Weighting yourself 3 times a week vs everyday?

[macfc96]

I just started a cut, i used to weight myself everyday and take my 7 day avrage weight, but this cut im gonna weight myself 3 times a week and take the avrage weight.

You guys think weighting 3 times vs 7 times a week will make any difference?

[spradish]

No, I don't think it will affect your overall results.

[SuffolkPunch]

No statistician prefers less data to more.

[BIGNHYOOGE]

Why don't you just weigh yourself once a week at the end of every week first thing in the morning?

[SuffolkPunch]

Why don't you just weigh yourself once a week at the end of every week first thing in the morning?

Because if any given reading could be off the 'true' value by (say) an average of 1lb then only taking 1 reading a week could you lead you to alter your calorie intake when you didn't actually need to.

[newbutserious]

I had a similar argument with a friend that claimed something like "It's all really noisy anyway" and thought once a month was fine. I'm like "What if that one day you weigh yourself is a wild statistical outlier?".

I think every day at the same time is best. You get the most frequent weigh ins you can get while still getting the same time of day to help rule out natural fluctuations from eating and taking bios and stuff.

If there is a psychological component that you think might motivate you more then you're welcome to dismiss my advice. For instance if you think you'll see a bigger difference each weigh in and feel motivated that's maybe something. ...but remember you'll probably just do the math anyway and seeing a trend line going steadily downward even with the bumps up and down feels pretty good.

[twovalvekid]

Weighs self once a week at the exact same time....crew.

[spradish]

Because if any given reading could be off the 'true' value by (say) an average of 1lb then only taking 1 reading a week could you lead you to alter your calorie intake when you didn't actually need to.

Since people really shouldn't be altering their calorie intake until 3-4 weeks have passed with no weight loss, I tend to think that only weighing once a week is fine. I prefer weighing more, myself, but I don't think it would make a difference as long as people are patient.

[Budjola]

every day crew

[rtpmarine]

Hopping on the scale every morning after taking a piss takes 5 seconds and is literally the best data point that you can get about your nutrition. Why would you not want that extra, easily-accessible data?

What will probably happen is that you will wind up weighing yourself on days that you expect weight loss, skewing the true week-long representation of what is actually going on. You should want to see the ups and downs that happen every week because those correlate with choices you are making in diet and lifestyle.

[Tommy W.]

The problem with every day weighing is that too many people freak out with daily fluctuations and RE adjust their daily calorie amounts constantly instead of staying the course. Daily weight checking can be a source of a moving average however so can once a week and that can eliminate the stress that daily fluctuations bring.

Anecdotally I found Friday morning after getting up and peeing is a consistent method as the previous weekdays are generally a bit lower in carbs and will show a more consistent pattern. Regardless of method, you lose fat with a consistent weekly calorie deficit and not by any particular method of weight checking.

[SuffolkPunch]

Hopping on the scale every morning after taking a piss takes 5 seconds and is literally the best data point that you can get about your nutrition. Why would you not want that extra, easily-accessible data?

What will probably happen is that you will wind up weighing yourself on days that you expect weight loss, skewing the true week-long representation of what is actually going on. You should want to see the ups and downs that happen every week because those correlate with choices you are making in diet and lifestyle.

That's true, you are opening yourself up to selection bias.

Good stats practice = lots of data, random sampling, know the variance of the data

[rtpmarine]

Anecdotally I found Friday morning after getting up and peeing is a consistent method as the previous weekdays are generally a bit lower in carbs and will show a more consistent pattern. Regardless of method, you lose fat with a consistent weekly calorie deficit and not by any particular method of weight checking.

Wow I've noticed the exact same thing--Friday and Saturday mornings are almost always representative of the week's pattern, regardless of where in the week my calories were concentrated. Could be the drop in cortisol associated with the weekend?

[stingray72]

I weigh once a week usually.

[SuffolkPunch]

Wow I've noticed the exact same thing--Friday and Saturday mornings are almost always representative of the week's pattern, regardless of where in the week my calories were concentrated. Could be the drop in cortisol associated with the weekend?

Could be inflammation - I am always a little heavier day after a heavy squat session.

[Tommy W.]

Wow I've noticed the exact same thing--Friday and Saturday mornings are almost always representative of the week's pattern, regardless of where in the week my calories were concentrated. Could be the drop in cortisol associated with the weekend?

for me it’s enjoying more carbs on the weekend. Going out for Mexican food and it’s a 4 lb jump on Monday and then the water is normalized by wed then Friday seems to be the day that is more or less indicative of a 7 day loss of fat However Even weighing one day a week won’t be a linear downward trend with a consistent deficit.

[Millz12323]

I'm in the everyday crew..first thing in the morning after I pee and then the app tracks the moving average for me.

Sometimes there are weigh ins that are 3-4 pounds out of the range but those are quite uncommon but they do happen. With fewer data points you may make an adjustment to your calories that was unneeded which is what Suffolkpunch said above.

[SubWooferCooker]

Pretty much everyday while cutting, This is another reason i always cut with a large deficit, none of these weight fluctuations for me, the scale goes down literally every single day. the only time it will ever go up is if i have a reefed and that's expected.