Not weighing myself during weight loss
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If you don't weigh yourself, you won't be able to accurately log your stats, and your calorie count will never decrease like it should after you've lost say 5 - 10 pounds. You might end up accidentally eating too many calories, and stall your weight loss. Your self-worth is not measured by your scale, only your gravitational pull from the Earth. Might help to look at it that way.6
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I don't know what my maximum weight ever was. I stopped getting on a scale when I hit 280lbs. At 280lbs my (comfort fit) pants... fit me. At my maximum weight they were so tight that having to go buy a larger size was one of the many reasons I decided I had to lose weight.
I have "maintained" weight while getting on the scale. I have "gained" a dozen lbs while getting on the scale. I have lost weight both fast and slowly while getting on the scale. BUT, I have never gained a LOT of weight while getting on the scale. The process of gaining a LOT of weight has always included the decision to not weigh myself and to "not care" about my increasing weight.
A lifestyle change does not mean giving up everything you enjoy today and it doesn't mean suffering from now to eternity. It does mean giving yourself permission to re-write and re-interpret what you like, what you enjoy, and to change the relative priorities you place on things.
My biggest priority used to be sitting in front of the TV watching the Food Network and munching on "goodies". You know, nice "healthy" salads dripping in olive oil, covered with cheese, and scooped up with copious amounts of fresh bread and potato chips.
My biggest priority right now is for my phone to charge so that I can go out for a nice walk so that I can listen to my audiobook.
Don't look at what you are eliminating or reducing; look instead at all the foods you're bringing into your life: yummy soups, fresh vegetables, lean proteins, fresh fruits, the chance to explore foods you would have never tried otherwise! I've tried chia seeds and nutritional yeast and unsweetened cashew vanilla milk for Pete's sake! Yesterday I made a pudding with corn starch and Hershey's cocoa! Who would have thunk it!
A wise forum rabbit once said that the winner meets their goals while eating the most, not the least, that they can.
Will you have to "retrain" yourself over time and change some of your current habits ? Of course you will. But all this does not have to be an exercise in complete misery. Look at it as an adventure and an exploration of a new way of living!
Set an appropriate target. If you really are sedentary faster weight loss may require too much of a percentage drop in your calories. 750 Cal and 500 Cal deficits are perfectly valid and also lead to weight loss over time.
Weight fluctuates day to day. That's why people use a trending weight app and look at their weight trend over time as opposed to individual weigh ins!
In fact your weight information can be auto-magically pushed from Fitbit to trendweight.com and MFP. And, TBH, the Aria scale can be configured to send your weight automatically to Fitbit, though I have personally disabled the wi-fi connection and enter it myself, manually.
Try to make things as easy as you can and ask yourself often if you see yourself behaving the same way for a long period of time. If you're engaging in behaviour that requires you to "white knuckle it" and are adopting "short term focus".... evaluate whether doing so supports your long term goals.6 -
Have you considered joining a support group to help?0
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The various TDEE calcs put your maintenance around 2500 calories per day at a Sedentary Level. You might even be light exercise at 2800 cals per day. Now these numbers and calculators arent exact but 1500 will be unsustainable. You will want to eat your arm off and fall off the wagon in a week or less. Your body will not be able to metabolize enough fat per day to make up for the gap created resulting in Lean body mass loss too. You dont want that.
I think a starting point would be 2000 cals or 1900 + Eat Exercise calories back. Same thing. You can safely lose 1 pound per week for now. Key phrase for now. Every ten pounds lost you will want to drop the calories 50 or so per day.
Maybe for the first month don't weight but if you look in the mirror one day and know you lost a bunch of weight you might regret not knowing where you started. I think its also nice to have to track and make adjustments. You'll make adjustments this entire journey.
if OP is 300lbs she can safely lose more than a pound a week. 1% of bodyweight is a good rate of loss.2 -
Hi! I weigh myself every few weeks first thing in the morning. The number doesn't move too much but the inches I loose are what keep me going! I measure my neck, chest, natural waistline, hips, biceps, and thighs. I log and compare. Sometimes it's 4-5 inches and sometimes not a huge fluctuation but every few weeks keeps me from obsessing over the scale and I feel like I am making progress.
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If I don't weigh regularly things tend to go wrong (speaking as a serial yo yo dieter). Personally I feel that it helps me to be accountable. I try and only do it once a week (I go into boots to get weighed so i can keep the little weight slip from the machine).2
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I never weighed myself until last year - I was then over 2 years into my journey. Don't know my startign weight, don't know how much I lost in total. Based on what I weighed then and now I estimate that I lost at least 25Kg. But to be honest that is only a number.
I still only weigh myself monthly simply because I feel that it is only a number and what I see feel is my driver. The monthly weigh in is a sort of self auditing more than anything. I know that if I weigh myself one of two things could happen Either I'd get disheatened as it never goes down fast enough or I'd get so totally obsessed that I'd be impossible to live with.
So while a lot of people could see it differently I am a case whre it worked. If the weight number is not the motivator and you feel it is not the driver for you then by all means go for it.
The only scale I use a lot more is my food scale0 -
Hi Jasmine,
I think as hard as it seems right now, you need to step on those scales just to get that first number as something you can look back on when you've absolutely smashed it and can say "This is where I was, and this is where I am now... hell yeah!"
I'd say after that maybe weigh in every 14 days or so just to keep track, but don't let a maintained weight or slight gain make you think you haven't done well - So many things can effect your scale weight.
I definitely agree that you should also go by measurements e.g this pair of pants feels loser etc. It's very encouraging to feel the difference, as well as see the numbers.
If you need any advice or encouragement, feel free to add me!
x
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Can you step on a scale and have someone else look at the number? That person can let you know if you are going the right way and can perhaps enter your weight on the app so that your calories are properly calculated? May sound stupid, but at least you won't have the stress of seeing the number on the scale. That will be someone else's job lol1
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Ok guys I'm stepping on the scale this morning. Lol. Don't want to see the number!! So ashamed and in disbelief if it's as high as what I think it is. I will track my weight every month and take pictures every 3 months.4
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I would actually go opposite direction. I would encourage you to weigh every day and use a trend app so over time you learn that fixing weight is normal. I find the trend app too a lot of fear of scale from me. I use Libra for Android.
You can do this but in order to have success the easiest you need to know your calories burned which is related to your weight. When you live or exercise your weight is part of the calories burned calculations. So failing to weigh is basically making it much harder on yourself.0 -
JasmineDiver22 wrote: »Ok guys I'm stepping on the scale this morning. Lol. Don't want to see the number!! So ashamed and in disbelief if it's as high as what I think it is. I will track my weight every month and take pictures every 3 months.
You can do this! I started off very nervous about the scale, but it's become just another tool. I am a big fan of the "eat as much as you can" approach. When I started logging (5'2", 208 lbs according to the doctor in January), just maintaining was a win - I'd been gaining weight for years, so realizing that I could control whether I gained or lost was huge - and importantly, not nearly as difficult as I thought! I started slow, but I have found there's a real momentum that builds as you realize that yes, I can do this! After an initial whoosh drop I was losing at a half a pound a week for a few months (with a bit of a stall in there, but so it goes), then a pound, and I'm actually approaching that magic two pounds a week number now, almost nine months after I started (sadly not any taller, but rounding 183 lbs). You can do this and it doesn't have to be torture!1 -
TavistockToad wrote: »The various TDEE calcs put your maintenance around 2500 calories per day at a Sedentary Level. You might even be light exercise at 2800 cals per day. Now these numbers and calculators arent exact but 1500 will be unsustainable. You will want to eat your arm off and fall off the wagon in a week or less. Your body will not be able to metabolize enough fat per day to make up for the gap created resulting in Lean body mass loss too. You dont want that.
I think a starting point would be 2000 cals or 1900 + Eat Exercise calories back. Same thing. You can safely lose 1 pound per week for now. Key phrase for now. Every ten pounds lost you will want to drop the calories 50 or so per day.
Maybe for the first month don't weight but if you look in the mirror one day and know you lost a bunch of weight you might regret not knowing where you started. I think its also nice to have to track and make adjustments. You'll make adjustments this entire journey.
if OP is 300lbs she can safely lose more than a pound a week. 1% of bodyweight is a good rate of loss.
you are right and i misspoke. I guess I meant that she might be less miserable starting at a 500 cal per day deficit vs 1000 and see how that goes for a couple weeks. nothing is more important then long term adherence obviously. but if the OP can do it by all means.1 -
JasmineDiver22 wrote: »Ok guys I'm stepping on the scale this morning. Lol. Don't want to see the number!! So ashamed and in disbelief if it's as high as what I think it is. I will track my weight every month and take pictures every 3 months.
Remember. It's just a number. A data point. As hard as it can be, don't obsess over it. Just say "OK, this is where I'm starting from." Seeing the number or not seeing the number doesn't change the fact that you know you want to lose weight. But the better informed you are, the better chance you have at making good decisions and feeling good when you see the number go down. And it will go down as long as you are consistent. Best of luck to you! Feel free to add me if you want support/encouragement.3 -
I'm actually 286. Still out rageous and embarrassing!! But a lot less than I thought it was. Going to check my macros, calorie intake again. By putting my goal weight on here. Losing 2 pounds a week, and exercise goals per week. I will weigh myself monthly. It'll be hard not obsessing. But I already feel a difference in my body such as not feeling miserably bloated and it's only been 3 days lol. @jdog022 I'm going to eat all my calories and not leave any left (which I always have done because I thought eating less was better for weight loss) and it never occurred to me that that's the reason why I would binge eat and give up. Because I wasn't eating as much as I should have been. So thank you for that info!16
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On the calories, I like the Price is Right analogy that your goal is to come as close to the number without going over 6
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Tacklewasher wrote: »On the calories, I like the Price is Right analogy that your goal is to come as close to the number without going over
I am totally going to use that!1 -
For some of us, getting on the scale every day is a way to start the day with a reminder of what we are doing. If I'm not getting on the scale regularly, I tend to forget to eat within calorie limits.
Over the long term, the scale is the only way to make sure you are in a calorie deficit. Yes, body measurements can serve as a replacement to some degree but not with the precision the scale will.
You may find you want to get on the scale once a month or every couple weeks so you can adjust your calorie consumption to get the results you want. There's a problem with this in that daily weight varies a great deal based on water weight. This goes up and down by a few pounds simply based on sodium consumption, weather, exercise, elimination, injury, hormones, etc., etc. Thus, a single day's weight may not tell you much. The scale says I lost almost two pounds since yesterday. That's not really possible except with water weight.
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I know what you mean by being obsessed with the scale, and if I didn't see any changes from one day to another I would feel bad. This time around I decided to weight myself every month instead of every day and focus on getting the nutrients. Good luck!0
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I had a similar issue, I would get so obsessed and upset with the number on the scale it would completely derail me. So I stopped. I made a commitment to focus on making healthier choices, and committed to running 3 days a week. I didn't exactly know my start number, but I had a pretty good idea. When I went to the Dr. 6 months later, I'd lost 25 lbs. Since then I've found my self starting to obsess about weight loss instead of creating a healthy lifestyle. I'm working on refocusing. It all depends on what works best for you.0
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