Focus on the scale vs. don't focus on the scale - which one is it?

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  • Roxywings
    Roxywings Posts: 5 Member
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    I have just gotten myself a scale that shows me my weight, my muscle mass, bone mass, and water mass. I like this way of looking at it. If your muscle mass is going up and your fat is going down, you're in a good place!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
    edited June 2017
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    I focus on the scale among other things...but I don't obsess about the day to day...weight loss is about long term trends. I use an app to show me what is trending over the long haul for both maintenance and losing weight.

    ETA: Also, the posts where people are about the same weight, but look substantially different are doing far more than dieting...they're usually hitting the weight room which is changing their body composition.
  • SkimpyMrsCarter
    SkimpyMrsCarter Posts: 105 Member
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    Whatever works best for you but i weight myself every morning after i use the bathroom when i wake up, my scale matches the changes my body is going through, for instance when im able to fit in to older cloths that i once grew out of the numbers on the scale also goes down, it all matches up for me
  • not_a_runner
    not_a_runner Posts: 1,343 Member
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    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    As you get closer to your goal your weight wont matter as much as your bf% but for MOST people losing weight who are obese or very overweight you aren't gaining muscle at a rate significant enough to negate fat loss on the scale. You lose fat a lot faster than you gain muscle so if you're obese you SHOULD see the scale go down regardless. So both.

    This.

    A person that has 20+ lbs to lose isn't going to "recomp" all that weight - ie stay the same weight and go from overfat to lean. (I mean, if you did it would take YEARS, and at a certain point there will be a limit to how much muscle a person can gain.)
    People close to or at their goal weight may not find the scale as useful. However, even if recomping it's helpful to track your trends to ensure you are actually eating around maintenance.
  • alondrakayy
    alondrakayy Posts: 304 Member
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    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    As you get closer to your goal your weight wont matter as much as your bf% but for MOST people losing weight who are obese or very overweight you aren't gaining muscle at a rate significant enough to negate fat loss on the scale. You lose fat a lot faster than you gain muscle so if you're obese you SHOULD see the scale go down regardless. So both.

    This.

    A person that has 20+ lbs to lose isn't going to "recomp" all that weight - ie stay the same weight and go from overfat to lean. (I mean, if you did it would take YEARS, and at a certain point there will be a limit to how much muscle a person can gain.)
    People close to or at their goal weight may not find the scale as useful. However, even if recomping it's helpful to track your trends to ensure you are actually eating around maintenance.

    So, I have looked into recomp. Ideally.. I don't have very much left to lose. I'm 5ft 7in and weight around 144 lbs (this morning it said 142 lbs but that seems off because I was just 144 a couple days ago). I want to get to 140lbs .. mayyyybe 135 lbs if I can handle it. I weight lift around 3-4x a week and do no cardio. I'm currently cutting and I'm relying a lot on the scale to make sure I'm eating the amount I'm supposed to. After some research I know recomp is not for me. If it's going to take years for me to see the results of recomp, I know for sure it won't work. So far, no one has been able to tell me exactly how long it will take (and I don't expect anyone to because we're all different). They just say it will take a lot of patients and a lot of time which to me means YEARS.

  • Psychgrrl
    Psychgrrl Posts: 3,177 Member
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    Don't focus on any one thing. The scale is a tool, not the be-all, end-all. It provides important info to help guide you, but it's not the only thing. Measurements, fitness goals, how you feel are all important as well.

    I weigh everyday, using Happy Scale, a weight-trending app. With daily data points, it uses an algorithm to show you the big picture of where you're headed. It really helped me get over the fear of the scale as I flare the daily fluctuations don't mean anything. And it took the pressure off my weekly weigh-in.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    alondrakayy wrote: »
    TresaAswegan wrote: »
    mrsnattybulking wrote: »
    As you get closer to your goal your weight wont matter as much as your bf% but for MOST people losing weight who are obese or very overweight you aren't gaining muscle at a rate significant enough to negate fat loss on the scale. You lose fat a lot faster than you gain muscle so if you're obese you SHOULD see the scale go down regardless. So both.

    This.

    A person that has 20+ lbs to lose isn't going to "recomp" all that weight - ie stay the same weight and go from overfat to lean. (I mean, if you did it would take YEARS, and at a certain point there will be a limit to how much muscle a person can gain.)
    People close to or at their goal weight may not find the scale as useful. However, even if recomping it's helpful to track your trends to ensure you are actually eating around maintenance.

    So, I have looked into recomp. Ideally.. I don't have very much left to lose. I'm 5ft 7in and weight around 144 lbs (this morning it said 142 lbs but that seems off because I was just 144 a couple days ago). I want to get to 140lbs .. mayyyybe 135 lbs if I can handle it. I weight lift around 3-4x a week and do no cardio. I'm currently cutting and I'm relying a lot on the scale to make sure I'm eating the amount I'm supposed to. After some research I know recomp is not for me. If it's going to take years for me to see the results of recomp, I know for sure it won't work. So far, no one has been able to tell me exactly how long it will take (and I don't expect anyone to because we're all different). They just say it will take a lot of patients and a lot of time which to me means YEARS.

    Not sure exactly what you're after in regards to results...you only have a small amount of weight to lose and yeah...those last pounds are pretty stubborn as you don't have the fat to mobilize...no body can answer how long it will take.

    If you're hoping to get a fitness body...well, that is built over time...months and years and is basically a constant work in progress kind of thing. I've been on this good livin' thing for going on 5 years and I'm not where I want to be...probably never will be as I will always be working on something I think.
  • SadDolt
    SadDolt Posts: 173 Member
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    i have to use a scale. otherwise i don't know if i'm doing good.
  • markswife1992
    markswife1992 Posts: 262 Member
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    i weigh every day. i like to. i am not obsessed, but i do like weighing every morning. i plug my numbers into MFP and on my phone app it shows a line graph and i like seeing it go down. sometimes i gain, but then lose again, so my chart reflects a downward line, even if there are bumps along the way. also, if i eat too much or dont exercise as much, i can look at my weight entries and compare to my food and exercise journals to see what is working and what isnt.
  • markswife1992
    markswife1992 Posts: 262 Member
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    also i have over fifty lbs to lose and sometimes even when i lose ten lbs i cant notice in my clothes or the way i look, so it is nice to see it on the scale.
  • Iheartrunning36
    Iheartrunning36 Posts: 73 Member
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    The scale is my accountability partner, for weight loss. I weigh in every week. If your losing weight the healthy way you won't drop a ton of weight like crash dieting where you deal with water weight off and on. I'm mindful of my sodium intake everyday. I've consistently lost two pounds each week.
  • bbell1985
    bbell1985 Posts: 4,572 Member
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    The scale is a tool. If you're pretty overweight and you want to lose weight, you want to see a downward trend on the scale.

    If you're light/lean...it's still a tool. But it moves slow and it's beneficial not to let it get to you.

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