Tracking Success without a Scale
niklong
Posts: 49 Member
Several months ago I got rid of my scale because I would obsessively weigh myself everyday and the results would determine my mood for the day. I'm considering just taking my measurements once a month for my progress and and tracking my food and good habits, avoiding the rabbit hole that results in me weighing myself regularly. Has this worked for anyone else?
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Replies
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Doing that, along with taking progress photos has worked for me. I also used to be obsessive with the scale, but I started ignoring it and jut paying attention to how I feel, as cliché as that sounds!3
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I find that if I weigh daily, I obsess about the readings but that if I ONLY allow myself to weigh in once a week, I’m ok.
I can see where for some that might still not work, and so, taking measurements, photos, and comparing clothing fit seem like good options also.1 -
I find that for me the scale is extremely helpful (and weighing daily works much better for me than less often). Working through scale fear was important.
That said, I really came here to mention something else I did when losing. I had a bunch of jeans of the same brand (Gap) in different sizes (from my weight gain over the years), so I stacked them with the biggest on top and used them as a sign of progress. I measured too, but the jeans were really inspirational for me.9 -
I have found jeans to be super inspirational. I have (differing brands) been anywhere from an 8-18 over the past decade. I am currently down from a 16 (probably should have gone back to the 18s) to a 12 and I’m so close to getting back into my 10s. I just love being able to say “oh wow these jeans are way too big for me now”. 😊4
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My boyfriend does this, sort of. He doesn't measure himself, but he does go by how his clothing fits. Seems to work for him.
For me, personally, it would drive me nuts! I like to know my numbers, and I use a weight trend app called Libra for that. I allow myself one entry per day...its always in the morning, at the same time, under the same conditions (fasted, clothing, etc...) so I can make my trend as accurate as possible. Its kinda cool to watch the lines go up and down and learn about my body that way.6 -
I had success only weighing myself once a month. It worked for me weighing after my monthly cycle for an "ideal" weigh-in without as much in the fluctuation department. The important thing for me was weighing my food, not myself.2
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Another vote for measuring progress with jeans.
Women with big water weight fluctuations due to menstrual cycles might want to do this at the same point in their cycles.2 -
I do weigh daily but have a whole toolkit for progress beyond the scale:
* Clothes fit
* Measurements
* Progress photos
* Cardio ability (improvement to performance and recovery)
* Energy levels
* Sleep quality
I also make sure to give myself plenty of non scale goals such as nutrition, wellbeing and fitness goals that will contribute postively to my weight loss.
I am comfortable with scale fluctuations but mine can be quite lively so it's handy to have something to focus on that I have control over, unlike the number on thr scale.3 -
I use tight clothes. I have my pair of army green shorts I wore on vacations for almost three years while I was at my goal size..they fit just fine.. until the dreaded lockdown. I put those on to measure my progress...when they fit easy.. I'm there.
However.. when the shorts don't get more loose every two weeks; I examine my eating habits and exercise habits and tweak. You don't want to stick your head in the sand and lose weeks of productivity.1 -
Several months ago I got rid of my scale because I would obsessively weigh myself everyday and the results would determine my mood for the day. I'm considering just taking my measurements once a month for my progress and and tracking my food and good habits, avoiding the rabbit hole that results in me weighing myself regularly. Has this worked for anyone else?
I always try to track 4 methods of success.
1) Weigh myself every day, average the week. Trend on excel.
2) Take pictures every Saturday and confide in a loved on or a friend and ask them if they see a difference.
3) Take measurements every 3 weeks. (if your waist goes down and everything else goes up you are gaining muscle and losing fat. If everything goes down you are successfully weight. if everything increases you are successfully gaining weight.)
4) Have a fitness goal too. Record if you got stronger SUCCESS. Record if you got faster SUCCESS.
If any one of your tracking methods is in the right direction turn a blind eye to the other 3. If all 4 are always in the wrong direction.... i know that is sounds harsh but you need to re evaluate and start over.
I like this model because it gives me 4 opportunities for success and only 1 to fail.1 -
For those of you using the jeans method.... You make me think! I tend to give way too much power to the number on the scale and have this crazy idea that if I stop weighing myself I'll gain a bunch of weight (while exercising and following a 1400 calories diet? Yeah, I wouldn't think so!). So I might just give the scale a break and get those too-small jeans from the basement!7
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saramelie77 wrote: »For those of you using the jeans method.... You make me think! I tend to give way too much power to the number on the scale and have this crazy idea that if I stop weighing myself I'll gain a bunch of weight (while exercising and following a 1400 calories diet? Yeah, I wouldn't think so!). So I might just give the scale a break and get those too-small jeans from the basement!
What I did was try them all on.. the jeans in varying sizes from 8 to 14.. I stacked them with my goal weight jeans on the bottom...then placed them in order from smallest (bottom). to the ones that fit now on top.
As I executed my plan.. I'd advance to a new pair every two weeks..and squeeze my butt into the next pair.. I'd actually wear them... until they fit.. then go on to the next.. haha.. it worked. And.. it was fun taking the pairs that no longer fit goodwill.3 -
elisa123gal wrote: »saramelie77 wrote: »For those of you using the jeans method.... You make me think! I tend to give way too much power to the number on the scale and have this crazy idea that if I stop weighing myself I'll gain a bunch of weight (while exercising and following a 1400 calories diet? Yeah, I wouldn't think so!). So I might just give the scale a break and get those too-small jeans from the basement!
What I did was try them all on.. the jeans in varying sizes from 8 to 14.. I stacked them with my goal weight jeans on the bottom...then placed them in order from smallest (bottom). to the ones that fit now on top.
As I executed my plan.. I'd advance to a new pair every two weeks..and squeeze my butt into the next pair.. I'd actually wear them... until they fit.. then go on to the next.. haha.. it worked. And.. it was fun taking the pairs that no longer fit goodwill.
I haven’t taken the too big pairs anywhere as I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll gain a bunch of weight back and then have to repurchase them. I know it’s not rational, but having them around is like having a safety blanket.
Although, if I give them away and then the ones that fit start to get tight, I’ll know my tracking is off and that I have to get back on track so I don’t need the bigger size....
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Several months ago I got rid of my scale because I would obsessively weigh myself everyday and the results would determine my mood for the day. I'm considering just taking my measurements once a month for my progress and and tracking my food and good habits, avoiding the rabbit hole that results in me weighing myself regularly. Has this worked for anyone else?
yes. I think in maintaining there are many ways to achieve long term success but you have to do 2 of three things:
1)weigh consistantly daily/weekly/monthly
2)track and log your input
3)measure or use how your clothes fit
It took me several attempts to wean off of the scale which like you has been a lifelong mood swing and in maintenance there are a LOT of fluctuations of the scale. At first when I tried I had a nagging thought that things would get out of control and it seriously kept "calling" to me. Just check. Just check. But when I finally did stop in July and put it away I found it quite liberating. Some folks feel the same with tracking. I enjoy logging and lately have even been inching my cals up (working on more energy for my runs and general life)
Be careful with the jeans because they do STRETCH if you don't wash them frequently. LOL. But I agree with everyone that they are a good gage of weight. Mine are always snug after a wash (I like that) but after a hour or so they are comfy. So between logging and keeping track of CICO and my clothes fit I feel successful. I don't know what I weigh. I might be heavier might be lighter but to me what is important is my fitness and energy levels (and clothes) feel good.
Not everyone has love hate relationships with their scale so to them maybe they do not WANT to keep logging or watching calories as long as they watch the scale. That works too.
The other thing is that you do have to take action quickly and maybe go BACK to weighing or a deficit in intake if you think you are getting weight creep up (or maybe even down altho I never have that issue LOL)
I am not afraid of the scale so much as I am happier without it. WIll I go back to weighing again. Maybe? But that's also the beauty of maintenance. You can pick an approach and do it for weeks or months and then you can do something different.
Oh edited to say you might be in the weight loss phase (I thought I was in the maintaining forum duh) but for me weighing was important to some extent so I could see the rate of loss as I was losing in order to get an initial idea of what maintenance would be. But I think you could be successful losing also as long as you make CICO adjustments if you are not seeing progress.0 -
Dogmom1978 wrote: »elisa123gal wrote: »saramelie77 wrote: »For those of you using the jeans method.... You make me think! I tend to give way too much power to the number on the scale and have this crazy idea that if I stop weighing myself I'll gain a bunch of weight (while exercising and following a 1400 calories diet? Yeah, I wouldn't think so!). So I might just give the scale a break and get those too-small jeans from the basement!
What I did was try them all on.. the jeans in varying sizes from 8 to 14.. I stacked them with my goal weight jeans on the bottom...then placed them in order from smallest (bottom). to the ones that fit now on top.
As I executed my plan.. I'd advance to a new pair every two weeks..and squeeze my butt into the next pair.. I'd actually wear them... until they fit.. then go on to the next.. haha.. it worked. And.. it was fun taking the pairs that no longer fit goodwill.
I haven’t taken the too big pairs anywhere as I’m afraid that if I do, I’ll gain a bunch of weight back and then have to repurchase them. I know it’s not rational, but having them around is like having a safety blanket.
Although, if I give them away and then the ones that fit start to get tight, I’ll know my tracking is off and that I have to get back on track so I don’t need the bigger size....
I'll confess... I drove around for many weeks with them in the trunk of my car. It was hard letting them go. The entire clothes topic is another entire issue with weight loss. Letting the big clothes go.. is a symbolic commitment that you'll never go back. Also..side bar; it was hard buying new clothes..I'd default to loose blouses and the styles the slimmed and covered fat. It was hard to come up with new styling for my new figure..it was actually difficult and took some of the fun out of buying new clothes.2 -
Several months ago I got rid of my scale because I would obsessively weigh myself everyday and the results would determine my mood for the day. I'm considering just taking my measurements once a month for my progress and and tracking my food and good habits, avoiding the rabbit hole that results in me weighing myself regularly. Has this worked for anyone else?
I just started doing this myself recently. I hate the fact that a scale/ weight determines my mood. 😐 No thank you. I just try to eat well, workout and I may have to buy some clothes that fit my new body. I have noticed that I do eat way too much at each meal, so moving into next week I'll be reducing my portions, and I'll also increase my intensity of my workouts. I'll see what happens with that until maybe Feb 1st.
I have noticed since not weighing myself I'm much happier and don't stress eat. And I'm really enjoying my workouts more. I'm focusing on how my body feels during and after the workout, instead of trying to burn as many calories as I can during a workout.
Good luck 👍😁0 -
Hey there, I'm doing the same! I had the same problem (Feel free to add me if you want a buddy!). I try to take pictures instead of the scale. It isn't as exact as a scale of course, but you can tell when you have lost over time or gained muscle.0
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