How often should I weigh myself?

Cheryl C. Marco, RD

Clinical Dietician, Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases

When you are actively losing weight you should weigh yourself at least once a week. Weighing daily when you are losing weight can be discouraging because you won’t typically see weight coming off that quickly.

However, when you are working on maintaining weight or preventing weight gain you should weigh yourself daily. Weighing once a week is adequate to keep abreast of weight changes but what happens when you only weigh once weekly is that it can get away from you too easily. Maybe you’re away one week and don’t weigh; then the next week you don’t want to see the number … well before you know it three months have gone by and your weight has gone up 15 pounds.

If you establish the habit of weighing daily at about the same time on the same scale you will be able to catch the 3 to 5 pound weight gains and reverse it before it become unmanageable.