Afraid to drink water... NOT Rational

brittlb07 · August 2019

This is going to sound crazy but at the end of the night as I approach bedtime I am afraid to drink even water. I am trying to get as low as I can so in the morning I am at an all time low. I should note I use Happy Scale and weigh daily to track trends (this works for me- please don’t suggest I not weigh daily- I’ve lost 25 pounds doing it this way!). I know if sounds rediculous but sometimes the scale jumps close to a pound after a large glass of water. My husband tells me I am crazy and I will eventually pee it out but it totally messes with my stats. And I panic my body is going to retain the water and bloat. I KNOW I am irrational about it but don’t know what to do. I even weigh my water before I drink it so I can subtract it from the scale at bedtime. I almost want to start always drinking a lot at night and just cause my stats to go up for a short time. Then I can compare apples to apples after drinking a large glass of water after my workout but before bed every night.

Does anyone else ever feel this way??? I wish you just instantly peed out the water lol.

LyndaBSS · August 2019

I'm going to be bluntly honest. It sounds like you have a very unhealthy relationship with your scale.

I understand you use an app for trending. I do, too, but I'm not fearful of the numbers on the scale and I'm definitely not afraid of drinking a glass of water.

If you're thirsty, you're already dehydrated. Your body needs water.

Fluctuations and plateaus are a normal part of the process of losing weight. If you continue with these abnormal thoughts about drinking water, I would suggest that you seek therapy.

Good luck.

MikePTY · August 2019

brittlb07 wrote: »

This is going to sound crazy but at the end of the night as I approach bedtime I am afraid to drink even water. I am trying to get as low as I can so in the morning I am at an all time low. I should note I use Happy Scale and weigh daily to track trends (this works for me- please don’t suggest I not weigh daily- I’ve lost 25 pounds doing it this way!). I know if sounds rediculous but sometimes the scale jumps close to a pound after a large glass of water. My husband tells me I am crazy and I will eventually pee it out but it totally messes with my stats. And I panic my body is going to retain the water and bloat. I KNOW I am irrational about it but don’t know what to do. I even weigh my water before I drink it so I can subtract it from the scale at bedtime. I almost want to start always drinking a lot at night and just cause my stats to go up for a short time. Then I can compare apples to apples after drinking a large glass of water after my workout but before bed every night.

Does anyone else ever feel this way??? I wish you just instantly peed out the water lol.

I know you say logging daily and using a trending app works for you, and that may be true physically for your weight loss, it doesn't really seem to be working mentally for you. I weigh daily and I understand sometimes the desire to beat the scale, but if there is such a panic that drinking a glass of water is going to send you in an anxiety spiral, perhaps that is a reason to reconsider.

I find that if I do drink water later at night, it may give me a slightly higher reading the next morning. But staying well hydrated will usually give me a lower reading the day after than I would have had. So it is a good thing to do for the scale as well. Ultimately, being properly hydrated helps your body retain less water than dehydrating yourself, so what you are doing is not even productive to that.

NovusDies · August 2019

It is time to put your bathroom scale away. Maybe have your husband take it somewhere. Take a month off from weighing. While you are not weighing focus on your day to day procedures and live your life inside a calorie deficit. After a month has passed test yourself for a week and see if you have broken free from trying to game the scale.

If you cannot go a month you might want to consider therapy.

ETA: The reason I am suggesting this is because you really need to be forming habits you can live with for a VERY long time if not the rest of your life. Hydrophobia is not one of them.

apullum · August 2019

I would recommend talking with a therapist. That's very concerning behavior, and reflects an unhealthy mindset about the scale. You're also going to risk dehydration if it's leading you not to drink enough. You can become dehydrated fairly quickly if you're ignoring your body's thirst signals.

Simply forcing yourself to drink a lot of water before bedtime is also not a good idea. It's going to disrupt your sleep when you keep waking up in the middle of the night to pee.

You know there's a problem. Make an appointment with a professional.

TheChristianSimone · August 2019

To be blunt you have a issue. So weighing daily is just a symptom of the issue which will need a medical trained pro to assist you with. Whatever reason for you wanting to lose weight and such is deeper and its pushing out by you doing things that would long term and probably already causing issues for your health which will bloat you and blow you right back up.

I understand the desire to be at our goals and to do whatever we can to reach them but that has to be healthy or you can take yourself out and never reach your goal. Water is needed for your organs and would you rather be healthy or just thinner? I know there are some very ill people out there who would be happy to be healthy again

Hannahwalksfar · August 2019

Your whole post screams borderline eating disorder. Maybe get a professional to help you.

lgfrie · August 2019

I'm going to differ a bit from the consensus above. Not in any way to discourage therapy, but that is quite a step for something you could probably fix yourself by:

pulling the batteries out of your scale and giving it to your husband to hide for a month or two
as importantly, deleting that weight trend app which is now controlling your life and making you unhappy. That app hasn't caused you to lose one thousandth of a pound; you did that all yourself via dieting and exercise. The app is completely irrelevant to your weight loss journey. Delete it. And the data. And don't make a back up of the data.

If you can't do those two things, then the advice to see a therapist is on point.

By the way, water ingested the night before is barely if at all going to impact a morning scale reading. You will perspire while sleeping and/or pee all or almost all of it out and the most you'll probably ever retain by the time you get on the scale in the morning is 1/4 - 1/2 lb. It's therefore a complete waste of time to deny yourself water and isn't improving your daily weigh-ins at all. What you need to know is that the more water you drink, the faster you flush out the sodium, which is in fact what causes water retention and bloat. That is why drinking lots of water is good for weight loss, by the way. What you are doing by denying yourself water is not helping, but hurting, your scale readings, and your health.

Please delete that app right now. I think that one move all by itself may make you feel much better and get you on the right path.

glovepuppet · August 2019

You probably posted this because you know you have an issue. Every person responding is seeing some red flags. Long term, if it escalates, you could end up with bladder infections, kidney infections, or worse.

You need to get rid of your scales. They've stopped being a tool that helps you, they've become the focus of something harmful. Right now they're the blade you self harm with.

Therapy was the best investment I ever made in myself. Please give it some thought. You deserve to be healthy, in mind as well as in body. you have far more value than the number on your scales.

ieat2muchlol · August 2019

it's amazing you've lost so much weight but you're doing it in a unhealthy way, you're developing an obsession with your scales and instead of looking at the bigger picture of long term weight loss, you're so focused on the number on the scale on a daily basis. your weight fluctuates all the time, that's a fact. you need water to live, that's a fact. don't deny what your body needs just so you can record it in an app.

you admit that you're being irrational so something needs to change and I think we can agree it has to start with the scales.

Danp · August 2019

At least you're aware that you're being irrational which is the first step.

All that's left to do is to stop the irrational behaviour. How you do that and if you need to seek help is up to you.

frankiesgirlie · August 2019

Ok. This is not right. I understand being addicted to the scale. I was for YEARS. I weighed every single morning. That in itself wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing if I was just collecting data, except if what I read on the scale didn’t match what I wanted to see, it would make me in a pissy mood, and basically ruin my day. That is not healthy. At all.
Add in the element of not drinking life giving water or weighing water and I think you know this is not healthy. At all.
One more thing I noticed from the past in your frequent weight loss goal posts. Your goals are really aggressive. If I remember correctly, you don’t have much to lose. Losing weight at these aggressive goals when you don’t have large amounts of weight to lose, is very hard on your body. As in wasting muscle. Messing with your skin. Not getting the nutrients your body needs. Not to mention, messing with your mind, and possibly causing problems with food and over restrictive behavior. Once again, I’ve been down this road. I boomeranged in weight FAST after coming off an aggressive weight loss journey. I’ll never do that again.
Believe me. I’m not picking on you. You seem like a lovely girl. This comes from a place of concern.

rheddmobile · August 2019

It sounds like you are also weighing at night? Of course your weight is going to vary wildly based on what you just ate and drank. One reason for weighing in the mornings is that it gives your body time to process the water from the night before. Your body will naturally sort out a lot of the fluctuations and your weight will be more consistent. In fact, my morning weight is usually lower when I drink enough water the day before, since plenty of water helps with any water retention from sodium. Are you getting plenty of sleep?

So you retain water and bloat. You know it’s not “real” weight in the sense of being a permanent fat gain. Water retention is a thing that happens, particularly to women of reproductive age. If you know you shouldn’t care but you can’t stop yourself, and it’s leading you to self-harming behaviors such as denying yourself water, it’s time to ask a pro for help.

missysippy930 · August 2019

You said you know it’s not rational, so, seek professional help to overcome this. It isn’t a healthy attitude.

cbihatt · August 2019

I have not personally experienced this, but I know someone who had a similar problem. She was attending WW meetings in the afternoon. On meeting day, she would avoid eating all day in order to have a low weigh in, despite the fact that she is diabetic and not eating would make her feel sick. Ultimately, she dropped out of WW, regained the weight and to this day is struggling to lose. In fact, she is 71 years old and has been struggling to lose weight for about 40 years.

I don’t think you are necessarily crazy, but your actions are taking you in a direction that is not helpful to your ultimate goal (which I assume is to lose weight and keep it off).

I think you need to find a way to take pressure off yourself. First, if you have a set timeline, forget it. Or at the very least double it. Taking twice as long does not make your accomplishment any less fabulous. Second, stop thinking of your goals in terms of weight loss. Instead, try thinking of “fat loss” or even “improving health.” That doesn’t mean you have to stop weighing yourself, but if you approach it from a different angle, the day to day weight becomes less important than the overall goal. Third, consider taking a diet break. Raise your calories to maintenance, and continue weighing while not actively trying to show any losses. I think it would benefit you in more ways than one. Last, think about what you would say to a friend if she were in your position. Treat yourself kindly and remember that you are worth more than the number on your scale.

collectingblues · August 2019

If you are afraid to drink water, you need professional help. Period.

Are you magically heavier if you hold that glass of water in your hand? Drinking it is no different. It's not true weight, and I side with your husband here.

Best of luck to you.

NorthCascades · August 2019

Your body needs water. Long term, this could be harmful. Please take care of yourself.

Maxxitt · August 2019

brittlb07 wrote: »

This is going to sound crazy but at the end of the night as I approach bedtime I am afraid to drink even water. I am trying to get as low as I can so in the morning I am at an all time low. I should note I use Happy Scale and weigh daily to track trends (this works for me- please don’t suggest I not weigh daily- I’ve lost 25 pounds doing it this way!). I know if sounds rediculous but sometimes the scale jumps close to a pound after a large glass of water. My husband tells me I am crazy and I will eventually pee it out but it totally messes with my stats. And I panic my body is going to retain the water and bloat. I KNOW I am irrational about it but don’t know what to do. I even weigh my water before I drink it so I can subtract it from the scale at bedtime. I almost want to start always drinking a lot at night and just cause my stats to go up for a short time. Then I can compare apples to apples after drinking a large glass of water after my workout but before bed every night.

Does anyone else ever feel this way??? I wish you just instantly peed out the water lol.

That's not ridiculous: "a pint's a pound the world around" (16 oz of water = 1 lb). Indeed, your fixation on scale weight is unhealthy. You already know that your thinking is, in your words, "NOT rational" and as others have pointed out, not healthy. Please do seek at least an initial consultation with a professional who has experience in working with folks whose "NOT rational" thinking is begetting disordered eating and distorted body image.

emmamcgarity · August 2019

What are your goals? How much weight are you trying to lose and in what time period? What are your current stats? Perhaps defining your goals will help you develop healthier habits that support your goals overall?

I understand the great feeling of that new low on the scale, but it sounds like you’ve developed behaviors consistent with addiction. You’re addicted to that new low scale weight. What would happen in your mind if the scale goes up a pound in the morning? How does that negate your progress so far?

kiela64 · August 2019

rheddmobile wrote: »

It sounds like you are also weighing at night? Of course your weight is going to vary wildly based on what you just ate and drank. One reason for weighing in the mornings is that it gives your body time to process the water from the night before. Your body will naturally sort out a lot of the fluctuations and your weight will be more consistent. In fact, my morning weight is usually lower when I drink enough water the day before, since plenty of water helps with any water retention from sodium. Are you getting plenty of sleep?

So you retain water and bloat. You know it’s not “real” weight in the sense of being a permanent fat gain. Water retention is a thing that happens, particularly to women of reproductive age. If you know you shouldn’t care but you can’t stop yourself, and it’s leading you to self-harming behaviors such as denying yourself water, it’s time to ask a pro for help.

This. Weighing in at night is a terrible idea.

Bodies are inconsistent- this is the entire reason why we use a trending app, to avoid including these fluctuations in the trend and see our “real” low, or the general trend over a long period of time.

If you can’t do that, you can’t use a weight trending app and it will be better if you can distance yourself from numbers. If you feel incapable of being without the numbers it’s time to seek help.

Brunette122 · August 2019

Weighing your water...that is something I have never heard of on here. I hope this doesn’t come across as judgey but I think you have a slight obsession. I wish you luck.

btrfeder · August 2019

Dude you weigh the water? Let your husband help you or admit your sick at least. Lots of people go through life without people telling them they have a problem and then all of a sudden it’s too late. Your post screams for help and lots of people here who also are on a fitness journey are telling you that you have a problem. You should listen to them.

I think weighing everyday is horrible. I know it has become hot but so what. It’s terrible because weight fluctuates , bowel movements fluctuate, and Water weight fluctuates. Every week is even too much but acceptable

What you’re doing is ludicrous and incredibly unhealthy. If you wanted someone to agree with you or Feed your sickness you came to the wrong place. Please get help. Gl.

sandymram · August 2019

I just wanted to say how brave you were to share your feelings and concerns. You are helping more people on here than you realize. I am sure you are not the only person who does this, and others are probably suffering from similar behaviors. Or, they might start to do something similar down the road. So kudos to you for bringing it to light. 🙏🏻

Lots of great responses here, especially deleting the weight trending app. Yes, for many people it can be helpful, but for others it can be harmful. CICO works for all, but weighing daily does not. And like someone said - you lost the weight, you did that on your own. Don’t give that app so much power. ❤️

JohnnytotheB · August 2019

You do you. If that helps you be successful then do it. It's your life and you are an adult.

missysippy930 · August 2019

OP, have you ever had an eating disorder in your life? If so, maybe this irrational fear of drinking water could be a transference stemming from that. Just wondering.

pontious11349 · August 2019

Weight gain is not fat gain! Understand that the scale is simply data which is influenced by lots of things ...salt intake, stress, poop, menstrual cycle...water. But fear not the weight fluctuations.

Maybe change your daily routine. Try taking progress pictures instead of the scale?

Whatever happens something needs to change. The only reason I dont chug water before bed is I dont want to have to wake up for a pee. Id far rather the solid 8.

texasredreb · August 2019

Seek therapy. Not rational. Not normal. Not healthy. I sincerely hope you get it under control.

Tedebearduff · August 2019

brittlb07 wrote: »

This is going to sound crazy but at the end of the night as I approach bedtime I am afraid to drink even water. I am trying to get as low as I can so in the morning I am at an all time low. I should note I use Happy Scale and weigh daily to track trends (this works for me- please don’t suggest I not weigh daily- I’ve lost 25 pounds doing it this way!). I know if sounds rediculous but sometimes the scale jumps close to a pound after a large glass of water. My husband tells me I am crazy and I will eventually pee it out but it totally messes with my stats. And I panic my body is going to retain the water and bloat. I KNOW I am irrational about it but don’t know what to do. I even weigh my water before I drink it so I can subtract it from the scale at bedtime. I almost want to start always drinking a lot at night and just cause my stats to go up for a short time. Then I can compare apples to apples after drinking a large glass of water after my workout but before bed every night.

Does anyone else ever feel this way??? I wish you just instantly peed out the water lol.

You have an unhealthy relationship with the scale, you need to focus on how you look in the mirror instead. You can gain or lose 8lbs a day.. it's even worse for woman and even more likely around your menstrual cycle. You gotta get over it before it effects your life and happiness.

sadiebot · August 2019

brittlb07 wrote: »

This is going to sound crazy but at the end of the night as I approach bedtime I am afraid to drink even water. I am trying to get as low as I can so in the morning I am at an all time low. I should note I use Happy Scale and weigh daily to track trends (this works for me- please don’t suggest I not weigh daily- I’ve lost 25 pounds doing it this way!). I know if sounds rediculous but sometimes the scale jumps close to a pound after a large glass of water. My husband tells me I am crazy and I will eventually pee it out but it totally messes with my stats. And I panic my body is going to retain the water and bloat. I KNOW I am irrational about it but don’t know what to do. I even weigh my water before I drink it so I can subtract it from the scale at bedtime. I almost want to start always drinking a lot at night and just cause my stats to go up for a short time. Then I can compare apples to apples after drinking a large glass of water after my workout but before bed every night.

Does anyone else ever feel this way??? I wish you just instantly peed out the water lol.

I understand wanting to weigh yourself frequently, but at the very least, you should stop weighing yourself at night. There are so many fluctuations throughout the day that it really doesn't tell you anything.

As for the water, I know where you're coming from with wanting to see the lowest possible number every time, but try thinking about water as something that flushes out waste, and salt that might cause bloating, and excess fat. That's not exactly physiologically accurate, but it might be a visualization that helps you see water as a positive, helpful thing, rather than scary.

And try not to view changes on the scale as make-or-break. You know this, which is why you are tracking trends. It can be disappointing to see a higher-than-expected number, but you've lost 25 pounds - you've got this! Weight loss isn't a straight line down.

And if you keep panicking, you might want to talk to a nutritionist or your primary care doctor - it can be easy for all these numbers to turn into disordered eating, and you need to make sure you're working on health, not just the number on the scale.

DancingMoosie · August 2019

Drink your water at night, pee in the morning, then weigh yourself. If that does not help you feel better about the scale weight and drinking, then it's probably time to put the scale away.

poisonesse · August 2019

I weigh daily, I've lost over 60 pounds that way. But it sounds like you're weighing at night? Try weighing in the morning, first thing after using the bathroom and before so much as a sip of coffee/tea/water. That's your true "dry weight", and while it will fluctuate according to the sodium you had the day before, that time of the month, etc, it will give you a much better idea of how much YOU weigh, not your food/fluid intake. I can understand not wanting to drink water in the evening because it will make you get up to pee it out during the night, but not because of weighing yourself. If you weigh in the morning, you won't have to worry about this anymore, so you might even sleep better knowing you'll get a better idea of your weight the next morning.

Afraid to drink water... NOT Rational

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