The Scale

dieter67
dieter67 Posts: 57
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
Okay friends, what's the difference in being obsessed and vigilant when it comes to the scales?

Replies

  • rak173
    rak173 Posts: 105 Member
    To me that depends on how I am feeling about the scale. Some weeks I weigh myself 1-3 times a day. Other weeks I only weigh myself 2-3 times a week. At no point have I ever felt obsessed or disturbed by the numbers. That's not to say I don't feel excited or bummed about them. I suppose the emotions associated between me and my scale have to remain minimal in order for me to not feel obsessed with it. If I started feeling drastically swayed by the #'s on the scale, I would probably have to throw it away. For me, normal scheduled weigh ins (Wednesday mornings after I use the toilet and before I eat) are vigilant.
  • rjtoback
    rjtoback Posts: 7 Member
    If you are weighing yourself daily: STOP. Your body naturally floats weight during sleep cycles so you will always be lighter after you wake up. Obviously, you will also be lighter post bathroom uses. Weighing yourself after eating is also pointless as yes! you will weigh more temporarily until the food breaks down and you burn up the calories.

    At best, monitor your weigh from week to week, and do it at the same time. I like to do it sunday mornings so I can compare myself to previous weeks.
  • westendcurls
    westendcurls Posts: 252 Member
    To me its simple. if it effects you emotionally its obsessive. You wouldn't be heart broken if your tire pressure gauge showed your tires were low on air right? and you wouldn't regard the gauge as some dreaded tool.. its just a tool. So is the scale, its just a tool.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    The number on the scale can come from any number of things:
    You are using more hair products
    You really need to pee
    You are wearing bigger shoes
    You are pregnant
    You have a lot of change in your pockets
    You are retaining water
    You have a Texas-sized belt buckle
    You are about to start your cycle
    Your scale is broken

    I weigh once a day because I spike and drop drastically. It would drive me crazy if I wasn't aware of how I trend over time. But scale weight tells me nothing about body fat, which is what I actually care about.
  • dieter67
    dieter67 Posts: 57
    How would you respond to someone who said

    I think many of you are missing the point...getting weighed once a week is enough. Why do you play with your mind and emotions all week long with food and the SCALE too?
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    I would point to my weight graph and show you several points where, if I weighed once a month, it would look like I gained five pounds in a month (oh no!). But then, when you see all of the intervening data points, it's obviously a spike over a day or two (impossible!).

    I would argue that you should weigh the number of times that you need in order to keep your goals in perspective.
  • maz504
    maz504 Posts: 450
    How would you respond to someone who said

    I think many of you are missing the point...getting weighed once a week is enough. Why do you play with your mind and emotions all week long with food and the SCALE too?

    My typical response is to mind their own business. But I don't have many friends... :tongue:
  • itodd4019
    itodd4019 Posts: 340 Member
    I weight myself on Sundays - only!

    My sugar weighs herself constantly, before and after a shower, before and after a pooh! That's always a fun report! LOL "hey honey I just lost 1/2 a pound in one minute!

    we both seem to be pretty normal.

    I think if you ask if you are obsessed, that is the first indicator that you may be
  • Ashaleet
    Ashaleet Posts: 59
    I won't weigh myself in the morning unless I can poo first. Otherwise I just save it for the weekend.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    Also, I paid good money for my scale. Should I just let it sit there and go to waste?
  • CaitlinW19
    CaitlinW19 Posts: 431 Member
    Begining to weigh weigh myself only once a week has been one of the best changes I've made, and I never had an issue with watching the daily ups and downs. I get so much more motivation for my weekly weigh in and then feel pumped after when I see a loss. I get to celebrate those losses more and be more intune to my progress on the scale and off. During the week I don't think about the number as much...its more about how clothes fit and how great I feel which, for someone who has always struggled with body image even when fit, is a very good thing. Plus I feel I'm setting up a habit I can sustain to help keep me on track after I reach my goal. I can easily continue to weigh the same day every week where, if I don't have a consistent habit, I'm more likely to forget to get on the scale and start creeping up again.

    I don't think there is anything "wrong" with weighing daily...I've just found more motivation and positivity in once a week weighing. At first, I treated it as one of my weight loss "goals" that I needed to hold myself to, right along with staying within calorie alotment and activity. It was hard the first few weeks to keep off the scale but it isn't at all now. I like having a certain day of the week I'm pushing towards to see a loss and usually being pleasantly surprised at my progress on that day.
  • LianaG1115
    LianaG1115 Posts: 453 Member
    How would you respond to someone who said

    I think many of you are missing the point...getting weighed once a week is enough. Why do you play with your mind and emotions all week long with food and the SCALE too?

    "If I want to obsess than that's my problem but no worries, my counselor and I are working on that but anyways, here, have another donut." (because usually those who talk to me like that are my friends who complain about being overweight and needing to get to the gym but never do!! As they're stuffing their faces with chicken fingers and fries!!)

    Sorry people's negativity is unnecessary, we have enough of our own struggles to get through this, some of us more than others, and to have the constant negativity just sucks sometimes...I know where you are at my friend...just throw them a box of donuts and tell them to stick it in their mouth and STFU!!
  • itodd4019
    itodd4019 Posts: 340 Member
    wow!
  • Ashaleet
    Ashaleet Posts: 59
    How would you respond to someone who said

    I think many of you are missing the point...getting weighed once a week is enough. Why do you play with your mind and emotions all week long with food and the SCALE too?

    Okay first thing's first: if someone is saying that to you or to a group of people.....it's just his/her opinion. We're all entitled to one.
    Second thing is, I personally see nothing wrong with weighing every morning. However, I don't get depressed when the scale says I gained a pound from yesterday when I KNOW I ate perfectly fine, and I probably need to drop a big duce or something. Yeah sometimes it can get frustrating, especially for women who fluctuate so much water weight around "that time of the month", but it also encourages me to go back through my diary and see if maybe i've been eating too much sodium or something.

    Long story short I see it as a motivator and something to encourage me to take a second look at my macros, which I usually ignore.

    What does the scale mean to you?
  • jtrack3d
    jtrack3d Posts: 91
    "A study out of Brown University and University of Tennessee analyzed 178 adults (average age 52) and found those who used a scale every day lost more weight than those who hadn’t."
    http://www.askmen.com/top_10/fitness/proven-gym-motivation-tips_5.html

    Personally, if you have an eating condition such as anerexia or bolemia, then weighing is not for you. If not, I like to weigh every day. It is important to learn that weight will fluxuate. I get inspiration AND I learn what to expect and to meter my expectations. I have learned the patterns my body goes though and when I can expect the next change to happen.

    I weigh every morning right outta bed after I pee. I am a nerd, I like the numbers.

    My Graph.
    61568574_46.jpg

    If you notice some data points almost look like a flat line... if I had weighed only once per week, I might have thought nothing was changing.
  • itodd4019
    itodd4019 Posts: 340 Member
    hahaha that chick said drop a big duce!!! nice!
  • CorlissaEats
    CorlissaEats Posts: 493 Member
    LOL. I weigh daily. Its just a number. Its data. End of story.
    I dont get off the scale when it increases and have a bad day or hate myself. I dont weigh more than once in a day hoping for a different result. I dont think about it after I hop off. I record if necessary and move on. Quite frankly, I dont have my lowest weight every Sunday morning at 8am. I track my lows as I get new ones. I am allowed to go up and down and all over in any given week, I am looking for a new low.

    Just about every friend in my FL who does a weekly tracking gets obsurdly discouraged when they have an increase. They pin all their hopes and motivation on achieving a loss on a specific day and it hurts to watch them fail because at a set time on a set day they didnt experience a loss.
  • Guinness80
    Guinness80 Posts: 39 Member
    I also think that people who weigh daily get more used to the idea of fluctuation than those weighing only weekly or less frequently so are less likely to get discouraged.
  • Ashaleet
    Ashaleet Posts: 59
    hahaha that chick said drop a big duce!!! nice!

    Hahah I did.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    Scales are very important, but you should weigh every day and average it out at the end of the week.

    Some say weigh after a no exercise day and average it out once a week. I like to see how much water I hold after a gruelling session, which is usually combined with tons of carbs, which themselves hold water. I know what to expect, I usually cruise between 129/130 at the mo. I know I'm fully topped up glycogen and water wise, and have more LBM now so it doesn't bother me so much.

    It still holds me accountable and stops binge eating. I know I'm going to have to see the results, as well as feel the tightening of the jeans...my least favourite thing...ever....
  • luckypony71
    luckypony71 Posts: 399 Member
    LOL. I weigh daily. Its just a number. Its data. End of story.
    I dont get off the scale when it increases and have a bad day or hate myself. I dont weigh more than once in a day hoping for a different result. I dont think about it after I hop off. I record if necessary and move on. Quite frankly, I dont have my lowest weight every Sunday morning at 8am. I track my lows as I get new ones. I am allowed to go up and down and all over in any given week, I am looking for a new low.

    Just about every friend in my FL who does a weekly tracking gets obsurdly discouraged when they have an increase. They pin all their hopes and motivation on achieving a loss on a specific day and it hurts to watch them fail because at a set time on a set day they didnt experience a loss.

    I agree. An increase will make me re-evaluate, what am I doing differently, but I don't get discouraged.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    If you are weighing yourself daily: STOP. Your body naturally floats weight during sleep cycles so you will always be lighter after you wake up. Obviously, you will also be lighter post bathroom uses. Weighing yourself after eating is also pointless as yes! you will weigh more temporarily until the food breaks down and you burn up the calories.

    At best, monitor your weigh from week to week, and do it at the same time. I like to do it sunday mornings so I can compare myself to previous weeks.

    I weigh every day and will continue to do so.
    Saying for everyone that does that to STOP is a pretty dumb statement.
    I like numbers and seeing what food and other activities do to my weight and obviously it hasn't been detrimental to my weight loss or attitude.
  • MBrothers22
    MBrothers22 Posts: 323 Member
    LOL. I weigh daily. Its just a number. Its data. End of story.
    I dont get off the scale when it increases and have a bad day or hate myself. I dont weigh more than once in a day hoping for a different result. I dont think about it after I hop off. I record if necessary and move on. Quite frankly, I dont have my lowest weight every Sunday morning at 8am. I track my lows as I get new ones. I am allowed to go up and down and all over in any given week, I am looking for a new low.

    Just about every friend in my FL who does a weekly tracking gets obsurdly discouraged when they have an increase. They pin all their hopes and motivation on achieving a loss on a specific day and it hurts to watch them fail because at a set time on a set day they didnt experience a loss.

    Exactly this.
    I write down my weight every Thursday morning but I'm the same way when it comes to putting it in MFP. This is why some 7 day periods I don't lose any weight and then others I lose 5. That sudden drop in weight was just a day away and the next 7 days the weight comes off quicker.
    I feel people who get discouraged over the scale just aren't informed enough about weight loss and it's unfortunate
  • mathandcats
    mathandcats Posts: 786 Member
    I weigh myself every morning, because I know my weight can fluctuate a lot, and from previous attempts at weight loss I know that if I only weigh once a week and the scale doesn't move (or moves up!) after one week, I will feel very discouraged. But if I'm weighing daily, I don't expect to see a change, so I don't get disheartened when it doesn't happen, or even if it goes up a bit.

    Edit: as an example, yesterday read my first foray into one-derland again (yay!!), but today it says I'm back up to 201. If this was a change over a 1 week period I would have been upset.
  • Soccermavrick
    Soccermavrick Posts: 405 Member
    At first I would weight myself randomly through out the day. Though honestly I learned to only count one as official. Like I normally weight in Friday morning before showering. (By picking one day and time, you stay consistent on the swings that your body has, and big meals, or bodily functions have on you to some extent.)

    Though if you are just starting out, I cannot recommend enough, true pictures (you do not have to post - just for you to compare to,) and measurements. Because as I have gotten closer to my goal weight means far less to me. And I know I wish I had a few tracked my starting numbers better.
  • OnU2nite
    OnU2nite Posts: 23 Member
    I weigh in once a week. Weight is only part of the equation.

    Riddle me this.... In 1 week I gained +1 lb. But my body fat dropped almost one percent. .......... Is that Progress?

    Absolutely! But how would I know that if all I looked at was the scale?

    Do yourself a favor. Look at body fat % and measurements along with that number. Pictures work great as well. Progress is probably there, you just haven't been looking in the right place.
  • Springfield1970
    Springfield1970 Posts: 1,945 Member
    And the answer is......don't use scales or hand held devices to measure body fat.

    You can only gain .5lb of muscle per week.

    You can't also lose 1.5-2lbs of fat at the same time either.

    The elements being measured here include water, bone density, gut contents, glycogen, fat and muscle.

    You just didn't lose 1% fat in a week.

    Sorry, thought I'd clear that up.

    You look good though!
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    LOL. I weigh daily. Its just a number. Its data. End of story.
    I dont get off the scale when it increases and have a bad day or hate myself. I dont weigh more than once in a day hoping for a different result. I dont think about it after I hop off. I record if necessary and move on. Quite frankly, I dont have my lowest weight every Sunday morning at 8am. I track my lows as I get new ones. I am allowed to go up and down and all over in any given week, I am looking for a new low.

    Just about every friend in my FL who does a weekly tracking gets absurdly discouraged when they have an increase. They pin all their hopes and motivation on achieving a loss on a specific day and it hurts to watch them fail because at a set time on a set day they didnt experience a loss.

    exactly this!
  • DebSM2
    DebSM2 Posts: 62 Member
    Normally I try once a week, sometimes I step on to check during but Wednesday is official. I did weigh on Monday to see if I was on track for hitting a mini goal and I had done. This morning my official weigh in showed that I was .2 lbs from my goal. So, I did my scheduled run, came home, drank a few ounces of water, weighed again, and recorded that because I met the goal after 30 minutes of jogging. What a cheater!

    I see how silly it is to be obsessed with that number, given instances like this, and this is the first time that I weighed after my morning jog just for the number. If I hadn't met the goal, my day would have continued as usual and I still would have had a scoop of Culvers vanilla frozen custard because I was on my preschooler's field trip and part of it was the tour and the treat. If I weighed now I understand that it would likely be up, but it wouldn't be from the custard...free custard is calorie free, no? (My jog cancelled it out nicely!)

    Trying to stick to once a week, not bothered by fluctuations the wrong way so long as they are not becoming the status quo.


    ETA: I did miss the point...the difference between being vigilant and obsessed...for me, the scale isn't something to be vigilant or obsessed over at all ...did I just contradict what I said above :)? The thing to be vigilant about is calories in, calories out. THAT needs vigilance, but obsessing over that would also not be good. So scale-wise, I agree with those who said that it is simply a data point.

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