I haven’t been weighing myself consistently this year. I had gained a few pounds over the winter due to a lot of stress eating and while I only weigh myself once a month, I even quit that. I wasn’t giving up, I wasn’t quitting what I was doing (i.e. counting calories and exercising) I just needed a break. I didn’t want to deal with it.
I didn’t get on the scale again for a number of reasons. Part of it was that I just forgot. Life got busy and I missed the window in November to weigh myself and get an accurate number so I decided to just skip it. The other reason was the holidays. Blah, blah blah….Thanksgiving, Christmas, cookies, pie, candy….I just didn’t want to see that number. I told myself I’d wait until after Christmas but then I changed my mind.
Denial does not work with weight loss and maintenance. Seeing the number on the scale is a (sometimes brutal) reminder of where I am at and whether or not I’ve been LAZY about my food. Those CREEPING CALORIES add up. I finally decided to get back on that scale.
Just to recap my disappointing winter/spring…January I weighed 149. Still under goal weight. But too high for my liking. Fast forward to April and I weighed 147. Some progress. I was feeling a little better about seeing that number instead of the first. In May I got down to 146. Feeling okay! Moving in the right direction! Then…I stopped getting on the scale. Between May and August I gained 1 pound. I was back to 147. I was disappointed for sure. I had hoped that I would get back down to 145 (how much I weighed last summer at this summer).
While I wasn’t entirely focused on the wedding, it was in the back of my mind. During this last year I was engaged, I had a few ups and downs about my weight. Sometimes I felt pressure to lose weight for the wedding. Sometimes I felt okay with my body the way it is. With the wedding less than a month away, I admit I have had more of those feelings…Less than a month away! Can I lose any weight? Then I chastise myself and think, Why? This is me. Why would I try to lose a bunch of weight for one day?
And to be honest, my dress fits so I am kind of ok with where I am at.
I was talking to some other weight loss maintainers on Twitter recently and both of them confessed to weighing daily. One blogger said: “it’s not for everybody… But to me just data, scale should not be a surprise to me.”
I chimed in and said that I couldn’t do that because it makes me mental. Seriously. I got super obsessed at one point where I was weighing myself all the time and whatever that number on the scale said, my entire day and mood could be ruined. It held TOO MUCH control over my life and emotions. So I quit and decided to weigh myself once a month to check in. That works for me (usually).
It got me thinking. If I weighed myself every day would it change my outlook? Would I think about the scale in a different way? Would it have less power over my feelings if I just sucked it up and got on the scale every morning? A few things could happen:
First, it could make me obsessive again.
Second, it could make me less sensitive to the number on the scale.
Third, I would see massive fluctuations from day to day and perhaps that would take ALL of the power out of that number because I would see just how fluid weight is.
Lastly, weighing daily COULD lead to emotional/binge eating.
So many things can effect the number on the scale that don’t necessarily indicate weight gain. You could be retaining water, you could have sore muscles that are trying to repair themselves and holding on to water. You could be dehydrated. You could be constipated. You could have eating especially carb-y foods, or foods that cause inflammation in your body. It could be anything. And, of course, weight gain.
Seeing the changes every day could really take the sting out of it. I am considering trying this. Maybe for one month just to see if it changes my outlook. (Obviously not right now, maybe after the wedding.) Then I think…does it really matter? Is it an accurate gauge of your health? I mean, if you are counting your calories or points every day, eating right and exercising on a regular basis, you shouldn’t HAVE to monitor that number so closely.
How often do you weigh yourself?
Kelly @ Finding a Skinnier Me
I can get obsessive. For awhile I was weighing every morning and sometimes it was motivational and sometimes it was obsessive and sometimes it made me want to give up. I try to keep it down to weekly because I feel better when I see a week’s worth of progress. I think though that if I was just in maintenance mode I might just weight once a month.
Lisa Eirene
After the wedding I might try doing it once a week for awhile to get back on track. We’ll see. Hopefully I won’t be feeling any pressures after the wedding and can let everything work out the way it will.
Lori
I kind of am random when I weigh myself. I generally try to stick to once a week. Sometimes I will hop on mid week. Other times I will go several weeks without weighing. It’s different now for me than for so long when I was a daily weigher. It never made me crazy or anything like that, but now I just don’t think I need to weigh every day.
Lisa Eirene
I think you reach a point where it’s not the focus and that is ok!
Jess
I was a daily weigher when I was losing. It was just data and I liked seeing the fluctuations because they helped me to understand how my body worked. I gain 2 pounds after a weights workout, gain 5 after Chinese food, weigh less on Sundays… You get the point. I stopped weighing after I had maintained for around a year. I’m back to weighing every few days now since I have put on a few pounds over the winter. Hoping I can drop it soon!!!
Lisa Eirene
When you separate the emotional aspect of it, seeing those fluctuations is pretty interesting.
Jess
And it’s hard to separate the emotions out! It really is. It did bother me to begin with but I just kept reminding myself that fluctuations happen, that I’d just eaten a salty meal, done weights, etc and that it wasn’t a true gain. Maybe write that, “it’s not a true gain” on the wall in front of your scale? That is if you decide to daily weigh.
Lisa Eirene
That’s great that you were able to get over the emotional part of it. Good work!
Karen P
I weigh daily. Data, record, look at 2-3 month trend lines, make some decisions. Early, very early course correction- in a kind and gentle way. I learned this in Refuse to Regain. My weight maintainer friends in real life were very, very strongly recommending that I weigh daily. The comments were ” I can address gains quickly, I can maintain for many years, I record and go and make choices for the day that match the outcomes I want” I didn’t want to listen, but I know staying away from the scale had weight gain results in my own past, so I had to try this to see what my own outcome would be.
Short term: I realized I was having headaches and 2 pound weight gains (in one day) after I ate almonds. I removed nuts, 30 years of migraines gone. The scale is almost a “poor man’s” allergy test for me.
Mental part: It’s also like inviting my binge brain back. The binge thinking urges me to “throw out the scale” and moderation eat my biggest binge foods. Yeah, sure I can work this off…. I hiked so I deserve this muffin, I can work it off… ect. That thinking always lead to gains for me.
Every day, between every meal, I make hundreds of decisions. By getting on the scale daily, I own my actions and thinking and behaviors. I take the binge brain and put it back in it’s place. It’s always there, lurking, but doesn’t effect my outcome most days.
At some point, I finally realized I couldn’t out run, out walk, out hike, out think, out reason my hormonal insulin response. The scale reminds me if I forget. Daily weighing and recording my weight in My Fitness Pall was my easiest, cheapest, least time involvement tool as I went through menopause the last 2 years.
Use it as a tool, no shame, no blame. Just data- IMO
Lisa Eirene
I appreciate your input. It sounds so easy when you write it out. It’s a shame the scale holds so much emotion to it for me, or I’d look at maintenance more like you. It is just a struggle for me to SEE those fluctuations!
Shaun Hoobler
LOL. Me and my scale have a love-hate relationship.