7 Day Average Weight: How It’s Helped Me Succeed With Weight Loss

Video Recap

I weigh every day, but I don’t pay much attention to my single day weight. I instead average my past 7 days of weight, and that has helped me to not worry about days when my weight fluctuates up. To keep track of your 7 day average, simply add up your weights for the past 7 days, and divide by 7. You can also download the spreadsheet I made which calculates it for you automatically here:

Visual Comparison: Weekly Weighing vs Daily Weighing vs 7 Day Average

Weekly Weighing

Weekly weigh-ins don’t work for me. I tend to get too nervous if I’ve had too many “off days,” and then I just stop weighing altogether. And traditionally in the past, that’s when I start packing on the pounds. But aside from that, a weekly weigh in just doesn’t tell the whole story. Let’s look at June 2018:

If I only looked at my weight once a week, I would have thought I started the month at 147.4, lost a pound the next week, gained two pounds the next, and then lost those 2 pounds the next week, and then gained a pound the next. Talk about an emotional roller coaster!

Daily Weighing

Paying attention to my single day weights is a step in the right direction for me. It gets me on the scale every day. It makes weighing a habit. It takes the fear out of weighing. But, that can get confusing too. It is frustrating to think, “Hey! I gained 3 pounds yesterday!” And then even more confusing if the next day you lose 2.  Here’s what my daily weights looked like for June 2018:

Weighing every day gives me 7 times as much data compared to once a week weigh-ins. And while it’s more information, it can still be a pretty bad roller coaster.

7 Day Averaging

Now, instead of only looking at the single day weights, let’s take those numbers and plug them into our 7 day average formula, and see what the numbers look like:

There are a couple of things to notice: first, see how much smoother the line is? It’s not a straight line down, but it is a whole lot smoother. It also helps me to feel the ride is smoother. I don’t celebrate low weight days too quickly, and I don’t despair over single high weight days either. Also, notice that my average weight starting the month was higher than what the single day weights in the beginning would have lead me to believe. I ended the month almost 4 pounds lighter on average.

If you’ve been frustrated in the past because you feel like the scale’s just not moving, I’d encourage you to start weighing daily and keeping track of your 7 day average.