Fear of the scale in a new way!

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Ratfancy
Ratfancy Posts: 3 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
The scale has always been my reference and I have used weighing myself to keep from going way off track with my set point (which is too high). Nevertheless, I gained 5 lbs. over a few months and now I'm getting back on track, counting calories and cutting down much on food portions. I'm now afraid to get on the scale because I'm afraid that with all my efforts I'm not losing any weight. It is very difficult for me to lose even an ounce. If I get on the scale and notice nothing is happening I get depressed and throw up my hands and throw in the towel! I do feel better when I "undereat" each day, though. And to keep this focus on how I feel, I'm staying away from the scale. Even a small loss can send me into a "celebratory" reward of treats. Anyone else feel this way?

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  • 15822
    15822 Posts: 269 Member
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    I know exactly how you feel. I love data and graphs and I love watching the line go down, but my downfall is rapid loss: say I get on the scale and see I lost 800 grams since yesterday. Do I logically know that no I didn't? Yes, you don't need to tell me. It's obviously a fluctuation. But I immediately start fantasizing about how quickly I would reach my goal if I kept on losing weight at this rate - and then when the number goes up the next day I get really discouraged and that's the sort of thing tha makes me give up even though I am a rational, intelligent person who understands how numbers work. But I can't help it!
    So I did something unusual this time around: I've lost weight every single day since I started by cheating.
    Day 1: I got on the scale with clothes and shoes on and after having breakfast. - 100.9 kg
    Day 2: I got on the scale after breakfast, with lighter clothes on, but holding a full mug of tea. - scale says 100.4, but I recorded 100.8 in the app.
    Day 3: I got on the scale holding a jug of water and poured the water out until the scale said 100.7

    My true weight was probably somewhere 1-2 kg below these numbers, but also not dramatically lower to be invalid, but that means any time I lose 1 kg overnight I don't know about it and instead it gives me 10 days of "buffer" to keep recording lower weights. It tricks my silly brain. I went out to a BBQ and ended up logging over 3000 calories in a day, but the next day instead of recording a higher weight, which would have made me give up I still got the scale to show a weight 100 g less than the day before. And I know that I can't lose weight any faster by undereating because no matter what I do, I can't lose more than 100 g per day to reach my goal faster. It sounds stupid, but it really works for me.
  • spiriteagle99
    spiriteagle99 Posts: 3,692 Member
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    I have had that mindset as well. If I lost weight, I would eat to celebrate, if I gained weight, I would decide the diet wasn't working and eat more. It led to a lot of years of yoyo dieting. OTOH, not weighing myself at all led to a slow gradual weight gain that I ignored because I was still able to wear the same clothes, despite the extra weight.

    There are a couple of ways I have been able to beat that mindset: 1) Give yourself an absolute minimum time you will stay on track, regardless of the outcome. Then weigh every single day. Note the ups and downs but keep to your plan. At the end of a month, if your calorie goal was appropriate, you will see that the trend is down. 2) Alternately, stay on plan and don't weigh yourself at all for a month. Then just weigh yourself every 2-3 weeks.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,996 Member
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    Weighing every day and logging this into the weight trending app Happy Scale helps ME deal with normal water weight fluctuations and seemingly no weight loss. I lost 40 pounds last year and some weeks and even months it seemed like I was not losing weight at all, but the Happy Scale Report proved otherwise.
  • elisa123gal
    elisa123gal Posts: 4,306 Member
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    I'm the same way.. it is as if the devil on my shoulder is looking for any excuse to derail me..and the scale not moving does it for me. I figure; what is the use. right?
    What I do is; I try on my tight clothes to keep me on track. I do my very best on my eating and exercise..,not perfect all the time. But slowly and surely.. I have my favorite green shorts zipped up and on now. The pockets are flared out..so I have more to go. But.. hey! They're on. It has taken me from January to now to get here. But if I was weighing myself. I would have jumped ship months ago.
    However.. when I slip into them and I'm where I want to be. I will hop on the scale.. see that number.. and start weighing myself every week so the creep doesn't clobber me like it did in the past. Good luck to you.. you can do it.

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