The (Person) Scale Argument

MsJulesRenee

glassyo wrote: »

And now I have the vision of meeting some unsavory individual in a back alley:

"Rico told me you sold scales, man. How much? He told me I can get a digital from you. No, man, I ain't no food police!"

"throw in a caliper and we have a deal"

OldHobo

kae612 wrote: »

...
That's me, but I want to hear from you - How frequently do you weigh yourself? Why does that work for you? Do you weigh yourself at home or not? I'd like to hear a mixture of things, to see what the different approaches are.

Reading on here, I see a lot from the "daily-weigh-in for fluctuations and trends" crowd. My dietician has expressly stated "Do Not Weigh Daily" as an overarching rule. I'd like to know more about the reasons behind both of these arguments, and if there's another argument for sure let me know! Thanks

Looking at the second quoted paragraph first. I'm not about to argue against overarching rules prescribed by a medical professional. Furthermore, my opinions on your family dynamics will be provided only if requested.

I weigh myself on a bathroom type scale first second thing every morning. I put the number into a spreadsheet that also has that days blood pressure, calories consumed, and time and distance walked. I don't worry about daily fluctuations, but I do feel rewarded when it goes down. There is also a column, automatically updated, that calculates the mean average of the current and previous 4 weight entries. If my weight went up a little for no apparent reason, I remind myself that only that the 5-day rolling average matters. I update the weight in the MFP check in every Sunday morning.

amusedmonkey

kae612 wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

How often you weigh is personal preference.

How do you know the scale at hlrhe gym is unreliable?

Ah, sorry! I've stood on it a couple of times, and the needle moves so much I can get within a 5lb radius of my weight (eg somewhere between 185 and 190) but it doesn't hover higher or lower within that range so I can't really tell to the pound.

rabbitjb wrote: »

Dietician and parents say no scale in house

I'm thinking in treatment for ED

Am I right?

Nope. This is the first time I've ever tried to lose weight. My mom has yo-yo dieted and sees owning a scale as a problem. We had a tenant for a while who had one and she requested it be removed. The dietician, I have no idea. She says it's something she recommends for everyone because of daily fluctuations.

nordlead2005 wrote: »

wait, you are 21. Why can't you just get a job and buy a scale for yourself and keep it in your room? I can understand if your parents don't want to buy a scale for the family, as that is asking them to spend their money.

Also, many locations have scales. My local grocery store has a scale built into the blood pressure station. If I didn't have a scale at home and didn't want to buy one I'd go over there once per week in the morning and weigh myself. You can also find these devices at pharmacies. Is there nothing like that near where you live?

As for daily vs weekly. That is personal preference. Most people who advocate weekly (or longer) do so because a lot of people who weigh daily get discouraged and quit all because of water weight fluctuations. I personally like to weigh daily.

I don't have a job at the moment, but I can easily buy a scale with my savings. I'd prefer not to hide it, because I think that's just unpleasant for everyone involved and a little childish. My parents wouldn't be buying it if I did get one, it's more about it existing in the house.

There are a number of pharmacies near me and none have scales, and only one has a blood pressure reader and none have scales. I have heard before about people having them in malls, but I've never seen them. Is that an American thing?

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

Uh, no...you are still an adult and can/should do your own thing. You are responsible for your own weight.

Get a scale, put it in your room and use it.

"Do not weigh daily" is a silly rule. Unless your weight fluctuates wildly or you are going to freak out about it, weighing every day is just fine. Why WOULDN'T you want more data?

Well that's why I'm asking. I am able to and can purchase a scale, I'm interested in whether it's worth defending and having a big discussion, and of course I would need facts and arguments to support that decision. I'm looking into making the decision to either press the issue and say "a scale is necessary because xyz" or leave it as is.

*sigh* I'm sorry, I find it odd that no one thinks a 21 year old living at home would need permission from parents to do things without some sort of conspiracy. The fact is I live in their house so I need to work with them rather than just doing whatever I want. When I go out, they need to know where I am and who I'm with, when I'll be home, and what I'm doing. If I'm making a life change, I need to run the pieces by them. Is this not normal? Are you not considerate with the people you live with? I've gotten this IRL too sometimes and it's just not something I understand. I'm giving my parents respect because I live with them.

I believe people feeling you are at an age that qualifies you to make your personal decisions regardless of what others think is a cultural thing. I get raised eyebrows as well when at 33 years old my family is still a very welcome part of my life decisions. Some cultures, and I have noticed this with my American friends, value freedom and independence, and it sometimes comes at the cost of respect, structure and relationships. Other cultures value family and respect above all and it sometime comes at the cost of freedom and independence. It's not the religion either. I'm an atheist and I fully understand the mechanics of your family (and mine). I can understand how you are being considerate of other people's feelings and opinions in your family and I commend you for it, but I believe buying a scale is worth having a discussion with them and here is why:

When you weigh yourself daily you:
1. understand how daily fluctuations work, but the trick is to treat them as abstract numbers and points of data rather than numbers that represent your value as a person or measure your success and failure in absolutes.
2. get desensitized to minor meaningless changes in your weight and are less likely to get frustrated and panicked if you "plateau" because you know your "bloat range".
3. it's fun to watch how certain foods balloon you up and others woosh the water out of you, and it's useful next time you have an emergency outing and want to look less bloated in an interesting outfit.
4. You learn to recognize when something is wrong. If you pick up a habit of nibbling around while cooking for example, the scale helps you see that your weight trend is not making sense and will push you to re-evaluate the way you do things.
5. learning to form a habit of frequently weighing yourself will be very useful when you reach your goal weight. It's actually been thoroughly studied and all the results point towards people being much more successful at maintaining their weight if they weigh themselves frequently. It makes sense too... if you start noticing your weight creeping up you can snip the weight gain in the bud before it becomes chronic.
6. you get to play with fun data and apps such as Libra.

kiela64

amusedmonkey wrote: »

kae612 wrote: »

DeguelloTex wrote: »

How often you weigh is personal preference.

How do you know the scale at hlrhe gym is unreliable?

Ah, sorry! I've stood on it a couple of times, and the needle moves so much I can get within a 5lb radius of my weight (eg somewhere between 185 and 190) but it doesn't hover higher or lower within that range so I can't really tell to the pound.

rabbitjb wrote: »

Dietician and parents say no scale in house

I'm thinking in treatment for ED

Am I right?

Nope. This is the first time I've ever tried to lose weight. My mom has yo-yo dieted and sees owning a scale as a problem. We had a tenant for a while who had one and she requested it be removed. The dietician, I have no idea. She says it's something she recommends for everyone because of daily fluctuations.

nordlead2005 wrote: »

wait, you are 21. Why can't you just get a job and buy a scale for yourself and keep it in your room? I can understand if your parents don't want to buy a scale for the family, as that is asking them to spend their money.

Also, many locations have scales. My local grocery store has a scale built into the blood pressure station. If I didn't have a scale at home and didn't want to buy one I'd go over there once per week in the morning and weigh myself. You can also find these devices at pharmacies. Is there nothing like that near where you live?

As for daily vs weekly. That is personal preference. Most people who advocate weekly (or longer) do so because a lot of people who weigh daily get discouraged and quit all because of water weight fluctuations. I personally like to weigh daily.

I don't have a job at the moment, but I can easily buy a scale with my savings. I'd prefer not to hide it, because I think that's just unpleasant for everyone involved and a little childish. My parents wouldn't be buying it if I did get one, it's more about it existing in the house.

There are a number of pharmacies near me and none have scales, and only one has a blood pressure reader and none have scales. I have heard before about people having them in malls, but I've never seen them. Is that an American thing?

azulvioleta6 wrote: »

Uh, no...you are still an adult and can/should do your own thing. You are responsible for your own weight.

Get a scale, put it in your room and use it.

"Do not weigh daily" is a silly rule. Unless your weight fluctuates wildly or you are going to freak out about it, weighing every day is just fine. Why WOULDN'T you want more data?

Well that's why I'm asking. I am able to and can purchase a scale, I'm interested in whether it's worth defending and having a big discussion, and of course I would need facts and arguments to support that decision. I'm looking into making the decision to either press the issue and say "a scale is necessary because xyz" or leave it as is.

*sigh* I'm sorry, I find it odd that no one thinks a 21 year old living at home would need permission from parents to do things without some sort of conspiracy. The fact is I live in their house so I need to work with them rather than just doing whatever I want. When I go out, they need to know where I am and who I'm with, when I'll be home, and what I'm doing. If I'm making a life change, I need to run the pieces by them. Is this not normal? Are you not considerate with the people you live with? I've gotten this IRL too sometimes and it's just not something I understand. I'm giving my parents respect because I live with them.

I believe people feeling you are at an age that qualifies you to make your personal decisions regardless of what others think is a cultural thing. I get raised eyebrows as well when at 33 years old my family is still a very welcome part of my life decisions. Some cultures, and I have noticed this with my American friends, value freedom and independence, and it sometimes comes at the cost of respect, structure and relationships. Other cultures value family and respect above all and it sometime comes at the cost of freedom and independence. It's not the religion either. I'm an atheist and I fully understand the mechanics of your family (and mine). I can understand how you are being considerate of other people's feelings and opinions in your family and I commend you for it, but I believe buying a scale is worth having a discussion with them and here is why:

When you weigh yourself daily you:
1. understand how daily fluctuations work, but the trick is to treat them as abstract numbers and points of data rather than numbers that represent your value as a person or measure your success and failure in absolutes.
2. get desensitized to minor meaningless changes in your weight and are less likely to get frustrated and panicked if you "plateau" because you know your "bloat range".
3. it's fun to watch how certain foods balloon you up and others woosh the water out of you, and it's useful next time you have an emergency outing and want to look less bloated in an interesting outfit.
4. You learn to recognize when something is wrong. If you pick up a habit of nibbling around while cooking for example, the scale helps you see that your weight trend is not making sense and will push you to re-evaluate the way you do things.
5. learning to form a habit of frequently weighing yourself will be very useful when you reach your goal weight. It's actually been thoroughly studied and all the results point towards people being much more successful at maintaining their weight if they weigh themselves frequently. It makes sense too... if you start noticing your weight creeping up you can snip the weight gain in the bud before it becomes chronic.
6. you get to play with fun data and apps such as Libra.

Thank you for your reasoning! I've decided to wait on the scale for a little while, but I am not by any means saying never, and I will keep this list of reasons. Thanks!

Queenmunchy

My RD used to weigh me in at every appointment (she was blind weighing and didn't share results with me). Can you just do that with her. That way she can tweak your diet as she sees fit - particularly for an ED diagnosis.
Eta: I see that you don't have a diagnosis. Can you still just weigh in with your RD?

Zoe678

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Also, your avatar makes me think of a bolt of mageweave cloth every time I see it.

Haha, yes!!