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throwing scales away?
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thedarkhorseyy
Posts: 13 Member
in Debate Club
It is really easy to get caught up on the number on the scales. It helps guide the process of loosing weight as you can instantly see the positive or negative results. But would it be more beneficial to focus on the feeling you are gaining? Happiness as you become healthier?
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Replies
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If someone is mentally struggling, then I think doing away with the scale is a good idea, but otherwise, I personally wouldn't completely do away with the scale. Weight creep is very slow. People don't get healthy or overweight overnight. You can still feel strong and healthy all while eating just a little too much every day so that one day, you find yourself 10+ lbs heavier. I do better weighing every day. The averages and fluctuations are something I now understand to be normal and expected. If I see a consistent gain, I act before that 5 lbs becomes 10 or 20 lbs.Some people weigh in just once a week or even just once a month and do just fine though. It's up to you.5
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Yes it is so very easy to get caught up on the scale. However the scale lies. What is going on in your body is trumped by daily fluctuations. How often you use it is up to personal preference.
Gains on the scale when you know emphatically you are on point with diet can be food in gut, waste not eliminated, dietary (more/less carbs, sodium), hydration and lack there of, muscle/glycogen and as women, hormones (for me twice a month) effects the scale.
Perhaps look at the scale as a tool... Use progress photos, how you look and feel in your clothes, use measurements, and yes use the scale as a guide.
But everyone has to make their own peace with the scale and how they use it imho.3 -
thedarkhorseyy wrote: ». But would it be more beneficial to focus on the feeling you are gaining? Happiness as you become healthier?
Happiness is hard to quantify. Plus it's not always correlated to weight loss. Many people do focus on "non-scale victories" (NSV), like climbing stairs with ease, or doing your first pull-up, or fitting into old jeans. Progress seems to require some sort of measurement.
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thedarkhorseyy wrote: »It is really easy to get caught up on the number on the scales. It helps guide the process of loosing weight as you can instantly see the positive or negative results. But would it be more beneficial to focus on the feeling you are gaining? Happiness as you become healthier?
That bolded part is the misunderstanding.
The scale weight can NOT do that actually - as others mentioned, all kinds of reasons for water weight fluctuations.
Too frequent and it's just noise - in which case you need a good 30 days to discern something through the noise - hence the popularity of the trend weight apps.
Too infrequent and not on valid weigh-in days to minimize water weight changes - and you are in the same boat - not enough useful data to discern anything.
No - it's not an instant gauge of anything except water weight changes.
Which if you can find that interesting, weight 3-4 x daily and just see how much can change.3 -
A scale measures the reality of youe weight. What you do with that knowledge isn't the scale's fault.9
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Knowing your weight is a big part of the data puzzle that tells you what is happening with your body - throwing it away just means less data.
My happiness isn't at all tied to the number on my bathroom scales, it simply tells me how much I weigh at one particular time.
Often people who fail to maintain at goal weight are the ones that stopped being vigilant....6 -
If it's possible for you, I think it's a better strategy to thoroughly convince yourself that it's Just Data, one of many tools you can use to help you reach your goals, and nothing more. Most particularly, it isn't a measure of your worth, competence, or happiness.
Personally, I like to weigh every day, and record the results. I've done it for years, even when not trying to lose - not obsessive about weight, just a fan of data. For me, seeing the scale reading every day helped me to understand my personal weight fluctuations, what causes them, and roughly how long it will take for them to change direction. It helped take emotion out of the situation.
It's data, not useful without context. For me, food logging creates a lot of context: If I'm within calorie goals, upward fluctuations are random. If I eat enough over goal to gain a pound, I know how much of what I see on the scale is true weight gain, and that any more is sodium or digestive contents that will be gone in a few days. I know how long it will take me at some particular deficit to lose the true gain, or how many days delay an over-goal day "cost" on my way to a goal weight.
I don't believe we have "one true weight". There's a continuously-fluctuating range. When the range tends downward, over a longer time scale (weeks to months), we're losing weigh. If it stays stable, we're maintaining. If the range drifts upward over time, we're gaining. It's that simple.3 -
If a person is overweight and need to get rid of excess body fat, they'll still need some objective measure of progress, whether that is a scale or a measuring tape. Feeling good is nice but it doesn't provide any proof that you're succeeding.5
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thedarkhorseyy wrote: »It is really easy to get caught up on the number on the scales. It helps guide the process of loosing weight as you can instantly see the positive or negative results. But would it be more beneficial to focus on the feeling you are gaining? Happiness as you become healthier?
For me personally, I don't care about feelings-I care about hard data and results. I had to lose the extra weight because of a medical condition (high glucose numbers), and I had one shot of losing the extra weight. The scale is a large part of why I've been so successful. I've now been a daily weigher for around 5 years and my weigh-ins are a valuable tool in my weight management plan.4 -
This is like saying I'm tired of getting speeding tickets so I ripped out my speedometer.
It's a tool used to track and identify trends. If anyone has this negative of an association then they need to address the root cause which is disordered thinking.11 -
If you understand the mechanics of weight loss you'll know that 1. 3500 calorie SURPLUS leads to a lb gained 2. Water, sodium and Tom can affect this figure. Once you realize that logically you're not gaining fat, the scale is a very valuable teacher and tool. It shows you how your body responds to particular foods, a binge, time of the month and over time, if you don't see a downward trend you know you have to readjust sooner than had you used the inches method.2
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Don't throw away your kitchen scale!1
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Ditching the scales reminds me of when I tried to drive the car with my eyes closed.
You can't control your direction without key feedbacks on your direction.7 -
thedarkhorseyy wrote: »It is really easy to get caught up on the number on the scales. It helps guide the process of loosing weight as you can instantly see the positive or negative results. But would it be more beneficial to focus on the feeling you are gaining? Happiness as you become healthier?
This supposes that the only reason to lose weight is because one is unhappy or that one is only unhappy due to the extra weight.
For me, I got fat because I focused on my happy feelings instead of the scale. The scale keeps me honest and grounded. Sure.. it makes me happy when it goes down. It also makes me a little frustrated when it goes up. I need that frustration because it fuels my motivation to stick with it and keep going, even if I really want another bowl of ice cream.
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It really is a catch 22. "Obsessed" because I weigh myself daily, however not using the scale for a few months is how I ended up with 30lb of extra weight!1
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Another MFP poster (forgive me as I don't recall their name) said instead of using the scale to measure your progress, find a tighter fitting piece of clothing and try it on instead of getting on the scale. Once it fits better, you'll see the loss
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Just don't wash those clothes in hot water or hot dryer.
Bad surprise.
Should be infrequently worn only for feedback.3 -
Because I have congestive heart failure, I am supposed to weigh every morning (Dr. orders). After awhile, it DOES help see variations in foods even without logging. I can see when I've had too much sodium in diet from day before when there's water weight gain and I know to watch it. Too high in carbs also creates gain and some retention. Then I know to really be careful with the meals. I've been doing it so closely every day for health reasons that I'd never throw away my scales!
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As with everything else there's no one answer fits all. For me weighing myself everyday is super motivating, regardless of the fluctuations that happen. I just got a scale that also measures body fat %, bone mass, water weight, etc.0
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