HMF

It's hard to search the forums for what I'm looking for because of keyword overlapping, so I just though I'd ask.

How many of you jump on the scale every morning and what do you do with that info? I'm primarily concerned with tracking my health status based on morning resting HR and morning post-toilet-usage weight. I never see huge fluctuations, but lately I've been hitting new lows when it comes to weight (132.6 this morning, 132.2 the other day, 134.8 normal) and my HR is also 2-3 beats higher than normal. Does anyone here keep track of this stuff and is this an indicator to "use caution"?

Nachoman

I don't even own a scale.

Accordion

TMI, bro.

hodie21

The fact that you weigh 132 sickens me. Are you a woman? I usually weigh myself once a week in the morning. Your weight can fluctuate greatly day to day due to fluid intake.

I used to weigh everyday when I was training alot. I saw 2 pound fluctuations day to day.

aham23

3 or 4 days a week i jump on the scale. i track the information and other daily metrics at TrainingPeaks.com. later.

pjuarez

As a POW (previously over weight) person, I weigh myself every day and make micro adjustments to what I eat and how I exercise. When I stop weighing myself I gain weight.

VA_Esquire

I weigh myself every friday when I wake up (usually between 6-7am) and thats it. Though once it gets warmer I might begin weighing myself twice a week. You shouldn't weigh yourself that much, its kind of pointless.

AMFJ

weigh daily.

I use myfitnesspal to track weight and my calories. Works nicely.

Homebrew01

Same here. I have a belt with different holes. If I have to make it bigger, that's bad.

Accordion

Well I went from around 220 to 180 from cycling this year. The weird thing is that in the past couple of months I've bounced up to 190 which kind of horrified me. But people who I see often kept telling me I never looked better or that I was getting really skinny. I figured it was because of muscle mass. Even with a 10-pound gain clothes still hang off me and I can wear the same slacks, etc. It's gotta all be in the guads.

I weigh myself daily - have done so for over a decade.

mvnsnd

I weigh every day and write it in a calendar. I'm only looking at weight though and only looking for trends.

tknesel

I weigh everyday and keep track in the LoseIt app on my iPhone. I fluctuate in a 2-3 pound range pretty normally from 168 - 171.

milliron

Something like once a week. Keeping track of it in TrainingPeaks.

Flash

I weigh myself every morning in order to make sure I'm within the bounds I set for myself at the start of each season. I carry 5 extra pounds during the winter and I know exactly what needs to come off once race season starts (in three weeks for me!).

I'm 145-148 now and will weigh approx 140-143 when racing. I never recommend focusing on a number in terms of weight. If you're fit, meeting your cycling goals, feel strong and your race results (or other fitness results) please you, then in my book you're at a good weight. In my case the number means something because it almost always correlates with how I feel on the bike (and on the field of play).

The tone of your message suggests you may be tracking things a bit too closely and it also sounds like you might be worried a bit. If so, see a doctor.

Cheers

pbd

I weigh everyday. I'm in a weight-loss mode, not a weight-maintain mode, but some of the approach can still work.

I can have pretty big fluctuations, so I apply a healthy dose of statistics to the process, to smooth out the noise and better view the trend. Basically, I look at the exponentially-weighted moving average of the daily measurements. It averages the previous week of measurements, placing more importance on the most recent measurements. Each day, as long as that day's weight is below the exponentially-weighted average weight over the past week, then I know I'm still losing. For instance, today I weighed .8 pounds more than yesterday, but I'm still 2.7 pounds lighter than the moving average of the previous week. The average is still moving down, so I'm doing well. In fact, every day for over 2 months know, the individual daily weights have been below the moving average.

And that's where it can help in weight gaining or maintaining, because the trend trails the data points. If you're gaining weight, then your daily weights will largely be OVER the moving average trend line. If you're maintaining weight, then you'll have about equal amounts of measurements over and under the trendline. So once I get to my goal weight, I can use that to maintain it. A day over the average isn't bad, ~half the measurements should be over the moving average in order to maintain. But a week straight where every measurement is over the moving average is a definite trend.

To me, I'm tracking what I need to track to make me feel better and confident about it. I know daily fluctuations have frustrated me in the past, so my method helps me see past the fluctuations and feel better about progress. Track what makes you feel better, and if you're worried, see a doctor.

ancker

I weigh every day. Sometimes multiple times a day (usually after a BM). TMI, yes.
I record my Friday morning weight in Garmin Connect and a Spreadsheet for my own analysis.

telebianchi

I lost 40 lbs in 2007-08 in part by weighing every day. Of course I then stopped doing any tracking and am now again working on losing 30 lbs. Thirteen down since Jan 4.

Weigh at the same time every day whenever that is (and same day of week if you only check weekly). Most people will weigh less when they first get up in the morning. Don't pay attention to your weight after a long workout since you've probably lost fluids and your weight won't be "true" again until after you've re-hydrated.

I track in both FitDay and a spreadsheet. FitDay gets updated most days since that will affect the daily calorie usage for my unfortunately too-sedentary life. Spreadsheet gets entered daily just for the fun of it but I only really watch Monday morning's weight (no particular reason for Monday other than that's what I randomly decided to do). I use the spreadsheet in addition to FitDay because it's easier for me to see trends. I'm a bit of a data geek so I can quickly throw together charts, trends, etc for calories, calorie balance, fat/protien/carbs/alcohol. I have conditional formatting that will turn numbers bright colors &/or bold if above or below thresholds I've set. Yes, I repeat, I am a geek. That's what motivates me and I completely understand why somebody else would think I am overdoing and overcomplicating it. But history tells me that if I stop tracking intake vs. output on a daily basis then I will put the weight back on. It's much more psychological than physiological.

banerjek

I weigh every day, partly from curiosity, and partly to make sure I'm not losing weight. If I am, I just eat a little more.

mmmdonuts

I weigh myself before and after rides to make sure that I rehydrate properly. I also weigh myself on other days just to see but don't track it.

Kristen

I weigh myself virtually every morning (I give myself a bye day after special occasion meals) and check body fat weekly.

If I am ever up more than 2 pounds from my ideal I check the body fat to see if it is due to new muscle (of course it never is but I keep checking) then go on an extremely low calorie diet with marathon aerobic exercise sessions until I am a pound below ideal. My body fat does go down slightly during the summer and back up during the winter but I try to keep the weight the same year round. I am happy with my current figure so this works well for me. Very simple.

hamfoh

The most fit guy I know is a 59 year old man who weighs himself every morning, no matter what

jsutkeepspining

wel im a wrestler so i've gotten into the habit of checking my weight once in the morning once after school and once before i go to sleep. i manly just look to make sure im never more than 2 lbs over what i want to weight the next morning. so if i step on the scale after school and im 159.3 then i know that i dont need to be too concerned with weight, and if i work out hard i can have a very nice filling meal and will wake up being <160. i have a tantia scale and always check my bf% (morning only).

Velo Gator

I don't use a scale. I go by how my clothing fits and how I look.

When I started the half-Ironman training plan, I went to the doctor a few months in, and weighed more than I have in a long time. Weight tells me nothing. I can fit into jeans from years ago that I wouldn't have been able to wear 6 months back.

ciocc_cat

I'm 56 and I weigh myself every morning. I've tracked my weight and my diet religiously on livestrong.com since April 2009. Doing so combined with a return to cycling (I track my mileage, too) helped me shed almost 60 pounds and return to being as nearly as fit/lean as I was when I was still racing in my late 30s.

jmX

This exactly. I keep hoping to see that number go up, but it's a losing battle. Cycling just sucks the mass away and I'm trying to keep every ounce of muscle I still have. The scale tells me how this battle is going on a more accurate level than just a mirror check.