I see alot of posts about not using scales. I happen to like to weigh myself daily. Its like a routine. My weight has taught me many things, one of them is not taking my weight seriously. I have lost inches without the scale moving and I've lost weight without the tape measure moving. Rarely do they change at the same time.. nope scratch that. It does change together when you are holding water.

Weighing myself keeps me true to myself. Its a reality thing. I will tell you this, when you are as big as I am. It takes alot to look like you lost any weight. I've lost 12 lbs and no one can tell even someone who hasn't seen me in a month couldn't tell. But my scale tells me I'm losing. Also when you are very big its hard to measure yourself consistantly. Ok some areas are easier than others.

I've used my scales weights to find out how salt, TOM, or extra calories or carbs, affect my next day weight or next two days.
Dehydration can affect my weight for two days after I drink all my water. Now will I always weight myself daily? I doubt it. Eventually I will be confident that this isn't a fluke that I am losing weight.

I'm usually a semi-anti-scale person and have advised some folks to stop weighing so often. You have a very different attitude and are learning from the data. The folks I was reading were in agony about fluctuations that are likely to prove meaningless over time. From your remarks it is clear that you have a healthy understanding of just what the scale number means. So, weigh, girl, weigh! It's working for you!

Cindy

Yup, I weigh myself morning, afternoon, and night usually. But, I expect to see weight fluctuations, with the understanding I am just seeing food/water being in my body.
And it's interesting to see things like how much my weight drops between going to bed and getting up
And yes, I dropped 12lbs with strep throat in a week, and there wasn't much difference in appearance.

I'm a daily weigher, too. Knowing my personal history, I know that as long as I weigh myself everyday I will either continue to lose or stay the same. When I overeat, I really don't want to weigh myself, but the minute I do and see a gain, I get my act back together fast. I hope I've learned that it's easier to face those scales and own up to a 2 pound gain than to wait a few weeks and have to face a 22 pound gain.
asugar

I like to weigh daily also, if I lose then of course that's good and I realize that going up could be for many reasons and even though it is discouraging on the days that it appears to be up those are the days when I am extremely vigilant because I want to make sure that I don't turn it into a REAL gain.

I'm a daily weigher also. To me it's just a reinforcement of the good job that I'm doing. Of course the weight fluctuates, but so many factors contribute to it, that as long as I see a downward trend, I am happy. I try and weigh myself every morning at the same time so that I will get consistant results, and it seems to work for me. I realize not everyone can do this and continue to feel good about their new WOL. Sometimes we take those weights too literally, but I believe that for me, the reinforcement is what helps me to continue down this path.

Good for you Lessara, using the scale to your advantage

Before low-carbing two weeks ago I would hop on the scales every two or three days. Now that I'm seeing almost daily weightloss I jump on the scales a lot just 'cause it's so exciting.
Once I slow down I figure it will just be a morning check and when I reach my goal maybe I'll go back to every two or three days. I want that reality check to make sure I don't gain again.
Right now the scales are my friend instead of my enemy, and I like that.

I think it depends on what kind of person you are. There have been a lot of posts from freaked out newbies such as "I lost 10 pounds last week and this week I gained 2 back! What am I doing wrong?"

If you know the facts and can handle the truth then daily weighing is okay.

My scale is up, TOM is coming, and I just started a new exercise program. I will step on the scale each morning but won't let the number bother me.

Now, if I go weeks and weeks and some number doesn't change (This happened last few months, two weeks no scale movement but the tape measure shows whats up) then I will get upset and try not to weigh as often...but I will anyways!

Beth

Before I started LCing, I never stepped on the scale (except for at the doctor). Then I started weighing myself every morning. I have realized that the TOM adds about 2-3 lbs., too much salty food leads to water retention, and so on. Almost nine months into this, I have finally convinced myself to weigh once a week (it's better for my psyche).

Weighing in everyday keeps me motivated. I actually look forward to getting to work in the morning (that's where the scale is) and checking what the day before's eating got me. If I'm stalled, I glance through fit-day and see where I might've gone wrong. I find it very helpful, and once a day doesn't hurt.

I'm with you all -- I weigh regularly (usually morning and night) and the little fluctuations don't bother me in the least. I'm interested in the general trend, which has been downward since I started low carbing! After months of doing this, I know that I need to lose each pound at least twice before it finally stays off.

Alas, a club which I would gleefully join.

Not having a scale at home, I weight daily at the gym after workouts. Two things for me which are important. One, I'm an optimist and expect to lose weight and see it numerically validates that notion with invaluable positive reinforcement that I'm on the right track. Two, on a more pragmatic side, if I were to stall, I would rather know sooner than later. Noticing the problem early, then trying to resolve it, in my view, is infinitely superior to purposely being in the dark only to be surprised 3 weeks later we've stalled.

Best of luck to all of you,

Frederick

Hi guys,

I agree with you completely. As long as a person can use the scale as an instrument to measure "for the record" - everything is fine!
Problems begin when people panic about it and sabotage the plan. People who seriously believe they have gained 2 or 3 pounds of FAT from monday to tuesday, who won't listen no matter how many times they hear: don't panic, it's water weight, these are fluctuations etc etc
Natrushkas thread was about that problem, I believe.
I'm with you, I weight myself FOR THE RECORD and I don't panic.
Take care all!
Alina

I use Weight Commander to track the trends. With this you're supposed to weigh every day and it will show you where you're heading. Since I've weighed the same every day this week, I'm apparantely not going anywhere.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one!! Thank you!!