Seattle Forrest

A lot of threads in here start off about one thing, but ultimately wind up being about weight loss or maintenance. So this seems like a useful topic.

Like most cyclists, I have a Garmin, and their software is on my phone. I keep the bathroom scale in the living room, near the charging station. Every morning (before I get dressed), it takes about a minute to step on the scale, and then put the number into Garmin Connect Mobile. Now I have a chart going back three years.

ksryder

As often as possible!

Oops... Sorry I misheard you -- you said "get weighed".

canklecat

My daily meds for asthma and allergies tend to suppress my appetite, so I need to weight myself once in awhile. Usually once a week or so. More often recently. I'm trying to keep my weight up to around 160.

When it dips lower it's usually a sign of under-eating, illness or dehydration. In the past when it's dropped to 155 I had a low grade infection that went unnoticed for awhile -- tooth, sinuses, etc.

If it goes up a bit to 165 I don't worry. It'll come down again with moderate exercise. As long as it doesn't go above 175 I'm not worried. The most I've ever weighed was 205, and that was after a car wreck busted up my back and neck enough that I could barely move for a couple of years. The weight came down again as soon as I changed my diet a little and began walking with a cane. Now that I'm back on the bike it's easy to keep the weight off.

Just a lucky roll of the dice genetically. I know some folks who don't overeat and struggle a bit to keep off the weight.

79pmooney

I weigh myself a lot. If I've been riding it is the quickest way to see that I am dehydrated. Also it is the reality check that my eating habits are good. (I get a second check, but that one only kicks in when I have 8 pounds to lose; people start telling me I look good. (I'm over 160. I feel very good at 150-152.)

I'm high now (156 morning weight) but am on track to be where I want come the warm weather and the mountain rides.

Ben

Hondo Gravel

Rarely because then I OCD on weight. When all I did was lift I was heavier but stronger but after I deadlifted out my intestines and now have 3 hernia mesh patches I just ride my bikes. Weaker and lighter but more aerobically fit. I gauge on how my clothes fit like having to get smaller jeans etc.

TimothyH

Every morning. It is part of my routine.

wolfchild

1-2 times per week.

Machka 

2nd thing every day.

Trakhak

When I get a physical exam (i.e., every 5 years or so).

IronM

Daily. As an engineer, I abide by the concept of 'if it isn't measured, it isn't controlled'.
I'm always trying to keep my weight down for climbing. But as I age, I'm slowly losing that battle.. (sigh)

Branko D

Part of my routine every morning, take my weight, log it in Google Fit.

mcours2006

Probably a few times a week if remember, but I do months without doing it, but am usually pleasant surprised when I find my weight hasn't changed even though I think I've gained.

caloso

At least several times a week, every day sometimes.

DrIsotope

Once a week. Because doing it more often will provide no positive result. Disclaimer: during the warmer months, if a ride will take place in temperatures above 90º, I weigh pre and post ride to track water loss. But for weight tracking/weight loss, it's once a week.

zacster

Almost daily. I've been trying to lose 40 pounds to get back to my prime riding weight of 160. I'm in the high 170s now and it already feels so much better.

I guess it depends on which way you're trying to go. Up is easy, down, not so easy.

It only takes a second, so why not every day?

DrIsotope

Supposedly it can have negative psychological effects-- people desperate to lose weight watching the weight constantly rise and fall tend to get frustrated/demoralized. There's also the issue of water weight, which fluctuates by as many as 10lbs in any 24 hour period.

The consensus seems to be weighing yourself once a week, at as close as possible to the same time of day, on the same scale.

valleysuper

👆👆
Perfectly stated and the same for me.

Seattle Forrest

Can't report any negative psychological effects here. I take note if there's a trend, then move on with my day. I'm sure this is true for a lot of people. I'm not really sure how given the next part:

But I can attest to the fluctuations. Mine jumps around a lot, seemingly at random. Hydration can have a big effect, like you say. Tools like graphs and averages can help make sense of the numbers.

"How yer clothes fit" works pretty well too but this method lets me nip bad habits in the bud before my clothes get tight.

joejack951

I can't say that I've 'suffered' from checking weight too frequently but I have never found it to be beneficial either. A few times a week at most is good enough for me.

I rarely get to weigh myself first thing in the morning as I get woken up by my 1 year old and need to get him breakfast, and I'll typically do the same. So what usually happens is I get to weigh myself at night and see my weight at its highest. I'll then get to be pleasantly surprised on those days where I do weigh myself in the morning, especially when its post-you-know-what and my weight is at its lowest. I've been trying to remember to log those numbers in Garmin Connect although they've been changing so little lately that I haven't bothered (+/-0.5 lbs.).

If I logged every time I weigh myself my graph would look absurd. In the past week I've been 142.5 lbs. and 151 lbs., at different times of the day, of course, low weight being post-long run, high being after eating a nice big dinner.

AlmostTrick

On shipping scales at work: several times a week as I walk by.

On my body weight composition scale at home: (first thing in the morning w/o clothes) maybe 3-4 times a year.

My weight doesn't vary much, and I'm not trying to lose, so I don't often think of checking it at home.

bbbean 

My weight has fluctuated within 5 lbs of 170 for the past 4 years, typically between 168 and 171. But daily swings can be as much as 4 lbs, especially if there was an especially hard workout, a lot of salt or carbs, or alcohol the day before. If I didn't weight on a daily basis, it would be easy to weigh one day at 168, and weigh in at 172 a few days later and think I was gaining weight. Because I weigh daily (first thing in the morning, in my underwear, after using the bathroom), I can recognize an isolated heavy or light day and I usually have a pretty good idea why I might be on the heavy or light side of average.
Daily weighing also gives me some great data to go back and analyze to see seasonal effects, holiday effects, effects of training and rest, etc.
As a general rule, more consistency and more data points mean I get more useful information. Isolated weigh ins don't tell you much.

wphamilton

My weight fluctuates +/- 3.5 pounds, a 7 pound swing depending on whether I have just eaten or got back from a long run. So I'd have to weigh several times a day and average, throwing out outliers, if I wanted accurate data. As it is, I sometimes just weigh before and after a run because I get a kick out of how much the water loss was.

jsk

I agree. I've never understood how people think that just because weight can fluctuate day-to-day or even during the day, it's somehow an argument in favor of weighing less frequently. That just means you have fewer data points to identify true trends versus noise. A running average based on daily weigh-ins taken in a consistent manner (time of day, etc) will provide the most meaningful data.

caloso

I have used an app called Happy Scale. It smooths for trends, which is helpful to cut through the noise.

Miyata75

I weigh myself daily, but if I'm tracking my progress, I record once a week on the same day every week.