New Scale Made Me Cry

Remember every scale weighs differently. I weigh less on my scale at home then on my parents scale and my doctors scale. Don't let this get you down!!

You can do it!!!

You're putting way too much stock into a number. All scales are calibrated differently...you step on three different scales and you're going to get three different numbers most of the time. The scale that my trainer uses when I weigh in with him has me five pounds heavier than my scale at home...but the number doesn't matter one bit...as a trend I'm maintaining weight (which is my goal) on both scales...the actual number is irrelevant.

It's a number. Your body has not changed. I understand about wanting to see every pound disappear. But the reality is, by the time you get to hold you'll have forgotten about it. Some of it could be today's fluctuation or water weight. It's no reason to cry, feel devastated, or go off track. You don't have to log the "gain". Just leave your logged wright where it is until the scsle "catches up". UNLESS you round feel better logging the new number do you can see it go down as you CONTINUE to lose.
SW 301
CW 169.6
GW 150
20 months

Keep your spirits high.

While it feels like a setback, remember this is a journey, that will likely take weeks, months or years. At the end of that journey, when you have hit your goal weight, will you look back and remember this point. Will it matter that it took you 2-3 extra weeks, or will it matter most that you hit your goal? Most likely, you will be overjoyed to hit your goal. Keep doing the good work that you do!

Also, scales are different. I like going to the doctor, because his scale always measures me 5lbs less than I am - and that's with all my clothes on. But, I use my scale as the record keeper, and try not to let his scale mess with my head.

I've often brought new scales hence I've had mine 14 years

I bought a new scale last fall, and it showed me at 5lb higher than my old one. I feel your pain! What you need to keep in mind is that it's the downward trend that matters, not the absolute number. Give it a few weeks, and when that downward trend continues, pat yourself on the back. You can do this

cwolfman13 wrote: »

You're putting way too much stock into a number. All scales are calibrated differently...you step on three different scales and you're going to get three different numbers most of the time. The scale that my trainer uses when I weigh in with him has me five pounds heavier than my scale at home...but the number doesn't matter one bit...as a trend I'm maintaining weight (which is my goal) on both scales...the actual number is irrelevant.

Bingo.

STOP thinking of your weight in terms of one static number. Differing scales aside, it's always fluctuating up and down by several pounds throughout the day, even on the same scale.

If your goal is to maintain, seek to maintain within a range (+/- 5 lbs)
If your goal is to gain - look for the long term upward trend
If your goal is to lose - look for a long term downward trend

The number on the scale is completely immaterial.

You can go back and adjust your old weigh-ins by the amount different between the two scales.

But remember to goal is not to weigh less, but to have less fat. A scale is just a tool in helping determine how much fat you are losing.

fastfoodietofitcutie wrote: »

Thanks guys. I know it's just a number but I'm proud of myself that I've been losing each week and even though I lost this week it's going to show a gain on paper which is what I'm bummed about.

I understand, but try and keep in mind that weight loss isn't linear. You WILL have ups and downs, so you have to look a the trend of your weight. MFP has a function that will put your entered weight numbers on a graph for you, so check that every couple of months. If you can draw a line from the start to the end and it's going down, you're fine. It's a concept that can be hard to internalize, I know I got frustrated a LOT when I first started. But after about 6 months, I noticed that even though some weigh-ins were higher, overall, I was losing weight because my pants were fitting me better. That's when the light bulb came on and I understood what people were saying about monitoring your trend, not every number on the scale.

For an example:


You can see that my weight numbers are all over the place, but in general, they're going down. That's what you're looking for.


And others are right about scales being calibrated differently. I always weigh more on the doctor's scale, but my weight loss was tracked with my home scale, so I mostly ignore the doctor's scales.