IS anyone AFRAID of the SCALE????

Just close your eyes and jump on. Just think of it this way, once you get the initial shock over with, you'll know what kind of goal to set for yourself. And you don't have to tell anyone what the number is if you don't want to. Trust me, once you get started and see THAT NUMBER getting smaller, you'll start to love the scale.

I wrote this last week. Maybe it will help, because we need to believe in ourselves:

Change through love not hate

I notice a continuing trend in a lot of people who struggle to lose weight where what triggers us to lose weight in the first place is something negative like hating how we look or how we feel. We use terms like loathing and frustration and disgust and a million other words that fill our thoughts.

These thoughts, I think, serve a purpose in what they do: they're the fire they gets us started.

For permanent change, however, I think these negative thoughts burn us out.

I look at people who have lost a lot of weight and kept it off. They do this now with a positive mindset. They keep going with this positivity. If they fall off the wagon, they get right back on within a day or 2 or 3. It doesn't matter how long, but they do it.

They might even re-use the negativity as a trigger, but the negativity doesn't define their weight loss journey itself.

Personally, like many others here, I've lost so much weight in my life, that it'd be combined into twice what I weight now. I often gained it back, and I'm pretty usre that the reason I gained it back was having the wrong mindset. If our journey is plagued with self-hate, self-doubt, with daggers shooting out of our eyes at the mirror, with a fierce battle against the scale, then the journey's exhausting and not feeling positive enough to have that daily inspiration.

I want to encourage all of us to work toward this positivity. I want to lose my excess weight one last time and never need to lose it again. And I want to be smiling as I do it.

Someone once told me, "treat yourself as you would treat a small child, with love."

Only love has the power of positive change.

You can do it! The support you'll receive on this site will help you!

This site has worked for me because I:
1. Ate all of my calories everyday.
2. Set a reasonable goal of 1 pound a week. Some weeks I lost more!
3. Exercise regularly and eat all of my exercise calories at least 4 days a week.
4. Check into the community daily for support. Everyone is so supportive here!
5. Do not weigh myself for 2 weeks out of every month. (before TOM and during TOM) I can weigh between 2 and 5 pounds more during that TOM. To avoid a downward spiral because the scale did not give me the "right" answer, I just skip the scale for about two weeks.
6. Take a break from logging my calories at least once a week. This may not work for all personality types but it works great for me. I don't overeat. I just eat whatever I want that day. NO guilt. Then, I start logging again the next day.

Welcome to MFP!
-Kechie.

I guess I dont believe I can actually lose the weight... I see so many of you who have lost real pounds.....was it the seeing the number go down the trick to make you believe you could actually do it??? Is it really as easy as eating 1200 calories drinking water and working out????

I felt the same way you did at one point. I "accepted" the fact that it is hard for me to lose weight, that I shouldn't even bother because I gain muslce so easily that weighing myself would skew my results. When I was on a 4 month gym stretch, I just yo-yo'd the same 5 pounds.....down 3, up 2, down 2, up 1. I thought since I was working out, I didn't need to watch what I ate....in fact, imstead of just not eating less, the working out without tracking my calories probably made me eat more. I gave up because nothing was working.

When I started here, and started doing it right, I found out that I CAN lose weight. The weight started melting off, consistently 1 at a time. Sure there are weeks when I gain back a pound or two, but since April I have consistently lost enough to total up to 20 (gained 1 back this week). Back in March I would never have guessed I could lose 20 pounds and have it be relatively easy. I thought that would mean starving myself, never eating out again and eating veggies all day long.

It's also very easy to develope a misconception of how much we need to lose when you don't weigh yourself now and again. I knew I was at my heaviest, but I had this delusion that I had only gained about 10 or 20 since highschool. Ha! What a joke, highschool was 11 years ago, and even now that I am down 20 pounds I still cannot fit into the dress I wore in my brothers wedding 8 years ago. So yes, in answer to your question, people spend tons and tons of money on gimmicks and weight loss pills and crazy rituals, when all it takes is eating less (and better) and moving more. Good luck!

Oh and my cell is in the car... so call on the home line.

Well- to how ever is still following this... I did it.. I got on the scale this morning,,,, it was not pretty... For one month now I have worked out (since all my kids started school) from walking 5 miles a day then up to 7 and 8 miles...to running... Ijust ran the ARMY 10 miler... I have been tracking my calories for the last 2 weeks--almost now.... and I started going to the gym because the weather is getting cooler and I am a fair weather person... I do a minimun of 1 hour cardio... WELL-- I HAVE LOST ZERO POUNDS PEOPLE ZERO... ok was it the 3 - 16 oz waters I drank before bed... or was it the asian food at pei wei (although only 500 calories plus the spring rolls for 170--- hey I did burn 700 calories at the gym...????I felt intitled to a nice lunch--- but maybe the msg was too much... i am CLUELESS

After my pitty party this morning... I knew I would not be able to get to the gym today... so for breakfast...slim fast shake... then lunch--- the same thing while I was driving... I drank water on my way up and back... for dinner I had left over potato skins I gave my kids and to subdue my misery for working so hard this month and seeing nothing... not even a .5 pd... I drank 3 glasses of wine...maybe a 4th in a minute...it is friday. The bright side is that tomorrow is a new day and I will start with fresh eyes... I hope... no I am... even though there are no numbers moving down the line I feel more confident (except for today) my button down shirts fit better-- not pulling and I am healthier which is one of my goals for losing weight to begin with... OK -all just wanted to share... I will get back on monday--- and just start once a week from there. Cheers again!

The measuring tape more than the scale will show you positive progress, I don't weigh very often, I don't feel the need too, I know when I'm doing well by how my body feels, how my thinking is, how my clothes are fitting, ya know things like that.

.If you're running 10 miles a day...& changing your eating habits...you're bound to lose some inches & lbs. as well, especially at the beginning with water weight loss..

Healthy clean eating, less sodium (that can REALLY hold a person back from any numbers dropping off the scale, plus you bloated, so don't measure THEN!), drink LOTS of water each day...before you're workouts, and plenty after, if you're running you may want to figure a way to keep hydrated, some take a water bottle, gatorade (check in with the runners around here...I don't feel for myself running is healthy for me as I don't want to cause joint issues, so I do alot of water cardio and strength training, yoga and such)

There are many on here that have lost many pounds, but it is true, you have to believe in yourself, learning to do that is all part of the process. If you think you can't do it, you most likely won't as a huge chunk of what we do in life is our mind set.

Regarding foods/drinks you mentioned....take a look on the food log and check out the calories/carbs/sodium etc. on those items. It might really shock you how quickly they add up.:noway:

I have no clue how much 3 glasses of wine comes out to be as I don't drink my calories much, I prefer to chew them. lol I go the water route. :drinker: but perhaps as time goes on you may feel a 1/2 glass or 1 glass might suit you better while you're starting out.

If you allow for a treat (wine for example) there's nothing wrong with saving some calories for it if you plan ahead of time.

Are you logging your food? That can be quite eye opening. lol Regarding the 1200 calories, is that what MFP suggested you eat?? Also eating back your excercise calories can make it or break it in weight loss.

Ok, nuff said....

Best of luck to you......Welcome:flowerforyou:

Am I afraid to get on the scale? Hell no!!

A scale is merely a number and has no measure of how I feel.

just to put it nicely.:blushing: