AFRAID OF THE SCALE!!!

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sierrajade2012
sierrajade2012 Posts: 50
in Motivation and Support
So I started changing my habits Monday (fell a little off Monday....had some pizza-but have been really good since) and I've been talking to the girl i work with and she said I should be weighing myself once or twice a week. BUT I'M AFRAID TO STEP ON THE SCALE!!! I'm afraid that what I see will unmotivate me or something. I weighed myself Monday and went up to the bathroom to weigh myself this morning....but I didn't do it....I was too scared...

Is this normal? is it okay if I don't weigh myself every week? What are you thoughts on this?

Replies

  • helen0616
    helen0616 Posts: 97
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    Some people don't weight themselves at all. I just read another post where the OP had to surrender the scale batteries to her husband.
    To each his/her own.

    If you want to, wait till your clothes feel a little loose and then do it. That way, you KNOW you're making progress because you're (insert sound clip of Wicked Witch of West here: "I'm melting! I'm meeeeeelting!") so no matter now cruel or kind the scale is, you can stand strong.

    I weigh myself no more than twice a week. I was getting a little out of control with it and it was making me frustrated. So I went to randomnumber.org, asked it to spit out 4 numbers between 1 and 30 and those are the dates for my weigh ins for this month. Did it again for next month, and so on. Some of those stupid weigh-ins are like 2.5 weeks apart and some are a day apart. Random. Something about that makes me feel like it will be more accurate.
  • xzy1000
    xzy1000 Posts: 18 Member
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    Hello I will watch this thread as I am the same!!. I measure myself with a tape measure
    maybe once every ten days. Not sure what the answer is hopefully someone will come along
    with some inspiration!
  • ZugTheMegasaurus
    ZugTheMegasaurus Posts: 801 Member
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    If it makes you anxious, don't do it. There's no rule saying that you must weigh yourself once a week or even at all. You will weigh the same amount whether you know what it is or not.
  • sierrajade2012
    sierrajade2012 Posts: 50
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    I haven't measured myself. Maybe I'll do that Monday. But Helen 0616-sounds like you've got it all figured out for sure!! I like the idea of waiting until I can physically notice a difference to weigh myself that way even if I don't like the number I can find motivation in the fact that my body is changing:)
  • MrsLeyva11
    MrsLeyva11 Posts: 90
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    I have to limit my weigh ins to every other week, otherwise I get upset and it demotivates me. So if you have to, skip the scale and judge yourself on how you feel, how your clothes fit, etc :)
    I've lost more weight since I put my scale away for 2 weeks at a time than I did the whole time I weighed myself regularly. When you stop obsessing over numbers, you have more time to enjoy the changes you're making!
  • nessagrace22
    nessagrace22 Posts: 430 Member
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    This is another one of those 'everyones different' topics.

    For me, I prefer to check my weight regularly because it keeps me motivated. I would rather find out after a week that I'd put on a lb than wait a couple of weeks and find I'm 3lbs heavier. At least then I have time to make adjustments before it gets out of hand.

    That being sai,d I care a lot more about how my clothes fit and how I look in the mirror than what my final weight total is.
  • DebraAukett
    DebraAukett Posts: 128 Member
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    I weigh myself every week, because if I see I have lost, it motivates me to lose even more. And if I gained then I know I have to put in extra effort the next week to make up for it. Make friends with the scale :-) it's not so bad
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
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    I weigh-in every week. BUT, I do admit that I am afraid to weigh every week and sometimes I skip a week. BUT, that is jsut me. I know people that do it once a month...some people start a wrok-out plan and dont weigh until the "cycle" is done. It is a personal preference. You do what you fee l comfortable doing and got from there! I am contemplating stopping weighing myself til I get through a cycle of Turbo Jamso I can see what exactly it does for me.
  • big_drake
    big_drake Posts: 78
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    I weigh myself every friday morning and every friday morning I am nervous when I step on the scale. I could easily not do it but I see it as motivation. If I lost a pound or two it makes me feel good and want to lose more. If I didn't lose any or, God forbid, gain a pound or two that motivates me to do better the next week. I've gone a couple weeks without stepping on the scale for one reason or another and it's never good news when I finally do. No matter how good I thought I was doing.
  • Nottm1984
    Nottm1984 Posts: 57 Member
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    I aim to weight myself every 2 weeks, but sometimes it makes me feel too anxious, so I don't force myself when I feel like that, I just stick to what I'm doing and wait until I feel positive enough to go for it - that way I figure even if the numbers aren't kind, I can still think I've been making the changes in any case. I used to be obsessive when I was a teenager so knowing I have that tendeancy makes me avoid weighing in too regularly - remember it's about getting healthier in terms of upping your fitness levels and eating a balanced diet as much as a number game in terms of weight. :-)
  • pattyproulx
    pattyproulx Posts: 603 Member
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    It's up to you - I've read studies that people who weigh themselves every day lose more weight than those who weigh once a week who lose more than those who don't weigh themselves.

    If you go for more regular weigh-ins (I weigh at least once a day), you do have to not let it get to you too much and know your body fluctuates on a day-to-day basis though. I like to see what effect certain food/activities have on my weight and monitoring daily lets me do that.

    My only concern with once a week is because of weight fluctuations, it could be a month before you know for sure if what you're doing is working.

    If you weigh yourself on a 'low day' on the first Monday, and then on higher days for the next couple Mondays, it could look like you haven't really lost anything.
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
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    Hello I will watch this thread as I am the same!!. I measure myself with a tape measure
    maybe once every ten days. Not sure what the answer is hopefully someone will come along
    with some inspiration!

    I usually limit measuring myself to once a month...but again, this is one of those things, "To each his own."

    GOOD LUCK ALL!!!
  • ItsCasey
    ItsCasey Posts: 4,022 Member
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    I lost 100 lbs without weighing myself ... ever. I have a pretty muscular body, so even though I am short, I have always weighed a good bit more than you'd guess just from looking at me. Because of that, I was terrified of getting on the scale, seeing a number that didn't reflect the work I had put in, and just giving up. So I never weighed myself. But for the past year, I have been pretty much the same size. I haven't seen much physical change in my body. And last week, I decided it was time to buy a scale so that I know for sure exactly what my weight is and can do a better job of figuring out how many calories to eat in order to continue losing weight (I still have about 15 lbs to lose).

    So far, I like having the scale. The first time I weighed myself, I weighed 10 lbs more than I expected, and that a pretty big blow to my self-esteem, but I have gotten over it. It still feels better to know exactly where I am and what I have left to do than being totally in the dark about it. But it is absolutely possible to lose weight without getting on a scale every day or even every week. I do think you need to have a general idea of how much you weigh so that your BMR estimate is as close to accurate as possible, but you don't need to know the exact number from one day or week to the next.
  • sierrajade2012
    sierrajade2012 Posts: 50
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    It's up to you - I've read studies that people who weigh themselves every day lose more weight than those who weigh once a week who lose more than those who don't weigh themselves.

    If you go for more regular weigh-ins (I weigh at least once a day), you do have to not let it get to you too much and know your body fluctuates on a day-to-day basis though. I like to see what effect certain food/activities have on my weight and monitoring daily lets me do that.

    My only concern with once a week is because of weight fluctuations, it could be a month before you know for sure if what you're doing is working.

    If you weigh yourself on a 'low day' on the first Monday, and then on higher days for the next couple Mondays, it could look like you haven't really lost anything.

    lol I can't even imagine weighing myself everyday-but I have heard that weighing FIRST thing in the morning when you wake up before you do anything is the best time-and to aim to weigh yourself at the same time each time you do. I think I'll go for the monthly weigh in..like you said sometimes it could take a month or so to know if what I am doing is working so once a month it is :) thanks
  • GAStivers
    GAStivers Posts: 3
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    The scale is nothing more than a tool. As you lose fat and gain muscle, you will find that muscle is heavier - so later if you find you are slowing...look at your measurements. Is it fat gain or muscle gain?
  • NikkiSmo
    NikkiSmo Posts: 180 Member
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    I don't weight myself very often because I'm a numbers person (I know, I know numbers aren't everything). I weighted myself for the first time at my parents home - which is out of town. So I only weight myself when I go visit them. It's been over 3 weeks now. I would rather see bigger numbers less often then low or no numbers every week. You will have weeks that you don't loose and might even gain and for me that is discouraging so I just avoid it.

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