A little rant on lbs vs kg

Wiseandcurious
Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I have a little rant to make on the american measurements system.

Not that there's anything wrong with it per se, just I have a feeling that measuring weight in lbs makes it even harder for people who obsess over the scale.

I measure in kg (ticker here is in lb to give easier idea of my starting and goal weight to people who might be in the same boat, so we find each other more easily). But I do enter my weight in kg and the site converts it. The thing is, anything less than a kg I don't even bother about in terms of gain/ loss, it's fluctuation. if it gets over a kg, then that might be real, just might be. could still be water weight. It seems slower and kind of calmer. I see so many people fret over gaining a pound while they're losing, that's like 2 of those don't yet make 1kg! What's the hurry?

And then there's centimeters - there's 2.5 of those to an inch so losing the centimeters seems easier :) Kind of like the metric more in this case too, seems gentler.

I know obsessing or not is ultimately up to the person, but I did say it was just a rant :smile:

Replies

  • debbiesats
    debbiesats Posts: 65 Member
    Interesting, I've been thinking almost the opposite - I've always measured and thought in stones, that's what my scales are in but since I've been tracking on here I've started to think in pounds.

    I've found it much more encouraging whittling away a pound or two than seeing myself as still being so far away from the next half stone at the end of the week.

    Not that I've abandoned stones - I've got double the victories to celebrate now - fewlt great hitting 20lb lost this week - will feel even better when I'm down a stone and a half and fourteen stone something again soon......
  • Paindoesnthurt
    Paindoesnthurt Posts: 51 Member
    Biggest take home message from this is not to obsess. People get so caught up with the scale that it's absurd. Best way to know if you are changing is the mirror and photos, and you should take one every 8-12 weeks if you are consistent. My challenge to everyone is to stop weighing themselves for that period and only rely on the mirror and photos. To me, those have been the best indicators. I never weigh myself anymore. I measure myself by tape every once in awhile if I have goals to get bigger
  • Amethysta79
    Amethysta79 Posts: 37 Member
    I'm the same, I think in stones & so it's annoying that even though I've lost pounds, I'm still over 10 stone & it's that big double figure that I want to get under. I think it's what I was brought up with so I'm hardwired to think that way.
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    Biggest take home message from this is not to obsess. People get so caught up with the scale that it's absurd. Best way to know if you are changing is the mirror and photos, and you should take one every 8-12 weeks if you are consistent. My challenge to everyone is to stop weighing themselves for that period and only rely on the mirror and photos. To me, those have been the best indicators. I never weigh myself anymore. I measure myself by tape every once in awhile if I have goals to get bigger

    This and the fact that I always have used pounds as a weight measure (why do I have to conform?) and it is very frustrating to me when I try to weigh and log and have to keep going to a converter because when I weigh things because I used ounces instead of grams (this less frequently now because I an changing my mindset on food weight). But like I said if I want to track my weight in lbs who cares? I track my exercise in miles not km (miles are longer) so big deal you walk or run 5k I walk or run 3 miles.
  • Wiseandcurious
    Wiseandcurious Posts: 730 Member
    Didn't even think about stones :smile: but yes, the important point I think is to find a way of tracking one's progress that feels good and doesn't discourage you. There's more than one way to do it and to me personally the more relaxed the way, the better.

    Knra girl, I did say there's nothing wrong with the system per se. I was wondering if it happens to encourage micro-focussing though. I am not sure what you mean about conformig. The database does have good entries in both oz and grams?

    Edited "atones" to stones :)
  • knra_grl
    knra_grl Posts: 1,566 Member
    I was wondering if it happens to encourage micro-focussing though. I am not sure what you mean about conformig. The database does have good entries in both oz and grams?

    Micro-focussing - not sure I only weigh once per week and take what I get (although it's been good so far)

    Database - leaves something to be desired - I can usually find what I am looking for but have to weed through a lot before I do. There is a lot of cup & tblsp measurements and now that I am weighing in grams I often have to search. By conforming I mean most people are using metric and for me I was always both (imperial and metric) before this. But found imperial measures are what I always related to for food (ie: lbs vs kgs and ounces vs grams).

    Has a lot to do with my age - metric was just being introduced when I was in grade school so at home my family was still in the imperial system. So I do a mix of both. Liquid measures in metric make more sense than imperial and weight measures in imperial make more sense than metric.

    Ah I am Canadian we have to make everything confusing lol.
  • charis1988
    charis1988 Posts: 2 Member
    haha it reminds me,
    I gain in kilos (because its less) and lose in pounds (because its more) :P
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    If you are a Brit, like me, I understand where you are coming from. However, we also havent fully converted from imperial to metric in many ways of life. We still use miles on the road, feet and inches for people's height and stones/pounds for people's weight - although not exclusively.

    I am baffled as to why America has not embraced the metric system at all however.
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Im Canadian and we haven't imbraced the metric system either...

    I weight in lbs...measure in ft and inches

    the metric system is fine for some things...but not all.
  • JustAnotherCalorieCounter
    JustAnotherCalorieCounter Posts: 57
    I actually prefer pounds, it makes me feel like I've lost more ;)

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