Scales drive me insane
Gibby349
Posts: 119 Member
Yesterday I was four pounds lighter than today .I know this might be asking for too much but would it be possible to get rid of that water weight by the morning.I know water weight usually takes a week to flush out but did anyone ever weigh the next day and the water weight gain was gone.The scales drive me crazy !
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Replies
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It depends what's causing it. If it's from sodium, drink extra water to flush it out, if it's exercise or hormone induced, leave it alone, it's there for a reason.3
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What does it really matter if the water weight is all gone tomorrow or 4 days from now? It's just a number. If you still want to weigh every day, I'd suggest a weight trending app such as Happy Scale or Libra. Smooths out the fluctuations and gives you a better picture how how you're doing overall.12
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If you're retaining water, it's probably for a good reason -- it's helping you process food you've eaten or it's helping your muscles recover. Why stress your body by trying to get rid of something it needs?
Rather than try to force it out of your body, try focusing on the long term trend. Some days you will be heavier than others. It's part of weight loss and it's part of maintaining. It's okay.13 -
You are going to fluctuate naturally and you need to get your head around that or stop weighing in daily. Your body is 50-65% water and that is always going to be in flux whether it's something specific that you can control or just a natural fluctuation. You're also always going to have variable degrees of waste in your system.
You need to look at overall long term trends, not the weigh in to weigh in number.
Stop with the scale obsession...10 -
Because I think it wont flush out I am worried it will stay on and it will affect my weight loss for this week.I wanted to lose 2 pounds this week and now having to lose the water weight aswell I will have to lose 6 pounds this week which I know wont happen so its frustating me so much8
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I second using a weight trend app. I weigh every day, and every day would be just a little different - but after a week or two there's always change in the downward variety. Don't let the fluctuations stress you out. This is a long term thing, daily changes mean nothing.4
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Because I think it wont flush out I am worried it will stay on and it will affect my weight loss for this week.I wanted to lose 2 pounds this and now having to lose the water weight aswell I will have to lose 6 pounds this week which I know wont happen so its frustating me so much
You need to stop thinking of it this way. If four pounds appears overnight, you know it's water weight so don't worry about it staying on.
If you don't lose the 2 pounds you wanted to lose this week, then focus on next week. You aren't going to have cookie cutter results each week.
You're living in a body, not a machine. A body will have variable amounts of water in it depending on your actions and your environment. This isn't something you should be looking to circumvent.17 -
You need to let it go. This is how our bodies work. Try the Libra or Happy Scale app. If you lose 2lbs of fat this week, you lose 2lbs of fat this week regardless of what the 4lbs of water does.7
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Because I think it wont flush out I am worried it will stay on and it will affect my weight loss for this week.I wanted to lose 2 pounds this week and now having to lose the water weight aswell I will have to lose 6 pounds this week which I know wont happen so its frustating me so much
This is a very unhealthy frame of mind to get into. Listen to janejellyroll. She's wise.6 -
Because I think it wont flush out I am worried it will stay on and it will affect my weight loss for this week.I wanted to lose 2 pounds this week and now having to lose the water weight aswell I will have to lose 6 pounds this week which I know wont happen so its frustating me so much
I understand the frustration, but you need to step back a bit. How fast water weight comes and goes depends on a ton of variables, so instead of thinking of any single gain as discreet, you need to accept that your weight is going to vary day-to-day by at least four pounds. If you lost two pounds of fat this week, that loss still exists even if it's masked by water weight. You don't have to lose 6 pounds this week (which is way too much for most people anyhow), but there's a good chance that if you do exactly what you're currently doing, i.e. eating at the deficit you need to lose two pounds a week, you'll find the scale is down four pounds by the end of the week as that water weight comes off. It's really not a great idea to set such strict weekly goals exactly because of this phenomenon.
It's easy to get hung up on numbers, but you'll only make yourself more frustrated that way. I just had something similar happen - I'm aiming for 3-5 pounds a month, only at the end of last month was asked out to dinner two nights in a row by people I haven't seen in a long time. I stayed in my target calories, but restaurant food = hello water weight! Most of it came off this morning, but now it looks like I only lost a half a pound in September and am on target for seven in October. That's just how the water weight crumbles.8 -
I totally get it! I had my weekly weigh in today and was up three pound. I was perfect last week and am started my time of the month yesterday so I am sure it's just that. Still makes me crazy. I decided not to weigh my self again for a few weeks so it doesn't ruin my motivation and drive.3
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Yesterday I was four pounds lighter than today .I know this might be asking for too much but would it be possible to get rid of that water weight by the morning.I know water weight usually takes a week to flush out but did anyone ever weigh the next day and the water weight gain was gone.The scales drive me crazy !
OMG I was on a rant about this yesterday!!! One scale at my gym told me I was 126 lbs. My jaw dropped and I almost had a heart attack because I couldn't believe I went up 13 lbs. since August yet have more striations and definition. Went on another scale... 111.4 lbs. Sounds more like it. My gym clearly has some scale issues. Went ahead and purchased my own scale after that mishap.7 -
This is why I am choosing to weigh myself once a month - that and I like to see big results. I'm odd I suppose but I'm the type of person who used to be obsessed with the number on the scale.2
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Stuff like this is why I weigh every 3 weeks, it removes variance. I'm 110 from target so why do I want to worry about fluctuations?
Suggest you weigh in far less often. What are you learning about your plan by weighing so frequently?0 -
Because I think it wont flush out I am worried it will stay on and it will affect my weight loss for this week.I wanted to lose 2 pounds this week and now having to lose the water weight aswell I will have to lose 6 pounds this week which I know wont happen so its frustating me so much
Are you trying to board the last lifeboat on a sinking ship and can only get on if you lose two or six pounds? No. There's absolutely no reason why you absolutely positively definitely must lose that number of pounds this week. You are creating your own drama, worry, stress. Stop trying to control something that you cannot control. Weight loss is not linear. You will lose sometimes, you will gain sometimes, you will stay steady sometimes. Get used to it or this will be a long miserable process.17 -
Stop trying to control something that you cannot control. Weight loss is not linear. You will lose sometimes, you will gain sometimes, you will stay steady sometimes. Get used to it or this will be a long miserable process.
Just good enough it needed to be repeated!7 -
peaceout_aly wrote: »Yesterday I was four pounds lighter than today .I know this might be asking for too much but would it be possible to get rid of that water weight by the morning.I know water weight usually takes a week to flush out but did anyone ever weigh the next day and the water weight gain was gone.The scales drive me crazy !
OMG I was on a rant about this yesterday!!! One scale at my gym told me I was 126 lbs. My jaw dropped and I almost had a heart attack because I couldn't believe I went up 13 lbs. since August yet have more striations and definition. Went on another scale... 111.4 lbs. Sounds more like it. My gym clearly has some scale issues. Went ahead and purchased my own scale after that mishap.
you do realize that Gym scales are typically calibrated incorrectly on purpose to weight people heavier than they are. Its a sales tactic to make the patron feel like they still need the gym.
This is not all Gyms, but i would suggest that if yours is that far off, they are doing this.6 -
Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »peaceout_aly wrote: »Yesterday I was four pounds lighter than today .I know this might be asking for too much but would it be possible to get rid of that water weight by the morning.I know water weight usually takes a week to flush out but did anyone ever weigh the next day and the water weight gain was gone.The scales drive me crazy !
OMG I was on a rant about this yesterday!!! One scale at my gym told me I was 126 lbs. My jaw dropped and I almost had a heart attack because I couldn't believe I went up 13 lbs. since August yet have more striations and definition. Went on another scale... 111.4 lbs. Sounds more like it. My gym clearly has some scale issues. Went ahead and purchased my own scale after that mishap.
you do realize that Gym scales are typically calibrated incorrectly on purpose to weight people heavier than they are. Its a sales tactic to make the patron feel like they still need the gym.
This is not all Gyms, but i would suggest that if yours is that far off, they are doing this.
Yeah, I've been made aware previously. Just didn't realize they would calibrate them that incorrectly, thought it would be 5 lbs. at most. I'm not a huge weigh-in person, so it's not that important to me, just found it interesting.1 -
Sounds like you'd be better off to weigh less often if natural fluctuations cause you such distress.6
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Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Sounds like you'd be better off to weigh less often if natural fluctuations cause you such distress.
I Agree but its so hard to get out of the habit .I literally wish the day away just to be closer to weighing the next morning .Its not good1 -
Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Sounds like you'd be better off to weigh less often if natural fluctuations cause you such distress.
I Agree but its so hard to get out of the habit .I literally wish the day away just to be closer to weighing the next morning .Its not good
that is seriously disordered thinking (wishing away the day so you can be closer to weighing yourself the next morning)...have you gone to anyone for help with this problem??5 -
Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Sounds like you'd be better off to weigh less often if natural fluctuations cause you such distress.
I Agree but its so hard to get out of the habit .I literally wish the day away just to be closer to weighing the next morning .Its not good
No point losing weight to improve your life if you're not living it because you're too busy worrying about numbers. If you're eating in a deficit consistently, you're losing weight even if it's masked by your body doing what it needs to by retaining water.3 -
I use to be like this! The scale made me crazy because I would weigh every day. Depending on the result, it would affect my mood for the day as I weighed myself first thing in the morning. What I did was:
1.) Stop weighing every day
2.) Make sure I'm weighing at the same general time when I do weigh in
3.) Weigh only to make sure progress is being made (even if it's just a little!). I've been weighing once every 3-4 days.
Due to a desk job and being lazy I had gained 30ish lbs before I noticed and decided to not let it get any worse.
Weighing every day made me do unhealthy things to see results.
Doing what I am doing now, I have lost 13 lbs.
My diet still isn't super healthy, but I make it a point to walk/exercise more and eat smaller portions but not starve myself
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Well I weighed this morning and the water weight was totally gone and yesterday when I weighed it was still there .Does that make sense? Anyway I need to stop going into panic mode when I have a gain but easier said than done2
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Gibby don't obsess. Just take a deep breath and relax. Focus on your healthy caloric intake for weight loss and continue on. Just remember if your weight goes up a bit that doesn't mean that the sun won't come up tomorrow. I suggest stay away from everyday logging. Go once a week and do it in the morning after a bowel movement and before breakfast. That will be your, what I call, empty body weight for the week.
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Weigh daily, use a trending app like Happy scale, and watch the trend rather than the daily ups and downs. It also helps you learn your fluctuation patterns. And if you're female, which I think you are, your weight will vary based on your monthly cycle.3
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Use. A. Weight Trend. Application.
Use. A. Weight Trend. Website.
Provide sufficient data points so that the tool that you use can make reasonable inferences.
Look. At. Your. Trend. Over Time.
Lose the drama. Enjoy the results!
Large deficits in particular when you have less fat available to lose can, by themselves, lead to disordered thoughts about food.
2lbs a week is probably an overly aggressive goal if you are not classified as obese.
www.trendweight.com is the one I use linked to a free fitbit account which I opened well before I bought a band.
Libra for Android
Happy Scale for iPhone
also
www.weightgrapher.com (accepts CSV import and manual entries)
MFP is also experimenting with weight trends for their progress graphs4 -
Ready2Rock206 wrote: »Sounds like you'd be better off to weigh less often if natural fluctuations cause you such distress.
I Agree but its so hard to get out of the habit .I literally wish the day away just to be closer to weighing the next morning .Its not good
Then you definitely need to weigh less often. Maybe give the scale to a friend so you can drop by to weigh yourself every few weeks. Or put it in the attic to make it a hassle to get to.1 -
Thirding the recommendation to use happy scale - it saved my sanity!0
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The sooner you learn that the scale normally goes up and down FOR EVERYONE, especially women, the happier you will be. It's OK. As long as your overall trend is downward when losing and staying within the same 5lb or so window when maintaining, you're OK. Really.0
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