How Often Should I Weigh Myself?

We often get the question in our Cincinnati and Florence Kentucky weight loss centers – “How often should I weigh myself?” The answer is “It depends”. I understand that is kind of a cop out answer so let me explain in more detail. You should weight yourself on a different schedule depending on if you are trying to lose weight or if you are trying to maintain your weight. Let’s look at the differences.

If you are actively trying to lose weight (which is 90% of the clients in our weight loss centers) then we advocate for weighing yourself on a daily basis. We would want someone to weigh themselves every day at the same time so that we can gather accurate data. This data allows us to make decisions on changes that may be needed along the way (we have talked about plateaus in previous blog posts). Without an accurate daily weight log making these changes becomes more of a guess.

Contrast this to the person that is just trying to maintain their weight. In this case we would advocate for 2-3 weight recordings per week. Weight “maintenance” actually means fluctuations in weight within 5 lbs. while never cumulatively gaining or losing month over month. A few weight recordings per week are enough to show this. While it is still important to see the numbers, someone who is just trying to maintain does not need to be burdened with weighing daily.