For me, stepping on the scale daily gives a clearer overall view of what causes my weight to shift, and it lets me pinpoint those causes more precisely. That said, you also can’t be someone who freaks the fuck out if there are changes.
I know it’s not generally accepted but I weigh myself everyday
- Thread starter Retaguy
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ibnsos
Explorer
I do it as well. Having more data points gives a clearer picture and a better average.
Riviera
Explorer
I'm taking 8mg reta plus .5mg elora per week, and I step on the scale every morning — after having urinated 3 or 4 times overnight and once more, a big one, in the morning.....
BNLFL
Explorer
Once a week just doesn’t work for me — the day-to-day swings are too big, like up 2, down 3, etc. There’s no way my weight is actually changing that fast.
Flash-BCR
Explorer
I step on the scale daily whenever I suspect I’ve dropped some weight...I’m not a fan of the letdown part, and if I’m aware I overate or something like that...I’ll simply hold off until a day when things line up better....that applies to recording the number as well....nothing negative goes in there.... 
plant_lady
Explorer
Same here. For me, it's one of the rare things that keeps me accountable.
I also note down only the lowest readings. Funny enough, my wife teases me about it — I'll say I ate too much and expect to be up today, then I end up down again anyway, lol.Flash-BCR said:
I step on the scale daily whenever I suspect I’ve dropped some weight...I’m not a fan of the letdown part, and if I’m aware I overate or something like that...I’ll simply hold off until a day when things line up better....that applies to recording the number as well....nothing negative goes in there....
BNLFL
Explorer
I'm down 60lbs and in maintenance now. Whenever my weight stalls or creeps up, I'd take it as a sign that something was off.
Riviera
Explorer
Losing 60lb is impressive — which reta dose are you using, and how long did it take you to get there?
Yes, your weight can shift that quickly because of hydration, glycogen storage, and similar factors. But that isn’t the signal we care about when tracking long-term loss or maintenance—it’s basically meaningless noise that hides the thing we’re actually trying to follow (tissue mass).
Weighing just once a week has a drawback: you can’t tell whether you landed on a day that was up 2 or down 3. Say I chose a random day last week as my weight—I could have seen 220.3 lbs or 224.0 lbs. That’s close to a 2% swing in body weight depending on the day, and it doesn’t reflect my real long-term progress. Daily weighing lets me capture the high days, the low days, and everything in between. Averaging those readings produces a number that irons out much of that meaningless noise and better reflects what I’m actually tracking: the tissue mass.
For some time now I’ve been using MacroFactor, which smooths my daily weigh-ins even more aggressively than what I described above.
You can see the faint shaded areas where it’s smoothing out some pretty substantial excursions.
Seasonal1
Explorer
I step on the scale every day, and I genuinely like all the graphs and charts that come with my Amazon scale. Since we’re snowbirds, we relocated this week to our Florida house, where the only scale is a basic one with none of those reports. So I went ahead and ordered another inexpensive Amazon scale, the kind with a handle, and it should arrive this afternoon.
CHELMON01
Explorer
I step on the scale daily as well. Seeing a fresh number show up is genuinely enjoyable — it lifts my mood every single time. Whenever I take a break from the diet, I stay off the scale, and once I start back up I hold off for 2 weeks before weighing again. That gives me time to shed the glycogen along with the water that comes with it.
woundcarping
Explorer
I step on the scale daily, and I'd argue that's a sounder approach than weekly weigh-ins.
If you struggle to see the bigger picture or get hung up on daily fluctuations—which are absolutely real—moving averages can help.
I don't log my weight every single day. New lows get recorded, naturally, but seeing the same number again or a +1lb gain doesn't add much to the chart.
Days when I recorded a weight are marked with yellow dots.
After roughly two weeks of barely moving, I've hit new lows over the past two days; strictly speaking, 1 pound came off in 15 days, 2lb in the last 2 days, and 8lb over the past month.
If you struggle to see the bigger picture or get hung up on daily fluctuations—which are absolutely real—moving averages can help.
I don't log my weight every single day. New lows get recorded, naturally, but seeing the same number again or a +1lb gain doesn't add much to the chart.
Days when I recorded a weight are marked with yellow dots.
After roughly two weeks of barely moving, I've hit new lows over the past two days; strictly speaking, 1 pound came off in 15 days, 2lb in the last 2 days, and 8lb over the past month.
RandomCrew
Explorer
Seeing the number on the scale go up is something I really dislike. I realize it's only one of many factors, but at the moment I just don't want to look at it, so I attempt to step on the scale as rarely as I can....
Just A Cat
Explorer
Ever since the Renpho 8 lead scale arrived, I've stepped on it a zillion times. More data suits me. Before long, your research will have you deep diving into water weight shifts. Those are normal. Once you understand them and expect them, they shouldn't provoke any anxiety.
If you're following a diet or working toward a goal weight, daily weighing is definitely worth doing. Step on the scale each morning after using the toilet, before any food or drink, in the same clothes or just shorts, then track the weekly average. Stress, electrolyte balance and glycogen levels are among the many factors that can trigger water retention or water loss. Once a week is fine too, but daily weigh-ins give you a more accurate picture, especially when you're already weeks or months deep into a diet, since smaller changes become more noticeable compared to the start, when weight can drop rapidly due to glycogen depletion and water loss.