I weigh myself pretty close to every day but rather than really focusing on that number, I instead use a seven day average to track my weight. As we all know, the scale can fluctuate wildly so one day to the next may show a 4 pound weight gain or loss.
What we’ve eaten affects the scale as does our state of hydration, exercise and how much sleep we’ve had. I know if I suddenly eat a lot of carbs like pasta or macaroni and cheese, my weight will jump the next day and then return to normal the following day. That’s just water retention.
Likewise, a serious workout can cause my body t retain fluids while it recovers so the scale goes up, until my body has recovered and then it returns to normal.
I know that many people advise weighing yourself weekly to avoid those fluctuations but what if the weekly weigh-in day happens to fall on the day that your weight has gone up suddenly? You’ll really feel lousy for a whole week.
I stick with the daily weigh-ins. I do better with routine. Trying to remember once a week to weigh myself doesn’t work well because I struggle with those kind of tasks. If it’s part of my daily routine, I’ll do it. So I weigh myself in the morning before I’ve had anything to eat. I usually have had a cup of coffee first but that’s ok. Just part of the routine.
I don’t weigh myself when I’m out of town. I just return to weighing myself when I return home.
When I log my weight in a journal, I just periodically averaged my weight. Add up each day’s weight and then divide by how many days you’ve included.
I bought an Aria scale, which is Fitbit’s scale, so it automatically logs my weight in the Fitbit app. It not only shows me a graph with my weight trends but also gives me a weekly average for each week. I like it because it makes it very easy to see how I’m doing weight-wise.
There are apps that will give you a seven day average on your weight. A popular app for the iPhone is Happy Scale. I’ve never used it because my phone is an Android but I know some people who really like it. I’ve also heard good things about Libra – Weight Manager which is an Android app. It also tracks weight and gives you a seven day average.
If you want, you can use a spreadsheet to track your weight and to calculate your average. That’s an easy way to keep track without using a special app.
I try to weigh myself, not because I’m trying to lose weight, but because it’s a great way to see if I’m maintaining, gaining, or losing. I just like to know where I am. Sometimes, I say, whoa, definitely time to cut back on the snacks and then I am trying to lose some weight.