Scared to weigh myself...

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sahm2013
sahm2013 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Blah blah blah...*insert sad story about why I've put on weight * It's been about 3 months since I weighed myself and I'm really scared to do it! I'm worried that if I see that number it will send me sinking into depression (the sad story part) and make me feel too overwhelmed to start working out again. Any advice?
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Replies

  • lewisaskew
    lewisaskew Posts: 1 Member
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    Weighing yourself now and not tomorrow will make you one day closer to your new goal.
  • pebble4321
    pebble4321 Posts: 1,132 Member
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    I agree, don't weigh yourself if that will make you miserable. Or just weigh yourself but promise yourself that you won't beat yourself up about it.

    Why not pick a couple of concrete, realistic goals... things you can actually do that make you feel good.
    Things like: fruit and veg snacks instead of donuts 3 times this week. Exercise for at least 15 mins 5 times this week. Log everything you eat (whether you are over or under your goal, just write it down). Swap one calorie laden drink for water or black coffee or something else no/low cal.
    Schedule one (or more!) things that make you feel good - paint your nails, get a massage, get a haircut or style your hair a different way.

    These kinds of goals are positive and are within your control, whereas the number on the scale can be impacted by more that just what you eat (hormones, exercise, dietary changes etc) and doesn't always change very quickly, so it's not always the best thing if you want to feel good. And if you are feeling positive and in control, then getting back into better habits of eating and moving are going to be easier.
  • ItsyBitsy246
    ItsyBitsy246 Posts: 307 Member
    edited September 2016
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    Then don't weigh yourself; its not a prerequisite. If you want to start working out just do it. How you feel and how your clothing fits could be your metrics for now.
  • Keladelphia
    Keladelphia Posts: 820 Member
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    http://quantumscale.com/ This scale doesn't show your weight, only your cumulative loss or gain. I used it to help myself stop focusing on "the number" when I was losing. It definitely helped me break my number obsession.
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
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    Honestly, weight doesn't mean much of anything anyways. Once you hit your weight goal, are you going to wear a tag that shows how much you weigh? No - no one knows the number but you. What matters is how you feel, look, and that you are healthy. That is what people will see, not some irrelevant number.

    @Keladelphia, that scale is interesting. Does it hook up to wifi? I kind of like the concept, but would rather it just show me my % body fat. That's all I really care about from my scale anyways.
  • teetertatertango
    teetertatertango Posts: 229 Member
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    Just start. You don't need to weigh yourself to exercise.

    I noticed that you did not mention anything about your food intake. Are you going to rely solely on exercise to lose weight?
  • Keladelphia
    Keladelphia Posts: 820 Member
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    GauchoMark wrote: »
    Honestly, weight doesn't mean much of anything anyways. Once you hit your weight goal, are you going to wear a tag that shows how much you weigh? No - no one knows the number but you. What matters is how you feel, look, and that you are healthy. That is what people will see, not some irrelevant number.

    @Keladelphia, that scale is interesting. Does it hook up to wifi? I kind of like the concept, but would rather it just show me my % body fat. That's all I really care about from my scale anyways.

    @GauchoMark Mine doesn't but I have an old version that I bought when I was losing a couple of years ago. I don't think the newer version connects to wifi or shows BF% but it does give you the option to use it as a regular scale (my old one didn't). I think it mostly benefits those who get consumed with focusing on a number.


    If you have a recommendation for a scale that seems to calculate BF% though i'd love to know what it is as that's what I gauge my progress on now and haven't found a way to get a consistent accurate BF measurement.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    You will weigh what you weigh. You cannot hide the facts if there is real weight gain, so just get up on the scale and look at what the results are. If you are truly afraid to get on, to me this sounds like something may have gone awry in the past 3 months and the confidence that you met a goal or not is worrying you..

    You can't correct that goal or make a new goal until you know for sure.
  • silverfiend
    silverfiend Posts: 329 Member
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    Your weight is the same whether you look at it or not. It's better to have that information than to not have it. I do understand your hesitation, I've been there before. I was already a week or more into my change of eating and exercise before I stepped onto the scale years ago to see 253#! Yeah, that was a rude awakening to how bad I had let myself go. If you don't weigh now, how will you know when you have that first pound of success, and the 2nd, 3rd, etc.

    Go weigh! Hell, take a pic of it and hang it on the fridge. Eventually it will become a source of pride for what you have lost.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    lewisaskew wrote: »
    Weighing yourself now and not tomorrow will make you one day closer to your new goal.

    No it won't. Unless your goal is to weigh yourself. If weight loss is your goal weighing yourself won't help. Eating at a calorie deficit is the way to reach that goal.

    I say don't weigh yourself if it's going to be upsetting. Just get on plan and weigh yourself when you are feeling better about your weight.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
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    I'd say weigh yourself, but also take body measurements with a body tape measure or a cloth tape measure. I'm willing to bet that after three months your measurements will at least be a bit smaller.
  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
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    You are giving that scale and it's numbers too much power. Numbers are merely data; use that data to change yourself, to better yourself, starting today!
  • lthames0810
    lthames0810 Posts: 722 Member
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    It was tough to see that scale number when I got on it again after a bad patch, but I really wasn't surprised by it. But since that day, seeing a lower number is making me very happy. By not gritting your teeth and seeing what you weigh now, you are denying yourself that satisfaction.

    I also am using "test pants". I have a bunch of clothes that I grew out of but that are still in my closet mocking me. Back on that first weigh in day I tried on a pair of jeans that I could wear just a year ago and I couldn't get them over my hips. This week I tried them on again and they came up over my hips but I couldn't fasten the waist. I'll try them again in a month. I keep them out where I can see them every day. Of course I have even smaller pants that will become the next test pants in their turn.
  • H_Ock12
    H_Ock12 Posts: 1,152 Member
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    Weigh yourself as motivation to start losing again. Use it as a new beginning and start from today!
  • Bearbo27
    Bearbo27 Posts: 339 Member
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    Not weighing myself because I was scared too is part of the reason I got as bad as I did. I was in total denial about my size and was scared to see the number. When I jumped on the scale in May and saw that big 258.9, I about cried. I didn't realize I let myself gain that much weight (It had been about 6 months since my previous weigh in). I finally did something about it and am now down to 227 and still going strong. I cringe to think of how much more weight I would have kept on gaining had I not stopped myself then. It didn't throw me into a depression, it made me stop and think about what so was doing and how my life could be affected. Now I know not everyone feels the same and some prefer not to look at the scale, but I like knowing where I started and seeing just how much weight I have lost.
  • jmpaterno
    jmpaterno Posts: 47 Member
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    I was really afraid to weigh myself when I started losing weight. When I finally did, the number was way higher than it should've been, but I felt like, "Okay, now I know what I'm dealing with, and I'm gonna fix it." I felt like I was taking control.

    I'm still afraid to weigh myself sometimes (like after a vacation), but I try to treat weighing myself like I treat checking my bank account. I have to know exactly how much money I have in order to make a plan/budget (even if it'd be way more pleasant to ignore it and pretend I have more money than I do). In the same way, when I know how much I weigh, I can adjust my calorie goals as needed and come up with a plan. Even if I'm not thrilled with the number, I know what I have to do. That kind of thinking has really helped me--maybe it'd help you?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    How do your clothes fit? That's more important than what the scale says.

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