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The Scale Debate

quitquit14
quitquit14 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I understand that having a scale at home can be handy for weighing in regularly and staying on top of weight loss/gaining goals. But having a home scale also opens the door for "number obsession". I am considering buying one to help me stay focused on reaching my weight loss goal, any of you pals got ideas or input for me?

Replies

  • dawn_westbury
    dawn_westbury Posts: 358 Member
    I weigh once a week only! I mean you can tell you're losing by your clothes but I like the scale once a week personally!
  • FindingAwesome
    FindingAwesome Posts: 1,482 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I weigh daily, first thing in the morning, in my birthday suit, after using the bathroom & before eating/drinking, and record the number in my weight tracking app. Before the app, I put it on graph paper. I've done this for years, even before trying to lose weight. (No, I'm not obsessive; I'm a data geek - in other ways besides this).

    When I got around to trying to lose weight, I found that that history helped me understand the daily fluctuations I'd see in my weight, and why they happen. For me, that knowledge took all the drama and emotion out of it.

    What the scale says is not an estimate of one's worth as a human being. It's just a neutral piece of data that's one part of the weight management puzzle.

    Pretty much this word for word. My weight changes a lot day by day, so weighing once a week - if I weighed on my high day - would make me think I wasnt working hard enough.

    I follow the trends. I don't worry too much about the spikes, and just look for it to go down.

    So far, it seems to be working.
  • SeikoMonster
    SeikoMonster Posts: 105 Member
    If you find yourself falling into a trap of the numbers obsession. Enforce a limit of days between weigh in, most do it weekly. I started doing it everyday, it led to bad eating habits.
    After I set some rules on when I could weigh in that helped jump that mental hurdle dealing with fluctuations. I stuck to weighing in every 4 days, and only before eating or drinking anything for the day. It let me see the progress happen even if I stalled for a day or two.

    Now Im back to daily, but without worrying about the number knowing there will be fluctuations.
  • mrspett323
    mrspett323 Posts: 85 Member
    I was scale obsessed but had to hide it. My new scale is clothes that I couldn't fit into but now can. Like AnnPT77 said it's part of a weight management puzzle. It will drive you crazy if you allow it to so I was done with it. My next weigh in is June lol
  • Silentpadna
    Silentpadna Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited March 2017
    Fluctuations can fool you too. It seems intuitive that if you weigh yourself first thing, on an empty stomach and after using the bathroom, then you would be your lightest weight that day.

    Not true for me. Out of curiosity, because like Ann I'm a numbers and statistics guy and I like data, I weigh to gather data. If I weigh myself after a cardio workout, that is typically my lightest of the day - regardless of the fact that I've (usually) eaten 4/5 of my meals by then. I have been up to 1 lb less after the workout than in the morning. That tells me that calorie burn is going on all the time, which we all know; but it's also telling me that I burn faster throughout the day. (That should also be obvious of course).

    Don't know all the science behind the why, but if I was obsessed about numbers, I know I wouldn't do this. The only progress weight I record is every Saturday morning first thing. I don't care if I weigh less after the afternoon workout. It's the trend and fat loss that matter. And being able to do more. I am not obsessed with only recording my lowest weight of the day, whenever that is. I like to weigh at times where conditions would be relatively the same.
  • size102b
    size102b Posts: 1,370 Member
    edited March 2017
    Be aware if your weight in the scales effect your metal attitude to weight loss don't have any
    I've been 100% all week on plan and I lost 3.5 lbs restart week but on Saturday 2 days ago I was lighter and have been weighing measuring everything I consume
    Now 3.5 is good but it would be 5.5 which was fab but it's totm coming up I gather that's the 2lbs more
    But if I let the scales effect me I'd be now off plan

    Thing is they can get addictive but we all know in a healthy lifestyle plan we only lose 0.5-2 lbs most weeks some 0 so scales can be a curse if you allow them to

  • mhwitt74
    mhwitt74 Posts: 159 Member
    dawn_westbury wrote: »
    I weigh once a week only! I mean you can tell you're losing by your clothes but I like the scale once a week personally![/q

    SAme here
  • happyauntie2015
    happyauntie2015 Posts: 282 Member
    I'm a daily weigher. Every morning I use the restroom and weigh myself. I take measurements 1x a week when I weigh as well. This is what works for me and everyone is different. I do sometimes find myself becoming to focused on the scale at times and at that point I stop weighing all together for a while.
  • BrettWithPKU
    BrettWithPKU Posts: 575 Member
    As you've noticed there are 3 camps here:
    1. Every day (my preference): Good because you can log your weight daily, and see the daily changes. You can also make a 'science' out of it, so you have a better idea how your body reacts to certain factors from the day before. Bad if you let the number on the scale affect your mood every day.

    2. Weekly: Good because, since you're weighing less often, you're more likely to see consistent losses. I honestly can't think of any negatives.

    3. Never: Good because you can "feel" progress, independent of the scale. You come to rely on the way your clothes fit, compliments you receive from others, reduced body measurements (which I definitely recommend if you don't weigh yourself). Remember though: non-scale victories (NSVs) are great, but I wouldn't sell the scale short if your goal is weight loss.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    I weigh-in weekly, though I skipped last week because I was out of town. I think that if you understand what the scale is telling you that it is really hard to become number obsessed. Your weight can fluctuate in one day a greater amount than is considered safe weight loss. So any given weigh-in may not tell you how well you did during that week. But if the reading tends to be lower each week you are losing weight. If it tends to be higher each week then you are gaining weight.

    I use the scale to keep me accountable. There are days that I overeat and I enjoy it. But because I know I'm going to be stepping on the scale and seeing the result of that overeating I don't continue overeating day after day. I also know that if I overeat too much that I will see a number on the scale that tells me I need to cut back for a while. Without the scale it would be easy for me to just convince myself that a little extra doesn't really matter.
  • ogtmama
    ogtmama Posts: 1,403 Member
    I found that wrong daily actually stopped my obsession with the numbers...when you see THAT many fluctuations you have no choice but to follow the trend
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    I can see how some might become obsessed with the numbers but personally I find weighing daily (even though I'm in maintenance now) is a good habit. I know how my body works, I know when the scale will fluctuate up, I know what causes the fluctuations and I know that on a Mon and Tues each week I will be heavier than I am by the weekend - knowledge is power :smile:
  • briohne128
    briohne128 Posts: 176 Member
    I always weight my self once a week on the same day at the same time
  • wellthenwhat
    wellthenwhat Posts: 526 Member
    I weigh in whenever I can get to my mom's house first thing in the morning (don't have my own scale). So Saturdays that I work, she babysits, so I can weigh every other week or so.
  • Kenda2427
    Kenda2427 Posts: 1,592 Member
    I am a daily weigher as well, I like to see the trends and fluctuations that occur. Keeps me from stressing if I see my weight week over week has increased (Thursday is check point) but the rest of the week was fine than I know its just a blip on the screen.
    I like to see the data, and as someone else said I log my food daily so this is just an extension of that practice of being accountable.
    However, it weighing daily starts to stress you on and put pressure on you than do not do it.
    Your weight loss, your choice on weigh ins.
  • gnu4liberty
    gnu4liberty Posts: 48 Member
    I weigh myself infrequently, but find having a scale helpful. I like to know where I stand.
  • LaauraLoses
    LaauraLoses Posts: 29 Member
    I weigh myself every week I have always done it since I was a child
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I'm not obsessed with some arbitrary number on the scale. When I'm losing weight I watch the trend...when I'm maintaining I watch the trend...it's one tool in the tool box, not the be all and end all.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Daily as well. It works for me but doesn't for everyone. Find what works for you.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,172 Member
    edited March 2017
    I weigh daily and add it to MFP, I have turned the automatic weight updates off as I'm not looking at it daily to see that I'm losing weight, I am using it as a tool to understand what happens to my body in terms of water retention when I eat certain foods, how my monthly cycle affects me, etc. It has helped me stop freaking out about fluctuations. For my weight loss I refer to my Friday weigh in, which I record in the weigh in group and refer to the excel sheets/charts that I post up monthly showing everyone's progress.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,368 Member
    I've been on both sides of this debate.. and now I weigh myself every day. Why? because i lie to myself.. waste weeks and months of "dieting" and "working out" without results. How am i ever going to learn what is working for me if I don't weigh myself. I'm doing it every day and it is a real slap in the face.. .but i think it will lead me to success in the long run.
  • PrincessMel72
    PrincessMel72 Posts: 1,094 Member
    I used to weigh every week. I've tried every day but that drove me insane. Now I'm once a month on the first day, first thing in the morning before I step into the shower. I'll log that weight on my app and go from there.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 35,687 Member
    edited March 2017
    BDonjon wrote: »
    As you've noticed there are 3 camps here:
    1. Every day (my preference): Good because you can log your weight daily, and see the daily changes. You can also make a 'science' out of it, so you have a better idea how your body reacts to certain factors from the day before. Bad if you let the number on the scale affect your mood every day.

    2. Weekly: Good because, since you're weighing less often, you're more likely to see consistent losses. I honestly can't think of any negatives.

    3. Never: Good because you can "feel" progress, independent of the scale. You come to rely on the way your clothes fit, compliments you receive from others, reduced body measurements (which I definitely recommend if you don't weigh yourself). Remember though: non-scale victories (NSVs) are great, but I wouldn't sell the scale short if your goal is weight loss.

    Great post!

    If one weighs weekly because it's too stressful to weigh daily, I think one potential downside is that without the insight into routine daily fluctuations, one could accidentally hit a higher weight fluctuation day for a weigh-in, and be even more distressed about being up a couple of pounds. If you know you routinely fluctuate that much and more, it wouldn't be as stressful.

    Personally, I think one of the underlying problems is that people somehow believe they have "one true weight". We don't.

    Drink some water, go up a pound immediately. Eat some extra salt, go up a pound the next day. Get in a sweaty workout, go down half a pound. Eat some large amount of high-fiber low-cal food, be up half a pound for literally days until it processes out of our digestive tract. And that's all independent of the "big deal" issues we're focusing on, fat loss and possibly muscle gain (slow, slow muscle gain ;) ).

    Even in a calorie deficit, our bodies are using and storing fat routinely during a day, storing and losing water, taking on and excreting food and food residue. We have, at best, an approximate weight. We can take a snapshot at any given time, and see a number.

    But what's important to us when we're losing weight is not the view in a snapshot . . . what's important is the plot of the movie: Are we on a losing trend, a gaining trend, or holding steady, over a period of time?
  • midpath
    midpath Posts: 246 Member
    I would either shoot for weighing once a day so you could record fluctuations...or maybe once every two weeks. I have friends who weigh once a month even because you can definitely see if there's been progress.
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,666 Member
    midpath wrote: »
    I would either shoot for weighing once a day so you could record fluctuations...or maybe once every two weeks. I have friends who weigh once a month even because you can definitely see if there's been progress.

    Nope, you can't *definitely* see progress.

    Pretend you are achieving 250 Cal a day.

    This comes to just over 2lbs in a month.

    Now considered how many situations can result in a 2lb or greater water weight change on an overnight basis.

    Whether mentally someone can handle daily weigh ins recorded in a weight trend app remains an open question.

    What is not an open question is that daily weigh ins under "identical" conditions recorded in a weight trend app paint a more accurate picture of what your weight is doing.

    And it still doesn't tell you what that weight change consists off :-)
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    I like weighing every day because you see the normal fluctuations. Over time you will see a downward trend on your mfp graph but as daily weighers realize, it's not linear and it helps me personally to see the proof of that. What if on week 2 or 3 you are holding 3lbs of water and it looks like you've done nothing? I prefer data. I'm a data junkie but I don't obsess over the numbers day to day.
  • fitmom4lifemfp
    fitmom4lifemfp Posts: 1,572 Member
    quitquit14 wrote: »
    I understand that having a scale at home can be handy for weighing in regularly and staying on top of weight loss/gaining goals. But having a home scale also opens the door for "number obsession". I am considering buying one to help me stay focused on reaching my weight loss goal, any of you pals got ideas or input for me?

    I weigh every single morning. Have done so since 2004. I need it for discipline. Others don't. I can't imagine not having a scale in my home though.
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