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Best friend/worst enemy?

fairyfootsteps40
fairyfootsteps40 Posts: 19 Member
edited November 2024 in Getting Started
The scales........
Are they your best friend or worst enemy?
For me I have to love it's honest but hate how it makes me feel.
I knew I had gained weight my clothes were getting tighter and I looked 5 months pregnant so feeling ashamed and disgusted decided tomorrow (yesterday evening) I would be straight on here sorting myself out.
Today came, I was feeling positive that this is the day I change how I feel, look and most importantly my health. Then I had a brain fart and decided to weigh, oh what a reality check, I was not impressed and so upset but I was glad I did it.
So still confused whether they are friend or foe they have actually given me an extra kick up the bum to literally get my *kitten* into gear.
So does anyone else have a love/hate relationship with their scale?

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
    I have a pretty neutral relationship with it. It gives me a number every day, I choose what to do with it.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    I regard my bathroom scales just the same as a screwdriver or a hammer - a useful tool designed to do a certain job.

    I weigh daily to give me a view of my weight trend but the number is just data that guides my decision making. My expectations are that sometimes I'm perfectly on track and sometimes I'm not - that doesn't make or break my day as my weight management is a long term thing and can't be made or broken by one day's number.

    Any emotion would be around the decision making and my adherence to the decisions I made rather than the number shown on my scales but on a level of mild disappointment in myself or quiet satisfaction rather than extremes of being "ashamed" or "disgusted".

    So they are a useful acquaintance (no emotional attachment) rather than a friend or enemy.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,158 Member
    Neither I consider it a tool, one of many. It is the trend over time that it gives me that is important not one datapoint from one day.

    My weight fluctuates anywhere up to 5-6lbs from day-to-day understanding why that happens has made a massive difference to my emotional reaction to the scale.

    I now have a much more rational reaction - if I know that I have eaten less or the same approximately than I have burned then I know realistically any gain on the scale if water weight, a pound of fat is equivalent to roughly 3500 calories, if you know you haven't eaten that much more than what your maintenance intake is and the weight appeared overnight, it is more likely water retention, this can be caused by a myriad of things including:
    • Sodium intake
    • Alcohol Intake
    • Dehydration
    • Hormonal changes (throughout your cycle, not just around your period)
    • Medication
    • Changes to the split of macros - particularly when you eat more carbs than normal
    • New or more intense exercise
    • Illness or Injury

    It also helps to be consistent when weighing, weighing last night and weighing again this morning is not going to do this. Ideally you want to be weighing first thing in the morning, after using the bathroom and before eating. If you're weighing more often, a trend weight app can be really useful in cutting through the fluctuations to give you a truer picture of your current weight.
  • fairyfootsteps40
    fairyfootsteps40 Posts: 19 Member
    I suppose everyone is different. We all deal with things and our emotions in a different way.
    It was the fact that I had let myself go made me feel ashamed and disgusted not what the scales said that number has encouraged me more.

    I know the scales are a tool like my car and every car I have had is a tool to do a job for me but that hasn't stopped me from naming every car I have had and everyone I will have in the future like it doesn't stop me from getting disappointed and or upset when something goes wrong or it fails the mot. That to some people is just stupid but some people can relate.
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