional (5:2, FWIW) and i know that the day after a fasting day i’ll be lighter, other days when i eat normally I might have gained (plus the other influences like hydration, etc.) For me a daily weigh in is pointless, weekly is enough so i only see trend and I don’t count the interim week actually, I only record once a fortnight. That enables any fluctuations to smooth out. I don’t get hung up on day to day in the same way as the wife; my ‘fails’ are when i set out to do a fast day and then don’t (someone brings a cake to work, for example, so i scrap my fast and do it tomorrow – except sometimes i don’t… 😳 )

theotherjonv – Member

I don’t think you can be as simple as that- different people respond in different ways.

Two examples:

My wife is doing a traditional calorie counting method. She also weighs every day. And if she ‘gains’ weight she feels bad about it – whether justified or not (it could be hydration, TOTM, etc.)

Did you bother explaining this to your wife?

and has to work hard to convince herself that she isn’t wasting her time and would be happier eating pies. Yes, she also sees a longer term trend but that doesn’t deal with the instant kick in the guts feeling when today’s weight > yesterday’s

Sounds like your wife just wants an excuse to eat pies.

but that doesn’t deal with the instant kick in the guts feeling when today’s weight > yesterday’s

It’s this kick that I think helps stop people shoving pies into their bellies.

It’s this kick that I think helps stop people shoving pies into their bellies.

+1

but it is not so disheartening because of the long term trend shown by the app.

A handful of activated almonds each day washed down with alkalised water and the weight will fall off.

What fool lets himself get fat in the first place?
Most porkers i know care more about how clean their car bodywork is than exposing their own bodies to metabolic disease, cancer and a myriad of other health problems.

I generally weigh myself everyday and I find it pretty handy for maintaining a constant weight, or at least understanding the effects of certain things on my weight.

Last night I went on a binge of salty snacks and czech lager. The result – 7lbs heavier this morning than the day before 😯 . Of course I was reminded of this thread. So today, as much as I want bacon butties and sausages …..I ….must …..resist.!

What fool lets himself get fat in the first place?

Someone has a lot to learn about humans.

What fool lets himself get fat in the first place?

does mental health and low self esteem count as being foolish?

Yes, i know overeating makes me fat but that doesn’t mean i can stop myself from doing it when i am depressed. But thanks for your supportive words.

What fool lets himself get fat in the first place?

Loads of ’em, I see the chubby bastards everywhere 😀

and to answer other posts:

Last night I went on a binge of salty snacks and czech lager. The result – 7lbs heavier this morning than the day before . Of course I was reminded of this thread. So today, as much as I want bacon butties and sausages …..I ….must …..resist.!

Of course, if there’s a reason for a gain you can rationalise it well and use that as a tool to motivate

But for others…… the example as above would be more like:

I was really good yesterday, i didn’t have cake at work when so-and-so brought it in, I stuck to my plan all day and…… I’m a lb heavier 🙁 What’s the **** point, I might as well have had the cake for all the good it did….

Like I said, not everyone thinks the same as that, and while for some weighing every day is a good thing for others it isn’t. When my issue is mainly due to comfort eating caused by depression, the aim is to avoid having those ‘what’s the point’ moments hence to give myself the best chance I only want to see the trend and not the detail.

Hospitals often use daily weights when treating certain patients and/or certain conditions…this has been known for some time.

There does however need to be consistency, it’s no good weighing yourself in the morning on an empty stomach (and following a pee and poo) and being pleased with your ‘weight loss’ and then weighing yourself the next evening after a full day of eating and drinking and being depressed at any ‘gain’ you appear to have made.
As boring as it sounds you should be aiming to eat similar amounts (in calorie terms) each day and drinking similar amounts (in litre terms) each day…and then weighing yourself at the same time each day (or night)….if you can do that, and hospitals are a good controlled environment to do this in, then weighing yourself daily is very helpful, not just with monitoring fat loss but with monitoring hydration too.

theotherjonv – Member

Of course, if there’s a reason for a gain you can rationalise it well and use that as a tool to motivate

But for others…… the example as above would be more like:

I was really good yesterday, i didn’t have cake at work when so-and-so brought it in, I stuck to my plan all day and…… I’m a lb heavier What’s the **** point, I might as well have had the cake for all the good it did….

Like I said, not everyone thinks the same as that, and while for some weighing every day is a good thing for others it isn’t. When my issue is mainly due to comfort eating caused by depression, the aim is to avoid having those ‘what’s the point’ moments hence to give myself the best chance I only want to see the trend and not the detail.

There’s a massive flaw in that logic though. If you weigh yourself everyday you’ll be more able to understand and anticipate normal fluctuations so you’ll be better equipped to dismiss a 1lb fluctuation (or half a stone in my case).

Furthermore if you understand that binging on beer and crisps is going to balloon your weight for a day or two you can decide to do it and not be horrified by the results and retreat into comfort mode.

People are great at rationalising decisions even if they know they are wrong. So if you’re likely to fall off the wagon as it were because of a small fluctuation, and regular weigh ins would equip you with an understanding of what’s going on people will construct fallacious arguments to avoid learning. If you stay ignorant you can keep that excuse in your back pocket – in case of emergency, abandon logic and eat pies.

@Jon

Fat club still going?

in case of emergency, abandon logic and eat pies

That has to be a t-shirt slogan, surely….

There’s a massive flaw in that logic though

There might be to you, but when it comes to psychological issues that are causing the problem logic doesn’t always work.

In fact, my method of only weighing once a week to avoid any daily fluctuations which may derail the overall process seems perfectly logical to me. Because I’m not like the person you are describing. Which is what i said at the start, what works for one may not work for the other.

@jamie – yes, but has fallen by the wayside recently due to ‘life’.

Because I’m not like the person you are describing.

I’m not attempting to antagonise and appreciate eating disorders from a firsthand perspective but I find that statement a little weird. Jimjam is claiming that education in this instance can help understand weight fluctuation. Rationalisation through education, for the nation. [/reggae]

Edit : So it’s not about the kind of person you are, it’s about knowing why your body behaves in the manner it does and using that knowledge to stop yourself going off the rails.

@jon

Reboot it. I’m ready for a round 2.

Edit : So it’s not about the kind of person you are, it’s about knowing why your body behaves in the manner it does and using that knowledge to stop yourself going off the rails.

And I’m not trying to be difficult, merely saying that although my bodyweight fluctuates day to day (and probably even worse seeing as my dieting is specifically designed to be restrictive for 2 days and ‘normal’ for 5), it isn’t helpful for me to see that because every time it increases I feel like a failure, and every time i feel like a failure I think what’s the point and my crutch is a white box with a light in where we store the food.

it’s about knowing why MY HEAD behaves in the manner it does and using that knowledge to stop yourself going off the rails.

Is that not a valid tactic, for me?

But your weekly readings are also susceptible to fluctuations, it might be several weeks or even months before you get an accurate picture of progress.

agreed, but the likelihood of a complete failure (where failure is defined as gained weight) when weighing weekly is substantially different to the likelihood of that on a daily basis. And it’s avoiding that feeling of failure that is key for me.

In fact, i have a data set from my chubclub numbers over the past 8 months, which i’ve been collating biweekly rather than weekly partly because it gives even less chance of a ‘fail’, and mainly because chasing and collating data points from 72 participants isn’t a small task.

8 months, 17 fortnightly weighings, 2 were fails and a further 3 were flat (neither lost nor gained), so I have largely avoided the feeling of failure and the subsequent fallout from that.

Weigh yourself and if it’s high, do something about it – don’t get upset.

Cut carbs replace junk with fruit and veg.

So all I need to do is weigh myself everyday and I’ll lose weight?

I always seem to weight exactly the same regardless of how much exercise / how much I eat / drink….

Are you made of wood? Mine goes up and down by about four-six pounds in a day.

OP put your scales on the top of Snowdon et voila!

Or, don’t weigh yourself at all!

Too many cyclists these days rely on numbers; stood in the bathroom, heads down, staring at the LCD display on their scales.

I prefer to weigh by feel; if my T shirts don’t look like they’ve been painted on and I can find the fourth hole on my belt then I’m probably somewhere close.

Weigh yourself and if it’s high, do something about it – don’t get upset.

I think depression is a bit more than ‘getting upset’ but thanks for the advice.

Every time i think this place has moved forward, someone reminds me there are still plenty that haven’t.

Perhaps you have an overgrowth of Candida? https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14177/anxious-moody-depressed-why-you-might-have-candida.html

it’s about knowing why MY HEAD behaves in the manner it does and using that knowledge to stop yourself going off the rails.

Let’s continue with the crisps and beers scenario – it’s not your head that’s increased your glycogen stores and added more water weight, it’s your body. Too much too often and it gets stored as fat and the weight gain will no longer be water, it’ll be fat.

While I’m not sure if it’s worth it if you’re doing something like the 5-2 diet, daily weighing and a good food diary (or just remembering what you’ve eaten if you can’t be arsed with a diary) will help you understand which foods raise your weight and why.

As Jimjam wrote…

Furthermore if you understand that binging on beer and crisps is going to balloon your weight for a day or two you can decide to do it and not be horrified by the results and retreat into comfort mode.

My post is already repeating what has been suggested. I understand comfort eating – been there – but learning about basic dietary stuff has helped me get over that all is lost reaction when I see a weight increase.

Is that not a valid tactic, for me?

I don’t understand what you mean by ‘tactic’, I’m afraid.

I’m sure almost no one will be relieved to hear that 4lbs of my crisps and beer weight was gone this morning.

I don’t understand what you mean by ‘tactic’, I’m afraid.

Sounds like a method of self sabotage to me.

i weigh myself daily because it helps me keep on track.

anyone who has never had a weight prob in their life really has not got a clue how damn hard it is to lose weight and keep it off.

best advice ive read recently, your diet is a constant case of learning what works for you and adjusting it as you go along more so as you get older.

Let’s continue with the crisps and beers scenario – it’s not your head that’s increased your glycogen stores and added more water weight, it’s your body. Too much too often and it gets stored as fat and the weight gain will no longer be water, it’ll be fat.

While I’m not sure if it’s worth it if you’re doing something like the 5-2 diet, daily weighing and a good food diary (or just remembering what you’ve eaten if you can’t be arsed with a diary) will help you understand which foods raise your weight and why.

Agreed. I know that, I’m not daft, and i generally eat relatively well avoiding junk food, cooking mainly from scratch, lots of lean protein (chicken and fish), avoiding processed carbs, etc. When i started from my high of a 40″ waist and 16 and a bit stone, I initially did MFP and logged everything so I know which foods are calories laden, and which have a high fullness-to-calorie ratio. But, I travel quite a lot with work and trying to count calories while eating out / in hotels is hard. Hence I happened across the 5:2 which enables me to manage that life better; I still ate ‘well’ while travelling (can i swap those chips for a green salad or some vegetables?) but didn’t need to know exactly how much the steak weighed or whether it was pan fried or grilled. And i focussed on being proper good for 2 days. it works, for me, and has continued to.

But i also have depression and low self-worth. One of the manifestations is that i dislike my body. I’m currently 13.9 with a 34 waist and for the first time in ages I have some tone around my rib-cage. I also have a spare tyre that i hate….. it might be around a waist that’s 4-6″ smaller but it still hangs over my belt and wobbles when i walk. Hence i need to lose more, but it’s getting harder. And so i try to eat well, and when that isn’t reflected in a weight loss I get down. And when i get down my head says ‘what’s the point, you might as well have a Greggs.’ If i can rationalise it to ‘well you had a meal out and some beers with the lads’ – that’s easier to deal with, of course that’s why. But if it’s because you were dehydrated yesterday and not today, or because you haven’t had a shit today, or whatever – and you KNOW you didn’t do ‘owt bad yesterday – THAT’S when my head says what’s the point.

I know it’s my head derailing me and I don’t automatically reach for a pie (I do sometimes though). I have a good counsellor that helped me develop other responses. But also by only weighing once a week / once a fortnight to count I give myself a chance to see the overall trend and don’t have to even expose myself to the bits in between. I don’t NEED to know every step of progress, good or bad, when i know that the bad threatens to derail me.

Furthermore if you understand that binging on beer and crisps is going to balloon your weight for a day or two you can decide to do it and not be horrified by the results and retreat into comfort mode.

Yep, I agree with that above, but as an alternative – don’t weigh yourself after a binge. It’ll be bad, you don’t need to know it, and knowing it will **** with your head. Focus on being good for the rest of the week / fortnight and aim for the overall. It might not be as big a loss as if you’d not had the binge, but it’s still a loss.

I don’t understand what you mean by ‘tactic’, I’m afraid.

Tactic: A step towards an overall strategic goal. Goal- to lose weight without becoming derailed by the minor fluctuations of day to day weight.

Tactic 1 could be to catalogue everything so every fluctuation can be rationalised and explained.

Tactic 2 – don’t measure weight day to day and just measure over the longer term to allow for smoothing.

Why isn’t that a valid tactic for me? And coming right back to the OP; which was that studies have shown that in general daily weighing leads to higher weight loss ; all i said was that people are different and it might not work for everyone, me included.

<disengage cathartic mode>

I guess it’s a valid tactic. For me it’s quite interesting seeing what works and what doesn’t, as skater boy Gav wrote on the other page, it can take a bit of time. And for me, it’s easier to see the effect if I take a weight reading daily. You obviously vary and that’s cool but I reckon it’d be harder to figure what’s doing what because you have seven different day’s food to take into account.

I also have a spare tyre that i hate….. it might be around a waist that’s 4-6″ smaller but it still hangs over my belt and wobbles when i walk. Hence i need to lose more, but it’s getting harder.

It does get harder as you get older, for sure. The belly fat you mention is much harder to shift than fat that sits on your shoulders and ribs. Same goes for the legs and arse – it’s a different fat cell. I’ll see if I can find a link of something that makes for interesting reading on that particular subject. I get that it can be difficult to get rid of that last bit and can be crushing when all your best efforts seem to be in vain but it will go in time – just gotta be patient and dedicated.

don’t weigh yourself after a binge. It’ll be bad, you don’t need to know it, and knowing it will **** with your head.

I know you’re suffering from negative thought processes at he moment but if you approached it from a curiosity standpoint it’d make the whole thing easier. Even going so far as to experiment on yourself. Y’know – the hardship of necking a few beers and bags of crisps just to see what happens to your body. 🙂

I know….. I’ll feel all bloaty and have to let my belt out a notch. About half nine this evening in fact.

I still won’t be weighing myself tomorrow though 😉

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mbp0DugfCA[/video]

But the whole point of the app is it can draw a trending graph – you don’t need to study daily detail and you don’t even need to look at the reading for that day. I’ve been weighing myself daily for years and feel much less detail-oriented and fixated with the app.

You can comfort eat one day and see the effect on the scales if you want, safe in the knowledge that you can just ease off a bit the next day, or two, to get yourself back on the general trend. The secret is to not comfort eat two days in a row…

And if you do fluctuate a lot day to day, as I seem to be at the moment, then the graph smoothes that out. If you do fluctuate day to day then a weekly reading is dangerous as you might be a couple of pounds heavier as a result of something you ate yesterday, but that is about to be jetisoned down the toilet pan later in the day (I managed 1.7lbs down the crapper the other day 🙂 ).