Losing weight without weighing yourself

Missyjules1974

Hi all,

I like MFP and have always used it in the past as it has flexibility over food choices etc.... I am overweight, not massively but I am a heart patient... (I had a heart attack at the age of 33 ten years ago for no apparent reason (as investigations turned up absolutely no problems) and am conscious that carrying extra isn't heart healthy. Anyway, I have an issue with weighing myself. I become obsessed by the numbers and it can dictate my mood, which is daft I know but I can't help it. So I can be feeling great, get on the scales and then look at myself in a whole different way. So I want to concentrate on eating within my calories and upping the exercise. I do bodycombat, running and pump.. and have been a bit of a slacker recently so will step that back up. My question is how would you go about using MFP without stepping on the scales? I appreciate calories intake and BMR are linked to body weight. Can this be got around? Any ideas greatly appreciated. I'm 5'7 and guess I weigh around 12 stone / 168lbs.. I'd like to be 10 stone as I think that's a nice sensible weight for someone my height.

MeanderingMammal

You'll get a lot of ONE TRUE WAY(tm) responses about how to do this, but to be honest I haven't weighted myself in months.

To me, I'm seeing running and cycling performance developing, I'm happy with how I look and I'm happy with my clothes fit.

Those are the things that are important to me.

roamingmum

When I stared MFP I was worried about the number obsession but rather than Ignore the scales completely I weighed myself at a friend's house once every 6 to 8 weeks. It meant that even at a steady loss of 1/2 to 1 1/2 lbs a week, getting on the scales was always a positive experience.

Missyjules1974

What's ONE TRUE WAY?! Sounds like a religious cult

Missyjules1974

roamingmum wrote: »

When I stared MFP I was worried about the number obsession but rather than Ignore the scales completely I weighed myself at a friend's house once every 6 to 8 weeks. It meant that even at a steady loss of 1/2 to 1 1/2 lbs a week, getting on the scales was always a positive experience.

That's something I hadn't thought of..... there are scales at my gym. Could do that I suppose.. thanks xxx

ticephotos

You can measure yourself for progress once a month but that won't necessarily help with how many calories it's recommended you eat. Personally I prefer to measure as there have been plenty of times I've lost inches but no weight.

crzycatlady1

There's other ways to keep track of your progress-you can take your measurements, try on a pair of (same) jeans every week or two and see if they're getting loose, take a picture of yourself every couple weeks and compare etc. The scale is just a tool that can be helpful for some, but it's not necessary as long as you're using some other method to track your progress.

Muscleflex79

I was the same way (I think a lot of women are). I (finally) got to the point where my mindset changed. I started loving the workouts I was doing (heavy lifting) and no matter what the number on the scale said, it didn't change the workout I had had, the amount that I had just benched, etc. While I still weigh in occasionally just to see what it says, I no longer let it dictate my mood for the day! Give it a try, it is a very freeing feeling!!

MeanderingMammal

Missyjules1974 wrote: »

What's ONE TRUE WAY?! Sounds like a religious cult

That's about right at times

firefoxxie

I don't know why but I keep reading the title as Losing weight without losing yourself lol. I think that's a nifty slogan

red99ryder

MFP is a great tracking tool to see how much your eating ,

Good luck

rainbow198

I've lost a lot of weight this way and have maintained it.

I've been more focused with reaching fitness goals, staying at a measurement/dress size range and seeing how my non-stretchy clothes fit.

Being aware of my calories with planning and tracking what I am consuming along with moderate exercise/activity everyday helps me to stay in control and maintain my weight.

I haven't gained any weight back, but it can be easy for me to lose (especially in the summer) so I do step on the scale once in a while.

It works great for me, but it's not for everyone.

Missyjules1974

You guys are ace... thanks. Gonna set my calories at 1200 and eat half of my Fitbit exercise cals and see where we go. I have a pair of jeans I can't even get into, that'd be a start! And a lovely summery beach wear top that hasn't fitted me for ages as I can't get it over my boobs... if I can wear that in the summer then I'll be a happy lady

evileen99

MeanderingMammal wrote: »

You'll get a lot of ONE TRUE WAY(tm) responses about how to do this, but to be honest I haven't weighted myself in months.

To me, I'm seeing running and cycling performance developing, I'm happy with how I look and I'm happy with my clothes fit.

Those are the things that are important to me.

This.

The only time I get weighed is when I go the the doctor's for my yearly check up. Otherwise, I watch my calories and exercise.

Tacklewasher

Missyjules1974 wrote: »

You guys are ace... thanks. Gonna set my calories at 1200 and eat half of my Fitbit exercise cals and see where we go. I have a pair of jeans I can't even get into, that'd be a start! And a lovely summery beach wear top that hasn't fitted me for ages as I can't get it over my boobs... if I can wear that in the summer then I'll be a happy lady

Is 1200 what MFP gives you, or do you just accept that as the default. How tall are you? 1200 is the MFP minimum so unless you are fairly short, it may not be enough.

Other than that, the difficulty in losing weight without a scale is you have no feedback on if you are counting calories correctly. You can probably get around that by being very careful with your food intake, get a food scale and weigh everything you eat. As others have said, you can judge your progress by how clothes fit or other measurements, but be careful judging progress by how well you exercise as you can improve your times, weight lifted etc. while still not losing weight.

I find measurements useless as I can't get the same number twice. But the scale doesn't bother me.

zorander6

Don't just pick 1200 as your goal. Calculate it based on MFP's system and eat back half your exercise calories. I weigh once in a blue moon and am losing slowly (due to medical condition it's a challenge sometimes) but just make sure you log everything. Including that candy bar that you just had to have. I mean it, log it. Don't worry about the weight if you are measuring accurately and losing at your target.

MeanderingMammal

Missyjules1974 wrote: »

... Gonna set my calories at 1200 and eat half of my Fitbit exercise cals and see where we go.

This is a somewhat different proposition to measuring progress without tracking your own bodyweight. You do need to understand the balance between what you're expending and what you're consuming. Selecting an arbitrary target and then arbitrarily accounting for your activity isn't a particularly good way to approach things particularly when you're at the threshold of healthy intake and don't have much margin to play with.

everher

I would recommend weighing yourself at least at the onset so you can get an idea of how many calories you should be eating. You need some sort of starting point to get going. After that, you may be able to guesstimate how much you need to be eating based upon rate of weight loss.

I also would recommend measuring yourself instead of using clothes. I've lost and gained weight more times than I care to disclose and some clothes would still fit even when I'd put on a good bit of weight and now that I'm 15 lbs down some clothes still fit the same or if there is a difference I can't perceive it. I've also gotten down to lower weights before and not been able to fit the same clothes I was wearing at that weight because I was carrying the weight differently.

bfanny

To me the scale is just a tool but it took me a while to get there, you decide how often and it doesn't have to be daily but IMHO it is feedback, I mean you want to lose weight/fat right? You"ll want to know...eventually

kimny72

If you are going to count calories, the whole point is to eat the RIGHT amount of calories, otherwise what's the point? In order to do that, you really should weigh yourself once so you can put your accurate stats into MFP and get a useful calorie goal.

Figuring out the right amount of calories where you can lose weight, be healthy, and feel satisfied can be a bit of trial and error. If you start out with a guess I think it could be that much harder and frustrating.

So my suggestion would be weigh yourself somewhere to get a good startingpoint, put your stats into mfp and choose a goal of 1 lb per week, and eat THOSE calories plus half of your exercise calories. You are working out a lot, you don't want to under-fuel your body, and at 5'7 I bet you can start at higher than 1200 and still lose weight. Then choose some other way to track your progress if that's what is most healthy for you. Good luck!

Missyjules1974

I've done MFP a few times before and at my highest weight (about 170 which is where I think I am now judging my clothes fitting, or not as the case may be!) it gave me 1350 to lose 1lb a week which I'm comfortable with and it worked. I set myself as sedentary and Fitbit across my calories so I don't count exercise twice. This time I have set my goal as 2lb a week which is to take into account I am not weighing so it gives me room to move. By TDEE with exercise obviously factored in is 1700, again to lose 2 a week which I'm not actually aiming for. I am happy with a steady loss over time as I'm trying to avoid obsessing over the numbers. Most days I'm in the 2400-2500 calories burned in Fitbit so I think eating about 1600 a day (eating exercise calories) would work.

I have taken photos and tried on a top I can JUST get into and jeans I can't do I'm going to watch the loss that weigh. Have taken measurements as that's not as easy to obsess over short of carrying a tape measure around and stripping 4 times a day

callsitlikeiseeit

ive tried it every conceivable way. for ME ... i need the scale for feedback. Even if i only weigh once a week or every two weeks...

MelanieCN77

This might sound like opposite day but I actually found that weighing every day gives me way less anxiety. At the very beginning as I was getting started yes it was the usual, but now I am a few months in I see my own personal pattern on the scale and how absolutely it is tied to my food and exercise behaviour. I can almost always predict if I am staying the same, bumping up a little, or showing a tiny loss any given day. Today I was expecting a half pound loss after staying the same for three days, and I was right (it was a bit more actually). I'll lose a little again tomorrow and then either stay the same or go up a few ounces the day after before I show a loss again. Weighing infrequently I might only see one of the bloated numbers, and it also gives the feeling that that whole period you weighed for wasn't effective if you don't see what you want on the scale, which for me leads to frustration. I'm pretty type A though and data driven. Your mileage may vary.

Missyjules1974

MelanieCN77 wrote: »

This might sound like opposite day but I actually found that weighing every day gives me way less anxiety. At the very beginning as I was getting started yes it was the usual, but now I am a few months in I see my own personal pattern on the scale and how absolutely it is tied to my food and exercise behaviour. I can almost always predict if I am staying the same, bumping up a little, or showing a tiny loss any given day. Today I was expecting a half pound loss after staying the same for three days, and I was right (it was a bit more actually). I'll lose a little again tomorrow and then either stay the same or go up a few ounces the day after before I show a loss again. Weighing infrequently I might only see one of the bloated numbers, and it also gives the feeling that that whole period you weighed for wasn't effective if you don't see what you want on the scale, which for me leads to frustration. I'm pretty type A though and data driven. Your mileage may vary.

I'm sister is also like this and it works for her... sometimes she weighs three times a day but has a handle on it! I'm nearly 43 now and want to think about health more than Wright. Also conscious that at my age too thin isn't great for bone density etc... I also know that the stronger I get the more I may weigh for my size even though I'm healthier and look better. I'll give it a whirl and see how I get on xx