Scared to step on the scale
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TheWaistBasket
Posts: 56 Member
Tomorrow it's 2 weeks since I signed up here and I haven't stepped on the scale. I am scared. I have ignored the scale for years and now I am terrified. I am so motivated, what if the number will crush me?
What if I didn't lose enough to keep me going. What if I gained? What if I only lost 1 or 2 lb?
How often should someone like me weigh anyway? I want to be under 350 lb. badly. How long will it take to lose 12 or 13 lb?
I am weighing my food, I am logging. I stay mostly under 1800 calories/day. I must have lost weight. (But what if not?)
What if I didn't lose enough to keep me going. What if I gained? What if I only lost 1 or 2 lb?
How often should someone like me weigh anyway? I want to be under 350 lb. badly. How long will it take to lose 12 or 13 lb?
I am weighing my food, I am logging. I stay mostly under 1800 calories/day. I must have lost weight. (But what if not?)
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Replies
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I'm not quite sure what advice to give you to be honest. You do have a lot of weight to lose. However, how quickly you lose it depends on how precise you are with logging. Are you using a foodscale for everything you eat and do you measure all liquids?
Also, another thing to consider is that our bodies not only consist of bones, fat and other tissue, but also of a lot of water, and there's waste in your intestines. Those last two fluctuate from day to day, and even from hour to hour. Whenever you eat something your weight goes up as of course that food has weight. The same with drinks. When you pee the fluid out your weight goes down again. Food needs a lot longer to digest, up to three days probably. And then there's the water weight. It also constantly fluctuates due to hormonal cycle, due to the amount you move, temperature, stress, lots of other things.
Those two things: waste and water weight are part of what your scale shows you. They are not fat, and they can vary a lot, even so much as to mask the fat loss of a whole month. Lots of women especially store more water during their menstruation. You might have lost 7lbs of fat in a month, and the moment you step on the scale you see no difference because you're at that time of the month and you've gained 7lbs in water. A few days later it will be gone again, but at that time it's there and hiding the weight loss.
I can't offer you any advice on how often to step on the scale. But I just want to let you know that an apparent lack of progress might not mean you're not losing weight.11 -
I would suggest measuring yourself, and that will take out some of the fluctuations mentioned by Yirara
There are two ways in my opinion to go about the scale, and which one is best really depends on you.
1. Get an app like Libra, and weigh yourself every day. The app will smooth out the daily fluctuations and give you a better idea of the trend, hopefully downward, which is all you actually care about. This makes it a lot easier to make adjustments to your intake to get the rate of loss that you want. This is what I do, because I like data, and I don't let higher days bother me especially when I see that trendline pointing down.
2. Weigh yourself once a month (or less!). Actually every 28 days, at the same point in your cycle. This takes the anxiety and crushing disappointment out of the every day fluctuations, but also gives you less data in the case that your calories aren't set correctly. Focus on NSVs (non scale victories), like eating a bit less and a bit healthier, logging, exercising, fitting better in your clothing, and feeling better
Either one you go with...the NSVs and measurements are important to keep up your motivation when the scale is being dumb. Scale loss is always nonlinear, especially if you are changing your eating or exercising habits a lot.4 -
If not, you keep trying. Even a 1 or 2 pound loss is a loss. Give yourself longer than 2 weeks to determine whether you quit or not. You are making a lot of adjustments and sometimes it takes time to get those adjustments right and to start getting the results you want. I have been accused of being too hard on myself. Try not to be. You decided to make changes. That is the first and in my opinion, one of the most difficult steps. Now it's just one day at a time. Don't beat yourself up. Who knows, you may step on that scale and get a wonderful surprise! Keep going. You can do this!5
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I get it. Everyone losing weight wants to see those concrete numbers on the scale to validate that our efforts are paying off.
But here's the thing. Let's say you get on the scale and you lost nothing. You'll have that feeling of disappointment, but you'll also have some data that you can work with and make adjustments as necessary. You can't make good adjustments without data.
I'm not trying to discount the emotional component, I know it's there. But the more you can encourage yourself to look at a process of collecting data to validate your estimates (or change them as necessary), the smoother it will be.
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I've said this before, but it's always worth repeating. The scale only tells you one thing: How much gravity is affecting you at the moment you step on it. That's it, and a million things can affect how much gravity affects you at any one time. You are doing things right by weighing your food, you will get far better results doing that than what you get by stepping on the scale once. Don't be intimidated/scared of the scale because ultimately what it shows is far less important than how you feel about yourself, how your clothes fit, the knowledge that you are persevering even when things are tough, etc.
I'm not saying to not use a scale, I weigh myself every morning at roughly the same time and under the same conditions. I take all those measurements at the end of the week and average them out to see what my average weight is for that week. I think this is a more accurate representation. As mentioned before Libra app is a great way to do this.
I've seen too many people quit this journey because the scale didn't reflect what they wanted it to. They gave up on all the effort and progress because of an arbitrary number. You will have good days/weeks, you will have bad days/weeks, that is guaranteed. This journey is always and only about making Progress, not being Perfect. Keep making Progress! You got this!10 -
Get a mirror and tape measure. Keep a journal.1
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Why didn't I think about measuring myself? It makes so much sense. I am going to do it right now (after typing this) and I will start a measurement journal. Such a good idea. Thank you.3
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I decided to take the daily fluctuation out of it and I will step on the scale once a month but measure myself (neck/chest/waist/hip/arms/tights/calves) every week.
I will also take pictures in the same outfit once a week but will blur my face.4 -
I track both weight and measurements. In the past I would get so frustrated with putting so much work into eating right and working out and not seeing the scale budge. A friend suggested I take measurements each month and I was surprised by the differences that didn't show up on the scale. A measurement journal is an excellent way to see progress1
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I would lie if I said that I don't get it. I do get it. But, you would be best served by moving beyond that and DECIDING that this is a science experiment and you are validating your experimental data!
It is not an emotional roller coaster where you're measuring self worth and rewarding your effort. Especially if you have been mixing in value laden narratives such as: "I am being good and I am being bad" instead of using phrases such as: "I am on track or off track in terms of meeting my goals".
It is an experiment where you're the chief investigator and you need to validate whether and how well what you have been doing the past two weeks has worked out!
Unfortunately part of the investigation should be whether you have valid data. And your data because of lack of frequency of observations is getting sampled in a less than ideal manner.
There were a couple of ideas floated above that are both good: one is using a weight trend app and recording all daily ups and downs. The other is comparing to the same time of your cycle a month ago. It has merit, but it is harder to implement and will remain more error prone because of issues such as sodium or recent exercise.
Last, but not least, your scale has to be ready to participate! Non yielding floor surface, no dirt in the foot/sensor areas, calibrated to zero, fresh enough batteries and all that.
Look. Whether you get a mental boost from great results , neutral results that barely make you crack a smile , or even results that feel crushing and disappointing , the reality is that NOTHING CHANGES!
Huh? you say.
Well nothing changes because regardless of what happens on any one, two, or ten weigh ins, it is not like you can give up and ignore the issue that made you look for and find MFP!
Ignoring the issue is equivalent to pre-approving future weight gains and making your future life harder... so it is a pretty not good option... easier to just take it off the table as an option and concentrate instead on just figuring out ways to create incremental positive change without relying too much on willpower and mood!
There is a lot of power on making small incremental changes11 -
this is something I cannot speak on or about. my ex had this same issue where she was afraid to weigh herself and I just could never understand. Me, personally, I may not want someone else's eyes on the scale while I'm weighing myself but I have no problems knowing what I weighed and etc, i wish I could help but it has to be some sort of mental thing going on3
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If you weighed in before starting the program and feel nervous about weighing again, I think you should hold off for now. Focus on your health and sticking with the good habits. Your clothes will tell you the story - and your knees and body will start to feel better. Then jump on the scale - but make sure you feel good about the progress so the numbers don't get you down. Congrats for sticking with it the first two weeks- you are well on the way to forming new habits.2
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All great advice!
I used to let the scale influence my emotions. After taking a lot of advice from successful people here, I decided to weigh daily and input it into the Libra app. A year later (and 70 pounds down), I simply see it as data. Fluctuations are normal. With that data, I can see when I'm indulging a bit too much and hop back on track. I have also learned much about my body and how it reacts to certain macros like high sodium, way too many simple carbs, and processed sugar. That's all temporary water weight
Taking measurement is also super helpful! When the scale isn't budging as anticipated, I can see my progress here.
Baby steps You've got this!1 -
@TheWaistBasket I know this feeling soooooo well. Over the years, I have tried to see it more as a data point. The scale gives me a number that informs me a bit more if what I am doing is working or not working. That allows me to make more informed adjustments (if needed). I can't stress enough that one weight in is not enough information to change course. But you can get a sense of the trend over a little time.
Having said all that.. the scale is not 100% necessary at first (although helpful). You can judge weight loss on measdurements, how your clothes fit, mirror test, etc.1 -
I am on team daily-weighing-for-data, but I understand that emotionally you might not be there yet. You might be a LONG way from being there. We have been bombarded for so long that our self-worth is somehow tied to our weight, and it can take a while to unlearn that message.
So... What happens if you get on the scale and you see something that disappoints you? I really hope you see something that makes you feel accomplished tomorrow, but what if it doesn't? Are you going to quit? What will quitting accomplish? It will just set you back more time that you could spend working on finding a path forward. What's the point in that?
Unfortunately I can guarantee you that at some point in this process there will be a week where the scale shows a number that bums you out. Your weight loss will eventually slow. You might weigh in on a day with a big upward fluctuation. I think it's important now to start getting your head around the idea that the scale is just one tool. It's just one way of tracking your progress, and it's probably not the most important one. Here's a few things to consider on a disappointing scale day:
-You're gaining knowledge about how to nourish your body properly! You didn't learn everything about algebra in two weeks. You probably had a year of it. So think about what you're learning now, and what you want to learn, and what you WILL learn if you stick with it.
-How do you feel? Are you less bloated? Fewer days of discomfort from overeating? More energy? Fewer aches and pains?
-Look at your skin and hair - sometimes people say these look healthier, more radiant.
-If you've started exercising, is that exercise getting a little bit easier? Did you try something new, learn how to do something new?
-I take measurements monthly. Its worth doing. Do you see progress here?
No matter what happens, you've got this.3 -
Give yourself a pep talk right before you step on that scale(I do it every Monday morning when I weigh myself). And tell yourself you'll accept what it says as far as numbers go but that it's only a small part of the picture of who you are. Don't use those numbers as a reward(I did great, I deserve treating myself!) or a punishment(Well, I only lost x amount, might as well give up and eat.). Those would've been my typical thoughts back when because it all felt so overwhelming. Set small goals for yourself but don't set yourself up for disappointment with expectations of so much per week.
Recognize that it'll be a slow and continuous learning process to retrain yourself to eat healthier, move more, drink more water.....all those things that make perfect sense to us but can be challenging to do all the time.
And please don't think of an off day is a reason to give up. Mindset has so much to do with changing our bodies; I truly think as much as anything else. Positive self-talk has helped me many times. Try to substitute all those don't/can't/won't words with can and am and will words. And mean them.
Wishing you the very best of luck!!!1 -
My scale says I’m up 2 pounds. That tells me allergy season is winding down. Nothing else.
If you weigh every day, in the morning, after you go to the bathroom, before you eat or drink, you can learn lots of things you never would have expected.
The reason I know allergy season is winding down is that the last time I mowed, I gained 4 pounds overnight. This time I only gained 2. No worries. It goes away by itself in a few days or overnight if I take an allergy pill.
I never would have known that without the statistics I get from daily weighing.
I also eat a lot more one day every so often. I know that my weight will go way up the next day, but if I haven’t eaten over my tdee, it will come back down all by itself.
I know it can be scary. But it’s really just statistics. Just numbers. Just helpful information to help you along the way.4 -
So much good advice. Thanks. I will weigh in once a week. Every Friday morning before the weekend.
Taking measurements sounds like a good idea. I am going to buy a soft measuring tape this weekend, also I will buy a new scale. If I can find a modern with a higher weight limit.
I am still scared. I want the first weigh-in to be a success so badly.
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There are talking digital scales on Amazon that go over 400 lb if u don't mind spending something like 50 bucks.1
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TheWaistBasket wrote: »Tomorrow it's 2 weeks since I signed up here and I haven't stepped on the scale. I am scared. I have ignored the scale for years and now I am terrified. I am so motivated, what if the number will crush me?
What if I didn't lose enough to keep me going. What if I gained? What if I only lost 1 or 2 lb?
How often should someone like me weigh anyway? I want to be under 350 lb. badly. How long will it take to lose 12 or 13 lb?
I am weighing my food, I am logging. I stay mostly under 1800 calories/day. I must have lost weight. (But what if not?)
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
6
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