Quick Newbie Questions

wontwentyfive · June 2018

Hello, just restarted my campaign for self weight loss two days ago and had some questions. I googled them online but would like direct answers from people who are losing weight.

1. How do you deal with lose skin? I'm calorie deficit but not exercising as I'd like to. Are there stretches or foods to tighten skin?
2. How often should you weigh yourself to check in?

Thank you!

Deviette · June 2018

1. Depending how much you have to lose, it might not be as much of a problem as you think. It can take some time (~a year) for your skin to recover. There are plenty of people on here who have lost 100lbs+ and don't have a problem with lose skin. Drink plenty of water and wait until you've lost weight before worrying about lose skin.
2. Its really up to you. I'm weighing every day at the moment because I'm trying the "just give me 10 days" but generally I prefer to weigh every week, if not longer between weigh-ins. I don't like daily fluctuations so I try and reduce the impact of that by weighing less often.

buffinlovin · June 2018

1. I'm not aware of any stretches, but I know food doesn't really do anything to tighten skin. From my experience the only thing that's helped me personally is a good moisturizing lotion/body cream and staying hydrated. I have no science to back it up, but I just find that my skin seems more...elastic? not sure if that's the best term for it but that's the best that comes to mind for the moment.

2. Weighing yourself is personal preference. I like to weigh once in the morning and once at night, however I only log the morning weight. I do like to see the fluctuations and watch the trend, though, and know that my weight will go up and down throughout the day and I may not always record a loss. For some, that is too much information, and in those cases weighing once a week or more sporadically is easier on the nerves.

DoubleUbea · June 2018

When to weigh yourself is up to you, they recommend once a week. I think this is more physiological, if you weigh yourself everyday and don't see big changes or if you have a day you gain back a pound or two some people might get discouraged.
If you can handle that there will be days of small changes in weight, or maybe a day of gain then weigh yourself each day. Don't look at the short results, look at the long term results.

Be consistent, weigh yourself, or take any measurements around the same time each day. I try to weigh myself each morning on an empty stomach and empty bladder.

apullum · June 2018

There is very little you can do about loose skin. It is determined by factors outside your control, like age and genetics. Strength training will help preserve muscle, which usually makes people happier with their appearance.

How often to weigh yourself is up to you. Just be consistent about it: same time of day, same scale placed on the same surface, etc. Many people like to weigh first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom, with no clothes. Don’t do this if your scale is in a public place.

AnnPT77 · June 2018

1. Go take a look at lots of threads in the "Success Stories" part of the forum, especially those with before and after pictures. The long-term affect of loose skin is less than most people starting out think. Also, skin can keep shrinking even in maintenance, because that shrinking process is slower than weight loss. My loose skin kept shrinking well into my 2nd year of maintenance.

There tends to be a stage partly through weight loss where our fat mass has gotten kind of squishy or floppy, whereas at full overweight/obesity it was somewhat firm. At that stage, the squishy fat conspires with gravity to keep skin stretched out - think of a water balloon partly full of water. For me, that stage was when I looked the worst. People think that's "loose skin". It's not. It's a partially depleted fat mass. Keep going, it gets better.

2. I weigh myself ever day, first thing in the morning, after the bathroom but before eating/drinking anything, wearing only my watch and glasses. Then I enter the weight into a weight trending app (I use Libra for Android, but there's also Happy Scale for iOS, and Trendweight). This helps me to understand my day-to-day weight fluctuations, what causes them, and why it would be mega-dumb to stress about them.

We don't have a "true weight". We have a current range, and a long term trend. On the scale of hours to days, weight fluctuates almost randomly (varying digestive system contents, water weight, etc.). The boundaries of that short-term fluctuation are our current weight range. Over a period of weeks to months, our weight range tends to either shift downward, shift upward, or stay about the same. That's the long term trend: Weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance. The weight trending app, while imperfect, helps make the trend more visible.

wontwentyfive · June 2018

I read every reply carefully, thank you so much!

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