I feel like writing this because I keep encountering this mindset on very popular weight loss YouTube channels and subs - that you should only weigh yourself once a week or once a month or even rarely. I encountered it twice this morning. This is contrary to what has been helpful for me. I have found weighing myself every day to be useful and actually motivating for me. So I want to state the case for weighing yourself every day and my experiences in case it might be useful for someone else.
Proponents of weekly/monthly weigh-ins often have this argument - there are aberrations/fluctuations in your weight that can cause it to increase or not move consistently for a period of days and some people find that checking on their weight every day and experiencing these fluctuations actually hurts their motivation because they don't see the results. Having longer periods of time between weighing increases the likelihood that you will see decreases in your weight because over a longer period of time with more opportunity for weight loss, the fluctuations will matter less. It also gives people something to look forward to, if they have a set day of the week/month that they weigh in. It can help motivation to be able to look forward to a day where you get to see your progress on the scale. These are good arguments and they work well for some people.
For me personally, daily weighing actually has the same motivating power that people argue weekly/monthly weighing does. You get to see the progress more immediately, which in many cases has kept me motivated to maintain my calorie deficit on days that I otherwise was not feeling like dieting. If I see a new lowest weight on the scale, I'm even more motivated that day to strictly maintain my calorie deficit to see if I can get it even lower the next day. The consequences of your actions are more immediately obvious. If I have a cheat day, I can see that on the scale the next day, too. (Most of that weight is probably sodium-related, it's actually hard to eat enough calories in one day to gain enough fat to see an actual fat gain on the scale, when your scale only moves in .2 lb increments). But still, the consequences of a bad decision keep it fresh in my mind that I can just as easily gain weight like I did for many years if I don't eat at or below my TDEE. This has saved me many times from having a whole week of bad choices, if I know I have to reckon with it on the scale every morning.
I'm the type of person that would put off changing my behavior if I knew that I wouldn't have to reckon with the scale until Sunday or the 31st of the month. I would tell myself, I have a little time to get back on the wagon. I would justify treats and overeating that way. If I decided that I was only going to weigh in every three months, I would put off actually dieting until the weigh-in date was much closer and I would be satisfied with any little weight loss. In reality, if I was weighing in more frequently, I would put in more overall effort to see weight loss at every weigh-in and probably lose more over the same three month period. This is why I find weighing in daily so helpful. The benefits summarized are really that you can see much more quickly how your actions affect your weight and adjust if necessary and if you're motivated to stick to your diet by an impending weigh-in, having less time between weigh-ins means less potential time to fall off the wagon and not have to reckon with the scale.
To address the fluctuations that daily weigh-in naysayers are concerned about: This is maybe something more relevant to people who are just beginning their weight loss who aren't used to weighing themselves regularly and aren't accustomed to the fluctuations you see if you weigh yourself regularly. I've been dieting for over a year now and have lost 46 pounds. I have weighed myself nearly every day. I have come to realize the fluctuations/things outside of actual body fat content that affect my weight and recognize when those things are behind some inexplicable weight gain/plateau. And it doesn't affect my motivation because I know that my fat loss is not being affected because I'm still maintaining a calorie deficit and I will pee out this giant sodium-related water retention that resulted from consuming Wendy's chili in a couple days and that lo and behold my calorie deficit will in fact yield fat loss even if my actual body weight was up for a couple days. There is some fluctuation like this affecting my weight only a few days per month. Most days I see the immediate results of my deficit, which is motivating.
For me personally, there are three main factors that will cause a weight fluctuation: 1. My menstrual cycle (since I'm a lady). Usually causes a 2-4 pound water weight/bloating gain right before my period begins that I will gradually pee out over the course of my period. 2. Bowel changes/irregularities. Constipation can make it seem like you're gaining weight/plateaued, but then you have a bowel movement and realize you've actually lost weight. 3. Sodium-related water retention. Some foods like canned soups and fast food are sodium bombs that can cause 2+ pounds of weight gain. You'll pee out the water in a couple days and realize that if you maintained your calorie deficit, you still will have lost weight. Once you realize what these things are and recognize when they're happening, you don't sweat a little fluctuation on the scale. It's often easy to connect the dots. "Oh, I'm up a pound today, but I covered my food in soy sauce yesterday, that's probably why." I have a calendar that I only use for writing down my weight every day. It's actually fascinating that I can look back and tell when all my periods over the last year were because of the 4-5 days of minor weight gain that don't fit the general downward trendline. I say all this to illustrate that it's easy to recognize when something outside of your body fat is affecting the number on the scale.
If you are going to weigh yourself daily, do it in a consistent fashion. In the morning after using the bathroom but before eating/drinking anything is best. I do it right before I step into the shower in the morning. This will help with things that might cause you to see fluctuations aside from physiological things like water retention.
I hope this is helpful for someone. It seems like all the advice out there in the online weight loss world is arguing for the other side and I thought it would be helpful to say that there are pros/cons to both daily and less frequent weighing and that I've had success doing the opposite of what all the advice seems to be saying. Consistent weight loss is really more about sticking to it for a long period of time. And you have to find what works best for you to be able to stick to it for a long period of time, and what works for you might not be the blanket advice that works for most people. I've found that there are not hard and fast rules for weight loss other than the fact that achieving a calorie deficit through some means seems to be the only thing necessary. It's whatever works that you can stick with.
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