Should I weight myself?

This is a question I hear a lot - along with how often should I weigh myself?

It depends on whether you youse it as a management tool or a judgement tool.

What’s the difference?

Many people who weigh themselves assign a value of self worth or loathing to this number, and I want to start off by saying what I’m sure your head already knows but your emotions may forget.

You are not a number on a scale. You are a loved and cherished human being who is valuable beyond measure. You are fearfully and wonderfully made and I hope and pray you embrace that truth with every cell in your being.

…So what about the scale then? Should I weigh? Should I never weigh? If I do weigh how often? Let me answer this with with a few other questions for insight. …

...Should we ever look at the money in our bank accounts?
...or check the price on items we purchase?
Why?

To be good managers of our money. We need information to make good decisions.

This is why I highly recommend measuring weight in combination with a food tracking.
These are the tools of an effective, health management program. These numbers, give us the information we need to make good decisions. To refine behaviors based on our unique needs.

How many calories we need based on our activity?…
How many carbs are appropriate for our goals?...
What ratios of protein, fat and carbs are right for us?...
If we don’t track our food and weight, we’re just guessing at what's right for us. If we do use these tools, we have great information to wise decisions, and produce the lasting results.

Let me illustrate this:

My husband recently lost close to 60 pounds. He weighs himself every day, as an observational tool. He's allowed me to show you the last two months of his weight journal in My Fitness Pal

You’ll see 4 spikes:
1 - Our Anniversary
2 - Vacation
3 - Father’s Day
4 - 4th of July Friends in town for the week.

The important thing to see here is he’s still on a downward trend, but he also enjoys his life and celebrating with family and friends.

I don’t really promote a “cheat day” mentality, I encourage people to make mindful choices while living a full life, that includes the celebrations which always come.

The Daily Habit of food tracking and health management can’t be over sold. When we track we manage our body well, when we don’t, we fall traps that lead down very slippery slopes.

Should you weigh, my answer is yes, in combination with using a food tracker like MFP. If you aren’t tracking then weighing yourself may do more harm than good, because it can become a form of judgment rather a management tool.