Losing Weight Isn't Your Goal.
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Camp 2 as well. Daily weighing has helped me learn about what my body does. For example, I "gain" during ovulation. I never knew this until I started weighing daily and noticed that trend over a few months. The scale readings combined with my app to track my cycle helped me put 2 and 2 together, so now I don't fret over seeing that jump.
This is good stuff with a long view combined with a holistic, grounded mindset. When you understand scale weight vs. fat loss divided by consistency... numbers become less a "thing" and more an "informer". Thanks for sharing!1 -
Yes, I think maybe women who are already used to tracking fertility may have an advantage in the weighing every day method - they know their bodies well and are used to interpreting.Camp 2 as well. Daily weighing has helped me learn about what my body does. For example, I "gain" during ovulation. I never knew this until I started weighing daily and noticed that trend over a few months. The scale readings combined with my app to track my cycle helped me put 2 and 2 together, so now I don't fret over seeing that jump.
This is good stuff with a long view combined with a holistic, grounded mindset. When you understand scale weight vs. fat loss divided by consistency... numbers become less a "thing" and more an "informer". Thanks for sharing!0 -
Camp 2 as well. Daily weighing has helped me learn about what my body does. For example, I "gain" during ovulation. I never knew this until I started weighing daily and noticed that trend over a few months. The scale readings combined with my app to track my cycle helped me put 2 and 2 together, so now I don't fret over seeing that jump.
Ditto. Because of the water retention at ovulation and premenstrually (and because Lyle McDonald said to) I compare myself to last month, not last week.
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I used to be the same way as OP. I'd weigh whenever without any rhyme or reason. The only problem with this for me was that one week I'd be at my lowest in months and the next week I'd see a 7 lb gain. I would get frustrated and give up again. Mental weakness was my crutch. Now, I weigh in every morning after I wake up, use the bathroom, and get naked before showering. I see the gradual decline and it helps me to maintain focus. Just because I decide to go heavy on the chinese food the night before and wake up to a 4 lb gain doesn't mean that I gained 4 lbs. It means I'm retaining water. Being able to see a graph projecting my weightloss and showing those numbers has been a huge help to me. Mental weakness be damned. I'm going to continue to weigh in daily and keep my mind focused on the big picture.
I wonder why part of a Pu Pu platter and General Tso's chicken gives me this large temporary weight gain but Thai food, which presumably has similar sodium levels, does not? Is there some water-retaining property of fried food I'm not aware of?0 -
Oversimplifying, there are two camps.
OP is an eloquent advocate for one camp: Weigh infrequently, don't let the scale dominate you.
The other camp says: Weigh at the same time every day, under the same conditions (first thing in the AM, after bathroom, before eating, and naked is usually proposed). Record it. Over time, learn to understand your personal weight fluctuations, and what causes them. Knowledge is powerful, and the scale will never again be able to dominate you.
There are lots of variations and considerations of each, but that's the cartoon version.
Fundamentally, each person has to decide which approach best fits his or her personality and outlook.
I've done both of these and there are awesome benefits to both. If you weigh every day, you see the fluctuations and become numb to them. Get an app or use a spreadsheet and watch the trends, not the daily weights. Now that I've seen that, I swapped to monthly weigh in's. Either one can be stressful at times but you have to choose the one that fits your mental status at the time. And, yes, definitely do measurements! Especially if you are closer to goal and the pounds are coming off more slowly. It seems a lot of people get frustrated even when they admit their clothes are fitting and looking better so the numbers definitely do help.1 -
It is just so hard to try to do everything right and see the scale not going down
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People are on MFP for different reasons. Some are literally watching the weight drop on the scale. Some are bulking up; some are maintaining. Some have goals that are about strength or flexibility or endurance or willpower or personal motivations.
Personally, my goal is to get my waist under 32 inches (that is considered healthy for my height in the waist-to-height ratio) to try to reduce my lower back pain now and also my risk for cardiovascular disease later in life. I also want to be able to climb a wall, shoot a bow and arrow, ride a horse, and stand on my head one day in yoga. Do I need to drop about 25 lbs? Yes. So I watch the scale every day because I find that keeping a daily eye on it 1) educates me on fluctuations in my body, and 2) makes it easier to halt an unpleasant trend early on.
The scale hasn't budged much for me, yet, so the tape measure tells my story right now. So do the fit of my clothes and the contours of my waist and glutes. So do my cardiovascular markers like cholesterol, bp, and triglycerides. And so does the fact that I just upped the weight on my bar in my lifting class. The scale or tape measure are just one method to achieve the goals. It's the whole picture that's important, not just one color in the tapestry.2 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »I disagree with your "Goodest". Fat calipers are a poor way to measure for most. Even in good hands they have a high rate of error, and in not-so-good hands (which is far more often the case) they are extremely inaccurate.
I think your list of good, gooder, goodest is backwards. Calipers can be misused, tape measures can be pulled tighter or looser, pants don't lie. Pants are either loose or they aren't. But even they can misrepresent fat loss if you are bloated since water weight adds inches as well as pounds.
Fair enough. My main point was to bring awareness to a shift in mindset for those who DO rely entirely on a scale. My experience with calipers has been a good one and one I find, when consistently checked every week, does yield a more measurable trend than the scale.
I think it is good to raise awareness of weight fluctuations. I'm always surprised at how many people don't realize their weight fluctuates, but reading these forums it's impossible not to realize how many don't. But one can use a scale to measure fat loss and be aware of this. Or not.1 -
When you are very very newbie, know nothing about nothing, the scale is all you have. I came to MFP with only a scale and this app. I wanted to lose weight, period.. Nothing else mattered. The scale did have all of MY POWER.
Got closer to goal, was not happy. Then I started broadening my horizons and learn A LOT.. The goal was no longer weight, it was FAT loss.. then muscle gain, then fat loss again, and the cycle continues. eta: fitness, and not just looking pretty was very important through all stages weight loss, fat loss, etc. I just turned 48 so being a "capable" person is/was important too.
So until a person gets out of their realm of weight loss only and moves into the FAT loss realm these points come into play. And these points are great points from the entire thread.
BTW I am now in the second camp, and I use scale, measurements and calipers and photos..3 -
I want to lose weight. I want the scale to at least budge one pound.
I want to lose weight because it means I will lose FAT. My face won't look so big and round and my clothes will fit me, the ones that aren't made of stretch fabric.0 -
I understand both camps but weighing daily, or at least several times a week and tracking it on happy scale has been a game changer for me, because I don't sweat the 3 lb swing any more.
I know it's gonna fluctuate.
But for me the biggest motivator has been a photo diary. I've taken a photo in a bathing suit since I started on MFP a little over a year ago. I find that to be extremely motivational because you see yourself every day in the mirror and don't notice changes, but the photos don't lie!!
Plus I suck at measuring myself(left hand thing I think) and I lift weights now, so I know the number on the scale is not the "end all". Continued improvement in body shape and fitness level is what I'm looking for.1 -
When I tried to rely on how my clothes fit as a sign of progress, I got discouraged when after several MONTHS there was no change to the way they fit. Weighing regularly allowed me to see incremental change. It took 35 lbs before I was definitely down one dress size. Weighing often helps me maintain my discipline and not give up.0
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@Dano74 - In your experience, is it normal to not lose or even gain in the first few weeks of starting a weight loss / work out plan? I have over 100 lbs. to lose and started really cleaning up my diet about 3 weeks ago. I lost 8.9 lbs so far. But this week I hit the gym for the first time in about 6 months. I have kept my calories between 1200-1600 per day and drink at least 1 gallon of water/day. I strength trained for two days, cardio for two days, yoga for one day. Got on the scale and I gained .5 pounds from last week. Very disheartening, to say the least. Is this possibly temporary water gain from the increased activity? Any thoughts/advice are welcome.0
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.5 lbs is nothing and likely water. Are you using same scale and same conditions (IE time of day etc) Also in tracking calories are you using real data or MFP data? I have seen huge issues in some of the food entries in the app.0
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@rebel_26 I do weigh on the same scale/conditions. I weigh once a week, first thing in the AM. I do use the food tracker on MFP but I get 90% of my meals through a meal prep company, so I can only assume that the calories/macros they are giving me are accurate. The company I get them through is listed in the MFP food data base so I just select the particular meals I'm eating for that day, etc. The meals I eat on my own are usually a bulked up protein shake (protein, 1/2 banana, PB2, coconut milk). I'm hoping that this week was just a fluke! I took my measurements at the beginning of this first week back at the gym, so I will stay the course and see what the tape measure says in a month. And try to not let the scale psych me out in the meantime. Lol0
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@Dano74 - In your experience, is it normal to not lose or even gain in the first few weeks of starting a weight loss / work out plan? I have over 100 lbs. to lose and started really cleaning up my diet about 3 weeks ago. I lost 8.9 lbs so far. But this week I hit the gym for the first time in about 6 months. I have kept my calories between 1200-1600 per day and drink at least 1 gallon of water/day. I strength trained for two days, cardio for two days, yoga for one day. Got on the scale and I gained .5 pounds from last week. Very disheartening, to say the least. Is this possibly temporary water gain from the increased activity? Any thoughts/advice are welcome.
this is most likely water weight from an increase in activity. it can last for weeks, so don't get discouraged. especially with strength training, you're going to retain water to help repair tiny muscle tears.0 -
@jessiferrrb That's what I'm hoping...just a minor fluctuation from my body saying WTF are you doing to me? Lol I guess I just figured since I have so much to lose that I wouldn't see a weight gain so early in my journey. I'm going to keep going and to hell with what the scale says for now. Thanks for the input!1
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