Fluctuations in scale

I just step on it once and take that weight. Even the slight bit of movement of where you stand on it can affect how it reads your weight.

I get that kind of variance because I live in an old house with an imperfect wood floor & floor joists. I often scoot my scale around 'shopping'for that mornings lowest possible weight. LOL (I'm the worst, I know...)
If it starts to be so unavoidable you feel it can't be trusted, change your battery first, then consider changing your scale. My Aria is never more than a few ounces different in various positions.

I always weigh until I get two consecutive measurements that are the same, then I take that. Usually it's the first two, but sometimes it takes longer.

Your weight loss sounds awesome is what it sounds! FWIW I have a tiled bathroom floor so I put the scales in the exact same spot every day in order to minimise fluctuations!

How are you managing on 1200 calories a day? At my largest (133lbs ago) I was getting nearly 2000 a day (plus exercise calories) for a 2lbs a week loss and I weighed less than you do now so you really do need more than you're currently eating if you want sufficient nutrition and to keep your metabolism as high as possible. 1200 a day is for when you're much lighter.

Weight fluctuates daily. Consider taking measurements in addition and don't worry about a couple lbs here or there. Stay focused on the end goal, Keep up the good work!

vasdfp24 wrote: »

WaterBunnie wrote: »

How are you managing on 1200 calories a day? At my largest (133lbs ago) I was getting nearly 2000 a day (plus exercise calories) for a 2lbs a week loss and I weighed less than you do now so you really do need more than you're currently eating if you want sufficient nutrition and to keep your metabolism as high as possible. 1200 a day is for when you're much lighter.

My metabolism is really slow and I'm taking all my vitamins and everything. I'm managing 1200 calories a day by being motivated to change my lifestyle and get healthy. If that's what my nutritionist and dietician think will work for me then that's what I will do. It does sound like it's not enough but i make sure what I'm eating has everything my body needs. Thanks for your input though. I do understand what you are saying and no disrespect to you at all but it's obviously is working for someone like me and my weight and I feel perfectly fine.

Just keep doing what you're doing. You have made remarkable progress.

First of all, sincere congratulations to @vasdfp24 for her success so far, and I look forward to her success story post down the road.

I will offer you a couple of things pertinent to what you asked and then I will lay out an argument for the alternative course of action you've already turned down solely for any lurkers who may be considering emulating your example as presented.

As mentioned the conditions and time of weight in should be as close to identical as possible. Many people weigh themselves first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom, nakid, before eating or drinking anything.

Your scale should be on a hard, unyielding, flat surface. Batteries should be in good condition.

Many newer scales exhibit fake consistency to alleviate concerns about their accuracy by showing the same result if you weight yourself several times in a row unless the scale detects a change that exceeds a manufacturer selected default.

Unfortunately the type of scales we use are inherently not as accurate as manufacturers would like us to believe they are. This tends to be the case even more so when the scale is operating at its limits. So the level of inaccuracy often raises at around 200-250lbs and 300-350lbs depending on the type of force sensors employed by the scale and the way the signal the sensors produce is electrically amplified and measured.

The force sensor basically translates physical compression (movement) to an electrical signal, so you can see the issue right there depending on the general robustness of the scale's construction especially if there is any flex anywhere!

What all this boils to is that you take a couple of readings and as long as they generally agree... well the real answer is somewhere around there.

Now, you can obsess and try for the perfect reading, or you can realize that a single scale weight reading pretty much means nothing by itself whether up or down. Because, honestly, your transient water weight creates larger changes than what all these measurement errors can amount to!

What is real is your weight trend over time.

You, OP, are not seeing that yet, and won't see that for a while because you will enjoy swift decreases for the foreseeable future. However most people would be significantly better off if they immediately start using a weight trend application or web site, and in their mind consider their weight to be their trending weight as opposed to their scale weight!

Suggestions for weight trending apps include Libra for Android, happy scale for iphone, www.trendweight.com and www.weightgrapher.com (you may need a supported scale, or a free fitbit.com account available without a fitbit product to use the trendweight web site. weightgrapher also allows for manual input).

as to the rest of it.

The OP's speed of loss absolutely confirms that whether the OPs metabolism is fast or slow, it certainly is such that 1200 Cal a day represent a huge deficit as compared to her total daily energy expenditure, a way bigger one than the 25% one would normally suggest to an obese person who is not under medical supervision.

On the plus side the OP is working with a registered dietitian. Being told that she performs occasional blood tests too (during what amounts for her to the equivalent of a very low calorie diet for most other people) would be comforting.

The reason to avoid this sort of huge deficits is that they are not problem free.

Usually medical advice will by used to evaluate whether remaining at the >400lb weight will cause more damage than using a 1200 Cal diet will

Obviously the OP has received advice and made her decision.

Absent having advice available to them, and absent a medical emergency requiring immediate weight loss, most other lurkers in the OP's position may want to consider that:

a) at the OP's weight 100lbs+ loss a year is entirely possible with a more conventional 25% deficit off of your total daily energy expenditure. just as an eyeball estimate that would have the OP eating at more than double the food she is eating now, leaving significant room to drop calories down the road when the OP weights less and her rate of loss slows down.

b) as mentioned fast and rapid weight loss is not without potential problems. From gallstones/gallbladder removal, to skin issues, to symptoms of malnutrition, to un-necessary loss of lean mass, to compliance and partial adaptation issues, the potential problems exacerbate the bigger the deficit and the faster the loss. Of course, again, these problems have to be balanced against staying in the morbidly obese range for a longer period of time, and individual psychology also plays into this! Which is why these decisions are probably best made by a patient and their doctor and/or a team that has a more complete picture of the individual

Best of luck to the OP!