Who Is Afraid Of The Scale

OldAssDude

Just wondering because i see a lot of posts about folks who dread weighing themselves.

I jump on my scale multiple times per day.

when i get up
after i go to the bathroom
before i eat
after i eat
before i work out
after i work out
before i go to bed

It teaches me how my weight is affected by my day.

Nothing to be afraid of really.

RelCanonical

Knowledge is power.

cathipa

Using an app like Libra or Happyscale help to see the big (and hopefully shrinking) picture.

MelanieCN77

I found exactly the same - the more numbers over time, the less I am affected by dips and spikes. It feeds into an understanding of your patterns, too.

Running2Fit

I weigh myself every morning and use Happy Scale to get a moving average. I definitely feel like more data is better than less. Hoping on once a week would be more stressful for me as so many things other than actual weight gain can cause the scale to go up a couple lbs.

sardelsa

That is a lot of weigh ins.

I weigh once in the morning then use a trend weight app.

I am not scared of it, but I do get a bit discouraged when I am losing weight and the mirror doesn't reflect it. This happens a lot.

psychod787

I weigh 6-7 days a week. I keep 2 trends. One for work days, I get up at 0430. The other for days off. I get up at 0630. It's amazing that 2 hrs can mean 2-3 lbs of difference!

bpetrosky

No scale anxieties here, but once a day in the morning after the morning business and before breakfast is more than enough for me. Multiple weigh-ins per day would be unnecessary noise, it doesn't tell me anything useful or interesting weighing before and after meals, exercise, or bathroom breaks.

Many people prefer less frequent intervals, but whatever helps them track their progress is their business.

pinuplove

psychod787 wrote: »

I weigh 6-7 days a week. I keep 2 trends. One for work days, I get up at 0430. The other for days off. I get up at 0630. It's amazing that 2 hrs can mean 2-3 lbs of difference!

My lowest weigh in day is usually Saturday. My 'official' day (the one I record on MFP) is Friday. It can be annoying

I love my trending app though and record my weight there every day.

GottaBurnEmAll

I know the various things that can affect scale weight like muscle repair after lifting, more carbs than usual, more sodium than usual and yet? I still have issues with the scale.

I used to be a daily weigh in sort of person. I started to have a pattern of frustrating weight loss where I'd stall for 3 weeks then whoosh, and that confounds the trending apps, so I couldn't even see any joy there. It got to my head after a while, and I got into a spiral of pretty restrictive behavior when I'd think my weight was trending up in spite of doing everything "right", and that would inevitably end in a binge.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

Obviously, that had to end.

So I've shifted my focus from the scale toward compliance with habits, mirror assessments (I'm pretty brutal with myself), and how clothes fit. I still check in on the scale every week or so, but I don't obsess over it and find that it bothers me less now that my focus has shifted.

TLDR: Once I got to the point that the scale was at the root of making it hard for me to be consistent? I had to stop and get on a different track, because consistency with compliance to good habits trumps everything and will achieve the goals I want, whether I check in on the scale or not.

snickerscharlie

I have what I consider to be a healthy relationship with the scale. I don't fear it, nor do I obsess over it. It's merely a tool to assess my continued compliance, or lack thereof. Jumping on the scale multiple times a day would no sooner cross my mind than would avoiding it altogether.

Doesn't make one better than another.

It just makes us different.

msf74

I weigh myself sporadically, sometimes once a month, sometimes every few months.

I'm at a point where the number isn't really important as it pertains to my goals. I wouldn't say I'm completely indifferent to it (and I used to have a poor emotional relationship with the scale at one point in my life) but rather it doesn't provide me information of much use at any given point.

I know my weight is going to bounce around like a space hopper on speed during the course of a week or a month for various reasons - I don't need to step on a scale to confirm that.

pkweier

psychod787 wrote: »

I weigh 6-7 days a week. I keep 2 trends. One for work days, I get up at 0430. The other for days off. I get up at 0630. It's amazing that 2 hrs can mean 2-3 lbs of difference!

So true I have found the same thing. I log the higher weight because I'm up at 430 most days except on Sunday when I sleep in. I never thought about keeping 2 trends

cwolfman13

Not afraid of the scale, but I don't see any real benefit to weighing in multiple times per day...just makes for noisy data IMO. I don't see any point in weighing myself after I've had lunch or something...that data wouldn't really mean anything and is just a bunch of noise.

I typically weigh in 3-4 days out of the week.

hesn92

No but I don't see the point of weighing yourself that frequently? I try to remember to weigh myself once a day in the morning when I wake up.

Duck_Puddle

I weigh myself once a day in the morning. Weighing under the same circumstances each time allows me to use that information to follow my weight trend. I am not afraid of the scale. But I don’t see the need to weigh myself multiple times a day. I don’t care what my clothes or my lunch weighs. That’s not a useful data point for me.

NorthCascades

Once a day in the morning, record the number, move on with life.

Blythmag

I’m now weighing every few days, is it just me or do you just “know” when you have lost?i do 🤪

jo_nz

I'm not afraid of the scale, but I don't always look forward to it.

I know at certain times of the month or after eating out that I will see an increase and I don't like it at all - but it's just a data point amongst many, and all information is useful.

I just do once a day - in the morning before I shower (long, wet hair is heavy!). Occasionally I hop on the scale at other times of the day but don't record it as I feel that brings too many variables into it (how much I've eaten/drunk that day, or which clothes I am wearing)

mghauer

I used to be afraid of scales, I would only weigh myself at the doctor office. I would be nervous for days before my appointment because of the scale. It took me two months of living at my place to have the courage to weigh myself. The first time recording weight for my weekly weigh in on the app, I was anxious and could not focus on anything but the scale that had pending doom.

Since I started losing weight, I felt better weighing myself. There were times when I would lose a significant amount of weight that I could not believe it, so I would weigh myself again and again.

Now that I am at maintain weight, I still weigh myself daily because it is my way to keep myself personally in check with a healthier life.

MelanieCN77

holycrosser wrote: »

I’m now weighing every few days, is it just me or do you just “know” when you have lost?i do 🤪

It's got so I can usually tell before I get out of bed, lying on my back I can tell a lot by the feel of my hipbones.

sadiejoy4509

I weigh in once a week. I don’t want to weigh every day because I don’t want the emotional work of ups and downs. Once a week gives me a good trending number, and I watch my sodium intake the day before I weigh. When I make changes to my eating habits or go on a maintenance break I may weigh 2 times a week just to see what’s happening. But I’m not afraid ever. I know what I ate and how I did. The scale just confirms it.

bemyyfriend0918

I only weigh myself once per month because I get discouraged when I see normal daily fluctuations. It helps me to see a drop rather than lose one day, go up the next. I know it’s perfectly normal, but it drives me insane. I’m not scared of the scale as much as I am discouraged by it, if that makes sense.

psychod787

pkweier wrote: »

psychod787 wrote: »

I weigh 6-7 days a week. I keep 2 trends. One for work days, I get up at 0430. The other for days off. I get up at 0630. It's amazing that 2 hrs can mean 2-3 lbs of difference!

So true I have found the same thing. I log the higher weight because I'm up at 430 most days except on Sunday when I sleep in. I never thought about keeping 2 trends

Well, it just kind of takes the frustration out of weighing under different conditions. I mean it would probably equal our over time, but many of us seem to be a little... uhhh... anal retentive about things! Lol

Jadesfire93

The last time I lost a significant amount of weight I was weighing in once a week. I remember getting discouraged easily when the hard work after seven days wouldn't be as noticeable as I would hope, and the scale was always the enemy.

This time around I forced myself to face my fear- yes, I would classify it as a fear- and weigh myself every morning. Surprisingly, the scale rather quickly stopped seeming like an enemy and is now just a tool to be used in this process. Once a day weigh-ins make it easier for me to accept fluctuations now.

amy19355

I weigh in once in the morning.
MFP has the progress trend chart that I look at every day and as long as the trend is headed down over time , i don't worry for a second about the daily fluctuations.

In the beginning I obsessed over the 1 or 2 lb daily differences, and , would examine the details of my physical activity , sleep patterns, meal times, and calorie/macro info.

I was able to see some distinct pairings of things like:
late dinner (after 6pm), or, a couple of beers at night = lousy sleep pattern + extra weight in the morning. EVEN IF I didn't exceed my calorie limit for the day. Lesson for me from that is : beer is not food.

Protein heavy days = constipation.
Fat heavy days = heartburn, acid reflex
carb heavy days = belly bloat.

When I balance the macros (50 carb, 30 fat, 20 protein) at each meal and stay within my calorie budget, I feel good.
I also see the weight coming off steadily.

I like to feel good, and I like getting back into better shape.

COntinued feel good motivates me to continue logging, weighing, analyzing, adjusting as needed. As my shape improves, so does my wardrobe.

I thought the OPs idea to take a day and weigh themself multiple times was useful to confirm that weight does change throughout the day, and, that 's not a bad thing, if the overall trend over time is going int he direction you want.

MsBaz2018

No scared of the scale. I am trying to lose weight but more than that, trying to eat an appropriate amount of calories, and truly make exercise a habit. And I want that to be more important than the digits on a glass pane if that makes sense.

I had actually decided to this without checking the scale at all but I caved. I think I'll check daily for a month, get a sense of how my cycle impacts weight, and make sure I am losing at expected rate. Thereafter, weigh monthly only until I get to overweight territory.

maureenkhilde

I use to dread getting on the scale. That changed when I decided to change me, and start the lifestyle change of how I ate, what I ate, and move more eat less. And reading so many posts here. So now I weigh myself every morning. I record info on an excel spreadsheet daily so I see the ups and downs and so on. I weigh in on Saturdays. And it is what it is. I no longer dread it, and have learned understanding and knowledge made the dread go away.

amy19355

maureenkhilde wrote: »

I use to dread getting on the scale. That changed when I decided to change me, and start the lifestyle change of how I ate, what I ate, and move more eat less. And reading so many posts here. So now I weigh myself every morning. I record info on an excel spreadsheet daily so I see the ups and downs and so on. I weigh in on Saturdays. And it is what it is. I no longer dread it, and have learned understanding and knowledge made the dread go away.

i use the MFP app to log my weight and it makes a lovely little progress trend chart for me.

fgsn

I hate the scale and seeing the daily fluctuations. I weigh daily because I like being able to go back and see the downward trend when I feel like giving up, but I don't look at my weight. I have a bluetooth scale so I've covered the number with a sticky note and the number just goes straight to my phone. That way I can go look when I'm feeling down and not have to worry about it every morning.

Blythmag

MelanieCN77 wrote: »

holycrosser wrote: »

I’m now weighing every few days, is it just me or do you just “know” when you have lost?i do 🤪

It's got so I can usually tell before I get out of bed, lying on my back I can tell a lot by the feel of my hipbones.

Yep me too, I rub my stomach and I can feel the difference