Do others think this way and why do we do it?

redfroggie

I started my MFP journey a few months ago. I have been slowly losing weight which is good. I do weigh myself daily but I only record my weight once a week, I like to make sure I am going in the right direction. So here is the reason I am posting. Why is it that I can believe that my husband has altered the scale, or the scale is faulty, or even that I've developed some strange or horrible disease that just happened to coincide with the weight loss, rather than I've worked hard and watched my diet and have lost weight in a healthy way.

I was sharing these thoughts with my husband and he asked if other people felt this way so I decided to ask about it here. Am I alone in trying to sabotage my own successes or do others feel this way? Will this go away and will I one day appreciate all the hard work i've put in myself?

lijparsons

I am convinced that when I press the button for MY personal settings on my scale, the scale decides to screw with me, since it knows it is ME.

beckajw

I have the same issue. I find that I trust measurements more than the scale. When I get to buy a smaller pair of pants, I believe it. The scale, I don't always believe.

ashlinmarie

No, I feel the same way. I hate weighing myself because if I see a gain, I am tempted to quit altogether from one bad week. If I eat poorly one day, even if I stay under my calories, I feel the same way. I always set myself up to fail because then I don't get disappointed. But doing so is what helped me get fat and I was disappointed in myself anyway.

You are not alone, but I can suggest something that might help. Leave yourself positive notes around the house. Like in mirrors especially. Remind yourself that you are changing those numbers and doing this for a healthier, happier you. They cheer me up when I'm feeling particularly down..

ChshireKat

I think that way quite a lot. Most of the time i just think that the scale is broken because the numbers change by as much as 8lbs between 1 day and the next. The scale is broken, I am retaining water like mad, or I am never going to loose weight so why bother?

I think we do it becasue it is like hedging our bets. we may be losing weight but if the umber suddenly pops back up we aren't as disappointed and discouraged.

aflane

Scales are evil, deceitful machines. My new smaller jeans would never lie to me.

cassy027

I think part of the problem is that you weigh yourself daily. That can be self sabotage in itself. Even once a week can be too much. If you wait a couple of weeks or even a month, you will see much more success at once. It's definitely worth the wait to see a few pounds or more at a time. Try it and see if you feel differently.

Jenscan

I do this. I lost 15 lbs but deleted all of my previous weighins. The reason? My wii was off by a pound and I negated the whole kit and kaboodle. Plus, I convinced myself that my clothes fitting differently was all in my mind and I hadn't truly lost a pound.

Total and utter self-sabotage. I don't believe in myself, I don't trust myself, and I never will.

redfroggie

I think part of the problem is that you weigh yourself daily. That can be self sabotage in itself. Even once a week can be too much. If you wait a couple of weeks or even a month, you will see much more success at once. It's definitely worth the wait to see a few pounds or more at a time. Try it and see if you feel differently.

I am OCD about the scale, and if it's only 1 pound a week I don't get discouraged because that is a postive thing, I just find it easier to believe that it's something other than me working hard towards my goal. Know what I mean, even if I did only weigh in once a month and had a 5 lbs drop it would be because of something other than all that work. Like Jenscan said I just don't trust myself.

redfroggie

Scales are evil, deceitful machines. My new smaller jeans would never lie to me.

LOL yes I could believe new jeans!

RCKT82

Though I don't record my weight or base my progress off of a scale, I will admit that I have two scales in my bathroom sitting side by side... and I do hop on the scale at the gym every chance I get....

I too don't trust scale readings and feel that every stinking one is faulty. I'm still curious enough to use them and ignore the conspiracy of the weight scale's ploy to wipe out the existance of human sanity.

Tree72

This has applied to me in the past, but not quite as much now. I don't say this in judgement of anyone else, but from my own experience. Feelings like this are part of the reason I once weighed almost 250 pounds. I was not taking responsibility for my own choices. There was always some excuse or some set of extenuating circumstances, or I would convince myself that I just didn't care. For me this journey to better health and weight loss has been much more about the mental struggle and changing my thinking than it has been about the food and exercise. It can be done. You can learn to love and trust yourself. Just take it one day at a time. Eventually you will convince yourself that you're a pretty awesome person who achieves her goals and makes things happen rather than sitting back and letting life happen to you.

Changing your life and putting effort into losing weight is definitely an emotional process; sometimes you will just feel irrationally about it, and that's ok. Just remember when you're feeling better to take a step back and look at it objectively. You are making better choices, and your body is responding to those.

Best wishes for continuing your journey with motivation and success. And best wishes for recognizing and celebrating the successes, both physical and mental, along the way.

katekrise

Scales are evil, deceitful machines. My new smaller jeans would never lie to me.

Cute! lol Congrats on the smaller jeans

katekrise

Scales are evil, deceitful machines. My new smaller jeans would never lie to me.

Cute! lol Congrats on the smaller jeans

iAMaPhoenix

Kathy Bates summed it all up in the movie Waterboy, and I paraphrase. "...scales are of the Devil...":devil:

One of the first things I judge by is how many Xs I no longer have on my polo shirts. Next I look to see how many notches I have left in my belt, or even better if I have to use kitchen knife to add another one. Then I listen for others to compliment me on my hard work, because we all need to feel that someone notices us, right? If all that fails, I try to find different ways to fix the scale in my favor so I can weigh the weight I want for the day i.e. standing on one leg, tip toe, move more to the left or right, one foot ahead of another etc, because all it takes is a little adjustment. Right?

lil_pulp

It might be hard/scary/frustrating to realize that you actually do have the power to change your weight. So maybe by admitting that YOU (and not some external force) are in control of your weight loss now, you are also admitting that you were in control of your weight gain before.

I don't think I explained that well, but something like that's going on for me. Along with a gazillion other reasons why it's hard for me to accept myself as "not fat" anymore.

Keep up the good work, though.

-LP

redfroggie

Thanks everyone for sharing your thoughts and stories. I do know that I am/was responsible for my weight gain, that was never a doubt. I wish I could say someone held me down and force fed me, but sadly no it was all my own undoing!

Hubby and I were talking about it and we are the type of people that do things rather than just talk about it. We moved from the US to the UK and we didn't know a soul here, but we have a great group of friends and have slotted in very well. I will accomplish this goal I will make a change.

BigBoneSista

Thats just the inner you playing on your emotions. We all have this on a certain level. Sometimes its just hard to allow ourselves to appreciate our accomplishments so we try to make them seem less significant when they aren't. Even the smallest accomplishment should be celebrated when it comes to this journey because it takes a lot to just obtain it.

It will be a ongoing battle because I think we are just programmed to see failure in lite of our progress, but as long as you recognize that stupid little voice for what it is you will continue to strive.

You are doing awesome. Keep up the good work.

Sparrow_Feet

The reason that we do it is that we all have mindtalk. Different people have different sorts of mind talk. Some people are worriers, others martyrs, some provers and pleasers. It all depends on what type of person you are as to how your mindtalk reacts in these situations.

I used to be obsessed by the scales. I would literally weigh myself 3 times a day; in the morning, when I got home from work and at night before going to bed. It would dictate what I ate that day rather than me listening to my body telling me if it was hungry etc. This frequency of weighing really isn't healthy...for the body or the mind.

Now I weight myself once per week, and measure myself before weighing. That way if I have gained weight, but lost inches, I feel OK. Measuring is the critical thing as all sorts of things can affect the scales....women's time of the month, whether you had a drink late the night before a morning weigh in, your timing of bodily functions/movements....

The trick with mindtalk is to find a way of realising when you are doing it....which you clearly have as you started this post. You then need to stop and ask yourself what is true about what your mindtalk is saying. Dealing with this is the tricky bit but you are half way there.

Stick with it and try putting more focus in your mind on measurements than weight. Look at both together.

Noonoo757

Your not alone i weigh myself and im like nooooo that cant be right theres no weigh ive lost that much so i go get my 8lb weights and weigh them to be sure the scale is right, then while we are in walmart i hop on random scales, then i start trying on random old clothes that didnt fit. Its silly but even though im working hard to loose weight and its happening i keep thinking its not real.