What I’ve Learned Weighing Myself Daily for 14 Years

When it comes to getting fit and healthy, some people suggest that you should focus on how you feel and look rather than your weight. While there are valid reasons for this, weighing yourself daily provides valuable data for making smarter decisions.

Let me give you an example.

In 2008, I graduated college and started working as a manufacturing engineer in the aerospace industry. My job was to optimize the quality and productivity of a production line that was struggling. To diagnose and correct the problems, I began collecting data. I created a spreadsheet to measure yields and track downtime. Within a few months, performance had significantly improved.

A couple of years later, I encountered a different problem outside of work. I had been lifting weights for years but wasn’t gaining any more muscle. So, I created another spreadsheet to track my body weight. As soon as I began recording the numbers, I adjusted my diet and training accordingly. Within a year, I had gained 30 pounds.

Over the last 14 years, I have logged over 2,500 weights and recorded daily energy expenditure, calorie intake, macros, and more in my spreadsheet. This data has helped me create a systematic process for reaching my fitness goals.

The graph at the top of the page how my weight has trended up and down over the years. Each peak corresponds to a bulk, and each trough a cut. Some years have fewer data points due to my traveling work schedule (2016-2019). Overall, this data has been instrumental in guiding my decisions.

Your body is like a complex machine with millions of moving parts, and if you want it to function optimally, you must measure the critical inputs and outputs, like your weight. Weighing yourself daily or maintaining meticulous notes isn’t necessary, but the scale is a helpful tool, not an enemy trying to damage your self-esteem.

Don’t get too excited or disappointed about any single weigh-in because your weight can vary by 1-2 pounds from day to day. Instead, consider it a data point and use averages to filter out variability and noise.

Start by weighing yourself three times a week and recording the average. Do the same the following week and see if the number went up or down. This simple effort establishes helpful trends instead of reacting to normal variation, which allows you to make the right adjustments to your diet and workout routine.

Weigh yourself at the same time every day, preferably right after waking up, for consistent and accurate data. However, don’t rely on scale weight alone, as it doesn’t tell the whole story. Sometimes, your weight might not change even though you’re making progress in a successful body recomposition plan, where you’re losing fat but building or maintaining muscle.

It’s a good idea to measure your body composition occasionally in addition to your weight or consider qualitative metrics like how you feel and look and how well your clothes fit. All of these factors together paint a more complete picture of how your body is responding to your diet and training program.