Living the Lifestyle Wednesday 8/10/16

Rachel0778

Everyone says it, but just how do you do it? How do you take the guidelines of the WW program and turn them into a lifestyle you can live every day...from now on? That is what we are here to explore. Each weekday, a new topic is offered up for discussion. Newbie? Join in! Veteran? Join in! Your thoughts may be just what someone else needs to hear.

Monday -- GadgetGirlIL (Regina)
Tuesday -- goldenfrisbee (Chris)
Wednesday -- Rachel0778 (Rachel)
Thursday -- misterhub (Greg)
Friday -- Jbrack381us (Joe)

For the maintainers out there-how do you deal with the mental game of no longer having the scale define success/having weight fluctuations be okay?

For individuals still losing, how do you deal with the mental game of having weight fluctuations when you want the scale to go down?

goldenfrisbee

I'll be in the later category for a long time. I learned here that weight loss is not linear. If I'm honest, I do get a little discouraged, but as long as the trend is down, I'm in good shape.

60in2017

I lose weight extremely slowly - it's taken me about 2-1/2 years to lose 64 pounds. It also has taken me that long to realize that the habits I've developed to lose the weight are the same ones I need to continue to maintain any loss. Regardless of what the scale says, I need to eat appropriately and exercise 6 to 7 days a week. If I'm am getting really discouraged by seeing .2 pound losses (or something lower than I think I "deserve"), I'll make a bargain with myself. I won't weigh for a couple of weeks as long as I track, stay within my points, and exercise daily. Usually, when I weigh again, the scale is down a pound or so and I can live with that. I guess what I'm saying is that when you've always averaged less than 1/2 a pound a week weight loss, the scale is pretty much always going to be a discouragement. You have to measure your health/goals in other ways and let the scale take care of itself.

misterhub

I am still losing, and I choose to be very philosophical about the scale. 1) It is a tool, nothing more. 2) It provides a single data point. 3) The collection and analysis of those data points yield a trend, which may be parsed as necessary. 4) The scale is part of the whole; it is NOT the whole.

YMMV.

countcurt

Rachel0778 wrote: »

For the maintainers out there-how do you deal with the mental game of no longer having the scale define success/having weight fluctuations be okay?

These are two separate questions. From my standpoint, the scale is still an outcome measure, the only difference being, what is the desired outcome?. Which is a mindset issue- when I first reached goal weight, the idea that I did not want the number to go down was foreign to me. The word I used in my very first blogpost was disorienting. You can read more about it:

https://countcurtblog.wordpress.com/2016/03/23/the-journey-begins/


As to the question of fluctuations, that issue first arose during loss phase. Although I was fortunate that I had no gains, I had at least one 'no change' and a couple of 0.2 or less losses. Even when I'd done everything right. So interesting articles (Google "Why the Scale Lies") aside, the lesson learned was that while I desired a certain outcome, I did not have control over all of the parameters. More importantly, I learned that I did (and still do) have control over process. And so while outcome measures are important over the long term, if I trust the process (and therefore follow it), I get the outcome.

You ALWAYS get the scale reading you deserve. Just not necessarily WHEN you think you deserve it.

MurpleCat

Rachel0778 wrote: »

For individuals still losing, how do you deal with the mental game of having weight fluctuations when you want the scale to go down?

Well, it is disappointing, I'm not going to lie. Sometimes I know exactly why its happening, and so I give myself a little pep talk about how this week we're going to work on changing that behavior.

The times that I don't know, i.e., I feel its 'undeserved', that's the more difficult case. Sometimes it takes a lot of self-talk to soothe and calm my inner child's temper tantrum. "That's not fair! I did everything right! Why am I bothering with all of this weighing, measuring, tracking, exercising? I could get the same results by doing nothing at all!"

Which isn't true, of course. Without doing those things, I'd definitely be GAINING. So that's where the self-talk starts. And continues with "its just one week, you know weight loss is like that kid with the yo-yo on the stairs, so just stick it out for another week and see what the trend is like." And usually finishes with a reminder of how far I've come with all the non-scale victories I've racked up, and what else lies in store for me if I just stay the course.

Murple

jbrack381us

Still on the way down. Being an analytical/numbers person, I weigh daily and track on a spreadsheet. But then I graph the results and add a trend line. The trend line heading downward is a good thing. I know that if I lose enough weight to dip below the trend line, at some point I will regress back up to the line. If I am above the trend line, within 2-3 days I will be back down toward the line if I am working the plan.

crewahl

Like Steve, it didn't take me long to realize I only had two points of control over the scale - how well I followed the plan in the prior week, and whether I actually stepped on the scale.

I also learned that on average, things tracked very well - just not always when it "should". If I had a larger than expected loss in one week and ate exactly the same the next week, I learned to expect a smaller loss that second week. Why? Because the scale doesn't measure how much fat you have; it measures the gravitational pull of the earth of your form. That includes water, good, etc. "in process".

So I also learned - like Joe - not to measure my loss, but rather measure my average loss over four weeks. As long as that average rate was still going down, I was good. If it started to slow, I needed to see what had changed about my eating.

But while I enjoyed losses more than gains, the gains weren't an issue - any single reading was just a data point.

podkey

Nice Steve and Charlie. Of course I have emotions when stepping on the scale. I do it every day and have the same scale used in the WW meetings so no guess work.
I think I adjusted better than some at lifetime because I had NO goal and it was always about more than a single number for me.

Having said that I do feel a titch better when lower than when higher. I do look more at my average weight for the week than a single point. True.

Jimb376mfp

After over three years of losing I have accepted my slow but steady decline with many weeks seeing a small gain. Recently I had a five pound loss and really did not know why. Next two WIs have been +.6 +.2 I try to look at my past behavior but I think there are so many variables that doing EVERYTHING right for seven days is rare. As long as I continue to lose I can take the small gains that remind me it doesn't just happen I have to be diligent and do what is required.

imastar2

After a good cry then a good potty break I move on. But seriously After weighing daily for over 5 years It's really a part of my daily mental being. I look at the overall trend and if those daily gains begin to turn into lb after lb I will then look for an immediate correction. The challenge is it has in the past been as much as 10-15 lb gain before I can turn it around.

Flintwinch

I'm in the losing phase and weigh weekly, but look at the monthly figure for any modifications I need to make. That's worked pretty well in the year I've been in the WW program.

minimyzeme

I opted out of the scale defining success when I was still losing. Using our antiquated (literally) home scale my first week, I thought I lost about 10 pounds...until I got to the WW meeting and learned I had actually gained. In the course of a few hours I went from thinking I'd get me the cat's jammies of scales to deciding I would just weigh weekly at the meeting.

I focused my efforts on better understanding my behavior around food. I read a lot on GOAD about that and realized that and what I put in my mouth was what I controlled. I learned the scale would eventually catch up if I did my part so I focused on that.

Now, in maintenance, I do weigh daily. Like many others I am more interested in the trend than any point on the line. I do get a little hinkey if I hit 'high points' on the scale but following the trend allows me to adjust my intake as needed and keep my weight between the guardrails.

gadgetgirlIL

Another maintainer here who weighs daily but focuses on the trends. I'm bumping up against the guardrail at the moment. One more long and intense day at work and then I have a vacation which will help me to reset as well as catch up on sleep.

countcurt

Jimb376mfp wrote: »

After over three years of losing I have accepted my slow but steady decline with many weeks seeing a small gain. Recently I had a five pound loss and really did not know why. Next two WIs have been +.6 +.2 I try to look at my past behavior but I think there are so many variables that doing EVERYTHING right for seven days is rare. As long as I continue to lose I can take the small gains that remind me it doesn't just happen I have to be diligent and do what is required.

The two points being you lost 4.2 pounds over three weeks and a gain, even when insignificant in and of itself, is an opportunity to pause and take measure of your behaviors.

spospo1

Great question & responses. I get not letting the scale define success but is is a constant mental battle when weight fluctuations occur (like this week). I don't have a standard technique to deal with the mental game but I think I'm going to try weighing myself once a week and see how that works. Let you know......