How often should you weigh yourself when dieting?

[conftw]

Hi guys I've been dieting for months now for boxing and so far have done really well, I started at over 210lbs and was really overweight and this morning I weighed in at 159.5lbs but this week I have struggled to see the scales change on a morning and I have started weighing more on the evenings than I used to and I have been told countless times to stop weighing myself more than once a day and have also been told to stop doing it once a day and do it once a week and I am really confused because there are so many different people with so many different ideas about when to weigh in, im about 6'2 and as I said before I weighed in at 159.5lbs this morning and I still could lose a bit more because I still have a considerable amount of belly fat although no where near as much as I used to and I want to know if you think I should change how many times I weigh myself and I know that I probably haven't been seeing change because it's only been 3 days since I first started being around the 160 mark on the mornings.
Any help is really appreciated thanks!

[mm4038]

I think once a week at most as a check up to see that things are going as planned. Don't expect to see results every time you look at the scale though, it will be months before you see what you really want (if you are doing it right). That means more times looking at the scale = more disappointment, more pain.

[wnsuth86]

I prefer to weigh once a week. It's my personal preference, but weight fluctuates from day to day based on water retention, etc & I find myself fretting when I see the scale move in the wrong direction & then I want to weigh again the next day & then the next day, & then I start to worry that I'm messing up, etc...When I weigh, I weight every Sunday morning 1st thing as I wake up, same time every week & I usually see a consistent, whereas if I weigh multiple times a week I'll get anywhere from 174-180 lbs...

[RexyFitFreak]

Your weight will fluctuate throughout the day. I can weigh myself in the morning right after waking up, and out of curiousity weight myself again at night, and see a 5-10lb difference. I used to weigh in every day, but now I dedicate Saturday morning as my "weigh-in" day. That motivates me to push hard all week so I see a number that makes me happy.

[kennknee]

Can I start by saying 6'-2" and 160lbs is skinny.

When weighing yourself, you want to take out as many outside variales as possible (you'll never get rid of all of them) The way to do that would be to do it once a week or every other week at the same time you did the last weigh in. For example, I weigh myself every Thursday morning 10 minutes after I wake and go to the bathroom.

Use the same scale, don't be taking it one place one week and then another the other week. Wear the same clothes or lack thereof.

This is going to give you the best measure of "change". The accuracy of the equipment is ALWAYS the same.

I wouldn't worry so much about weight anyway though. A better measure of "fit"ness is body fat percentage. The same rules would apply to whatever method you use for measuring bodyfat. Make as many variables the exact same. You will be able to at least measure comparable successes.

[Champion Chad]

Weigh yourself once a week in the morning before eating or drinking after you go to the bathroom. This makes it more consistent. If you are working out, then weight isn't the only thing to think about. Take measurements i.e. Bodyfat %, waist at midsection arms etc. This will show where you are losing or gaining weight. I had shoulder surgery 6 months back and lost a lot of my muscle. Over 4 months I had maybe lost 8 lbs but lost 6 inches in my waist. Weight did not dictatae what I had accomplished Good Luck!!!

[ryancarlos]

i am an advocate for once a week right after my morning leak

[conftw]

Thanks for all the help guys I am going to start weighing once a week and try to get my bf% down more than worry too much about weight because I think I would lose strength if I lost too much weight, if you can suggest ways to get my bf% that would be most helpful. Thanks!

[Champion Chad]

linear-software.com/online.html is a really cool site
You obviously need a body fat caliper to do this but it explains what you need

[CayJutler]

The morning of the day before your first lifting day of the week. No clothes on for true weight. Also don't get too hung up on the scale and use weekly pictures and the mirror to gauge your progess

[Electricheadd]

The average person probably fluctuates 2-3 lbs in a day so if we are really trying to quantify weight loss your time frame needs to be longer than the average variance. So if your expecting to lose 1lb a week, 2-3 weeks would be the ideal weigh in time. That said, most of us want more feedback than that I tend to do it once a week when I first wake up after the morning bathroom ritual.

[Groce]

sentences of peace

[blindspot13]

I've been weighing daily since I got my scale about 5 weeks ago. It's great for data points. Every morning after bathroom, naked. I'm pretty religious with hitting my daily calorie numbers and drinking similar amounts of water, so I don't actually fluctuate all that much. It's been a steady line downwards with some 3-day pauses. Averaging just under 2lb/wk.

I like updating a little excel file I created, so I'll continue doing it until I just get bored doing it, but there are 0 negative affects for weighing daily in my experience so far. I also make a point to not make a big deal out of it, as I know I'm just collecting data and that so long as I'm X calories under my TDEE, I'll be losing Y pounds per week -- and the daily data points allow me to accurately gauge my TDEE.

[conftw]

I've been weighing daily since I got my scale about 5 weeks ago. It's great for data points. Every morning after bathroom, naked. I'm pretty religious with hitting my daily calorie numbers and drinking similar amounts of water, so I don't actually fluctuate all that much. It's been a steady line downwards with some 3-day pauses. Averaging just under 2lb/wk.

I like updating a little excel file I created, so I'll continue doing it until I just get bored doing it, but there are 0 negative affects for weighing daily in my experience so far. I also make a point to not make a big deal out of it, as I know I'm just collecting data and that so long as I'm X calories under my TDEE, I'll be losing Y pounds per week -- and the daily data points allow me to accurately gauge my TDEE.

Yeah when I first started losing weight I saw it go down pretty regularly but now I'm almost at my goal it's really leveled off and takes that bit extra work to get it down

[Beasto1337]

I do it once a week at the same time/day.

[jeremy1ns]

I do it every morning when I wake up. I keep up with it on excel and take a weekly average taking out the highest and lowest of the week. Your weight fluctuates so much it wouldn't be good for a person who freaks out to do.

Once a week can be misleading sometimes depending on what you do the day before like a big meal or heavy cardio for example can mess with the numbers.

[Dice76]

I also do every single day with a rolling one week average. I've been religious about doing it every morning after going to the bathroom. My weight can easily fluctuate 10 pounds in a day. When I wake up I have a breakfast shake and drink around a gallon of water in about an hour (I drink around 2 to 2.5 gallons a day). That can easily put my weight up 10 pounds right there.

Like mentioned above though, if you will be disappointed without daily weight losses I would do it less often.

[Synlocke]

I weigh myself daily, first thing after I get up as many others do. I track it via Wii Fit, which is nice because it tracks my data points, and I've been less seriously tracking my weight over the last few years with it. Gives me a nice historical graph to look at.

[jacinthebox]

When cutting...I weight myself every morning before I shower...I try to do it the same time every day

[Crooktele79]

Best thing you could do for yourself is forget about basing your results on scale weight. 6'2 160 is pretty light...not sure what you are hoping to cut to, but at your weight if it ain't there now it won't be there 10lbs from now.

Remember there's more to body fat % than just losing fat....might be time to add a little muscle mass.

[AllApologies]

Whenever you want, doesn't matter.