Weighing Yourself Every Day

why are we told not to weigh ourselves every day on a cut?

I always tell my clients to weigh themselves everyday. That way we can assess how their bodies respond to changes in carb and calorie intake. Also, it enables me to track their lowest points each week, not their ‘false weights’.

The reason why some people say not to weigh yourself every day is because of the severe fluctuation that some (most) people experience due to glycoegn, water, and intestinal ‘bulk’. If you weigh yourself once weekly, you stand a pretty good chance of getting an inaccurate impression of what’s really going on progress wise.

S

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I always tell my clients to weigh themselves everyday. That way we can assess how their bodies respond to changes in carb and calorie intake. Also, it enables me to track their lowest points each week, not their ‘false weights’.

The reason why some people say not to weigh yourself every day is because of the severe fluctuation that some (most) people experience due to glycoegn, water, and intestinal ‘bulk’. If you weigh yourself once weekly, you stand a pretty good chance of getting an inaccurate impression of what’s really going on progress wise.

S[/quote]

Would you distinguish here between someone just cutting versuss someone contest prepping? I feel like your first point makes sense for someone prepping for a contest, but for someone who is doing a long-term cut (like paulie did earlier), it seems like it would run the risk of the person “overanalyzing” what he or she is doing in a way that could be counterproductive.

Because it plays with your head.

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I always tell my clients to weigh themselves everyday. That way we can assess how their bodies respond to changes in carb and calorie intake. Also, it enables me to track their lowest points each week, not their ‘false weights’.

The reason why some people say not to weigh yourself every day is because of the severe fluctuation that some (most) people experience due to glycoegn, water, and intestinal ‘bulk’. If you weigh yourself once weekly, you stand a pretty good chance of getting an inaccurate impression of what’s really going on progress wise.

S[/quote]

Would you distinguish here between someone just cutting versuss someone contest prepping? I feel like your first point makes sense for someone prepping for a contest, but for someone who is doing a long-term cut (like paulie did earlier), it seems like it would run the risk of the person “overanalyzing” what he or she is doing in a way that could be counterproductive. [/quote]

Well, I think in either case the goal is to lose fat while maintaining muscle. So both method would benefit from a clear picture of an uninflated LBM reading. As your weight can fluctuate UP each week via any of the issues I already mentioned, you can only go DOWN so much. Hence the rationale for tracking the weekly low reading.

Imagine someone cutting, not prepping, and weighing themselves on a morning following a day when they just happened to ingest a lot of fiber, as well as eating later in the evening. Their morning weight would register higher than it might have had they had more time to ‘vacate’ as well as metabolize a bit. Failing to consider this, they think that they not only didn’t lose any weight the past week, but they actually gained a couple of pounds. See how this can be problematic?

S

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Because it plays with your head.[/quote]

LOL, it literally could not be more simple than this. Totally agree.

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I always tell my clients to weigh themselves everyday. That way we can assess how their bodies respond to changes in carb and calorie intake. Also, it enables me to track their lowest points each week, not their ‘false weights’.

The reason why some people say not to weigh yourself every day is because of the severe fluctuation that some (most) people experience due to glycoegn, water, and intestinal ‘bulk’. If you weigh yourself once weekly, you stand a pretty good chance of getting an inaccurate impression of what’s really going on progress wise.

S[/quote]

Would you distinguish here between someone just cutting versuss someone contest prepping? I feel like your first point makes sense for someone prepping for a contest, but for someone who is doing a long-term cut (like paulie did earlier), it seems like it would run the risk of the person “overanalyzing” what he or she is doing in a way that could be counterproductive. [/quote]

Agree again.

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:

[quote]The3Commandments wrote:

[quote]The Mighty Stu wrote:
I always tell my clients to weigh themselves everyday. That way we can assess how their bodies respond to changes in carb and calorie intake. Also, it enables me to track their lowest points each week, not their ‘false weights’.

The reason why some people say not to weigh yourself every day is because of the severe fluctuation that some (most) people experience due to glycoegn, water, and intestinal ‘bulk’. If you weigh yourself once weekly, you stand a pretty good chance of getting an inaccurate impression of what’s really going on progress wise.

S[/quote]

Would you distinguish here between someone just cutting versuss someone contest prepping? I feel like your first point makes sense for someone prepping for a contest, but for someone who is doing a long-term cut (like paulie did earlier), it seems like it would run the risk of the person “overanalyzing” what he or she is doing in a way that could be counterproductive. [/quote]

Well, I think in either case the goal is to lose fat while maintaining muscle. So both method would benefit from a clear picture of an uninflated LBM reading. As your weight can fluctuate UP each week via any of the issues I already mentioned, you can only go DOWN so much. Hence the rationale for tracking the weekly low reading.

Imagine someone cutting, not prepping, and weighing themselves on a morning following a day when they just happened to ingest a lot of fiber, as well as eating later in the evening. Their morning weight would register higher than it might have had they had more time to ‘vacate’ as well as metabolize a bit. Failing to consider this, they think that they not only didn’t lose any weight the past week, but they actually gained a couple of pounds. See how this can be problematic?

S
[/quote]

Assuming someone has the same weekly diet and weighs in at the same time each week, I think this becomes less of an issue. But you’ve forgotten more about bodybuilding than I’ve ever known, so I defer to your knowledge. :slight_smile:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Because it plays with your head.[/quote]

LOL, it literally could not be more simple than this. Totally agree.
[/quote]

For the advanced or even intermediate lifter, that is what it really comes down to.

I have fucked up many diets in the past (and obviously I am not talking about competition dieting) by watching the scale so closely that I started getting scared any time it dropped too fast…so I ate more to compensate.

When dieting, your body water can fluctuate so much that any serious daily tracking can throw off someone not tied to a monitor and being tested regularly for body comp.

[quote]Professor X wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Because it plays with your head.[/quote]

LOL, it literally could not be more simple than this. Totally agree.
[/quote]

For the advanced or even intermediate lifter, that is what it really comes down to.

I have fucked up many diets in the past (and obviously I am not talking about competition dieting) by watching the scale so closely that I started getting scared any time it dropped too fast…so I ate more to compensate.

When dieting, your body water can fluctuate so much that any serious daily tracking can throw off someone not tied to a monitor and being tested regularly for body comp.[/quote]

At the opposite end of the spectrum, I’ve messed up a couple diets when I wasn’t dropping fast enough, resulting in me lowering calories too much, too quickly. One of these times I’m going to get it right.

I think people at any level should be able to do daily weigh-ins. As long as they are aware of what makes weight fluctuate and not adjust anything based on 2 consecutive days. Lowest number of the week is a good indicator of progress.

Btw, Paulie, are you weighing yourself every day? Whatever you’re doing is working, so whatever conventional wisdom espouses, it really doesn’t matter.

Seriously, you’re looking good, man.

You could weigh yourself everyday and add up the numbers and divide it by 7 to get ur weekly average and than compare this week by week.

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Btw, Paulie, are you weighing yourself every day? Whatever you’re doing is working, so whatever conventional wisdom espouses, it really doesn’t matter.

Seriously, you’re looking good, man. [/quote]

x2; you’re looking great, man!

I am with Stu on this. Weight yourself everyday…

Imo the “playing with your head” thing is kinda stupid when you actually KNOW that your weight cant fluctuate a lot in a single day so…

I’d rather have 49 readings to see if there’s a certain pattern as opposed to 7…

[quote]kgildner wrote:

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
Btw, Paulie, are you weighing yourself every day? Whatever you’re doing is working, so whatever conventional wisdom espouses, it really doesn’t matter.

Seriously, you’re looking good, man. [/quote]

x2; you’re looking great, man![/quote]

Thanks dudes!

Yeah I weigh myself ever day just to see how my weight changes after certain days.

For instance I’m always lightest after an off day for some reason despite eating the same amount of calories as the days I workout.

or even though leg days are my biggest and most exhaustive days usually I’m a little heavier or there is no change after these days.

It does play with my head when I fluctuate in the wrong direction (up) but I don’t change anything. I know that I’ve been doing everything right I just go with the flow.

[quote]zraw wrote:
I am with Stu on this. Weight yourself everyday…

Imo the “playing with your head” thing is kinda stupid when you actually KNOW that your weight cant fluctuate a lot in a single day so…

I’d rather have 49 readings to see if there’s a certain pattern as opposed to 7…[/quote]

I think it makes a difference if you’re a competitive bodybuilder looking for trends over time because you can use what you learn for your next competition. That being said, the average person or even average gym rat trying to lose 20 pounds, checking every day can be more detrimental.

[quote]sufiandy wrote:
I think people at any level should be able to do daily weigh-ins. As long as they are aware of what makes weight fluctuate and not adjust anything based on 2 consecutive days. Lowest number of the week is a good indicator of progress.[/quote]

Yes

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:

[quote]zraw wrote:
I am with Stu on this. Weight yourself everyday…

Imo the “playing with your head” thing is kinda stupid when you actually KNOW that your weight cant fluctuate a lot in a single day so…

I’d rather have 49 readings to see if there’s a certain pattern as opposed to 7…[/quote]

I think it makes a difference if you’re a competitive bodybuilder looking for trends over time because you can use what you learn for your next competition. That being said, the average person or even average gym rat trying to lose 20 pounds, checking every day can be more detrimental. [/quote]

It’s only detrimental if a lifter sees shadows and hears footsteps that aren’t there.

I’ve been weighing myself everyday for the past 6 months and keeping an excel sheet, it’s pretty cool to see how my weight has changed and like stu was saying to see how I respond to upping cals, carbs, etc.