Don't Let the Bathroom Scale Get the Better of You
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Hmmm. Unyielding surface is the first requirement for your scale.
Any surface with yield to it will reduce your apparent weight and make repeat measurements really hard.
Consider if need be an appropriately size tile, or similar with no yield.
I just did a search on Amazon Canada which normally carries less products than .com using the keyword 500lb scale and I can see two 500+lb "rated" scales plus several in the 440+ range, all under $50
I cannot vouch for their accuracy.
Most scales exhibit fake consistency by not showing you a different weight unless they detect something much different than before.
Regardless if you take multiple daily weigh-ins your weight trend changes will be obvious very soon.
Or you can do what you did before and not use the scale.
Maybe not in the very beginning but when you start concentrating on developing more sustainable deficits, at that point you may decide that it benefits you to be able to tell me precisely how much you're losing so as to maximize your food intake while still continuing to meet your weight loss goals!
Didn't catch this post till just now... funny you wrote it, as I just this morning promised myself that whenever the day comes that I weigh in... I'll be carrying that scale from the Third floor all the way down to the Basement level where we have a concrete floor under the flooring.
I just looked up the last scale I purchased... And I'm a little surprised, it's actually a 550Lb Scale... I figure that's gota be able to weigh me. Now I wonder how much the linoleum flooring will mess with me? Ah... I'm still going to give it time. (and the tile idea is great!)
I think I'm on the same page though... I'm going to do it 3 times and average the result, and probably put it away for another 2 months... and repeat some sort of pattern, until the day comes I get closer to the nitty gritty.
Just working on patients and staying positive while the new shiny toy aspects of the my new WOL (way of life) become old hat.
Thank you!
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Great post, weigh daily, monthly? All a dilemma! What I have found useful is seeing your graphs; the fluctuations showing weight loss is not linear.
I can’t weigh daily as I find the ups & downs quite triggering -“ my-nowt- works-so-I’ll- quit” mentality which has been dangerous as not only do I put the weight back on, I put on much more, each & every time.
Hopefully this is the last time for all of us x
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I have tried weighing all different ways....daily,every other day, weekly, and every two weeks....after two years, I do better being accountable every day and know my scales are going to go up and down....but that is ok because if you are doing everything right, they will mostly go down!3
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I weigh most days but I am also female-bodied and going through menopause, so I have a lot of factors affecting my weight, needless to say. And it's useful to me to see it tick up two pounds suddenly and say, "Aha, bet that's my period!" or "Oh, I'm ovulating, THAT's why I'm retaining so much water suddenly!" Given the amount of swing and bounce I get, more data is the only way to smooth it out.3
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I weigh myself daily and it is a wild and crazy ride sometimes. I've had 4 pound gain days and 3 pound loss days - it is really just all over the place. Sometimes I understand why - sometimes it is just magic
I thought it would settle and not fluctuate so much as I approached goal - but nah. And I am post-menopausal so there is no longer any monthly pattern. For me the daily weighin and the craziness of it is calming, except of course when it sends me into that deep black hole of despondency. 6 -
Maintenance is the same way. I am up and down all over the place. A lot of the swings is determined my how many carbs I had the day before and how much sleep I got. I've learned to average my daily weights into a weekly average and then it smooths things out much better and allows me to see if I am trending up or down. But daily weighing is a must for me. Totally understand those who can't abide it, but for me, it's the only way I can understand and tolerate the weight swings.4
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Maintenance is the same way. I am up and down all over the place. A lot of the swings is determined my how many carbs I had the day before and how much sleep I got. I've learned to average my daily weights into a weekly average and then it smooths things out much better and allows me to see if I am trending up or down. But daily weighing is a must for me. Totally understand those who can't abide it, but for me, it's the only way I can understand and tolerate the weight swings.
Thank you for your insight from your experience. That really means a lot!
Carbs definitely show up on my scale really quickly too. That uptick at the end in that graph is from me including some refined carbs - not even really on a daily basis - still no bread, pasta, rice - and very few "treat" type carbs mostly some crackers and peanut butter.
I know if I drop the refined carbs I'll drop at least 5 of the 6 pounds that magically appeared since I've been on this deficit break. But I don't want to go through this bump again later so I'm going to try to hold steady and see what happens. I think I can give up bread for the rest of my life - I haven't had bread in over a year! and that makes a huge difference in the quality of my meals. Not falling back on sandwiches or toast makes me prepare more veggie based meals with far more nutrients. I think that is more permanent. But I'm not willing to give up crackers or a rice cake and peanut butter snacks forever. Nor pizza! My o
And sleep too! I'd forgotten what a difference that makes. I noticed last summer, when I weighed myself after a 9 hour sleep I was almost two pounds lighter than when I somewhat obsessively I admit weighed myself around 4 in the morning, after I used the bathroom. For awhile I was forcing myself back to sleep in the morning
but I was losing 2 or 3 pounds a week at that stage. Sleep definitely helped. I haven't been sleeping that well lately. I'll work on that! 6 -
I can relate to all of the posts here. I have a love/hate relationship with the scale. It's awesome when you're down for the week, but miserable when you're up for the week. I weighed at the beginning and then two weeks in to see what was happening. I'm taking some advice from Bryan Ganey and I'm only going to weigh once a month. He has a great book detailing his weight loss journey and success with keeping the weight off called "Impossible: How I lost nearly 400 pounds without surgery". It's a very inspiring read and he's been on an incredible journey and transformation.3
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I started averaging my daily weigh ins and really only pay attention to the 7 day average. For example, I gained 2.3 pounds on Friday, yet my 7 day average was down .5 pounds from the week before, so I was really right on target. Helps me manage the daily fluctuations without freaking out.4
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I went over my calorie limit for 2 days (didn't even overeat or binge eat, just ate probably around maintenance) and gained 3 lbs!
Kicking myself for it now. 2 -
denisemlarnder wrote: »I went over my calorie limit for 2 days (didn't even overeat or binge eat, just ate probably around maintenance) and gained 3 lbs! Kicking myself for it now.
It happens and most likely water retention….1 -
denisemlarnder wrote: »I went over my calorie limit for 2 days (didn't even overeat or binge eat, just ate probably around maintenance) and gained 3 lbs! Kicking myself for it now.
@denisemlarnder Don't sweat it! To gain 3 lbs of fat, you would have had to eat 3500*3=10,500 calories ABOVE maintenance, which would be darn near impossible, even if you had overeaten. It is just water weight, and probably some extra food in your digestive system. It'll all drop off in another few days, I promise!3 -
denisemlarnder wrote: »I went over my calorie limit for 2 days (didn't even overeat or binge eat, just ate probably around maintenance) and gained 3 lbs! Kicking myself for it now.
Isn't that ridiculously frustrating and disheartening. Chances are really good that your extra calories included extra sodium and carb = water weight. But that doesn't make it feel much better, I know. Try to put that all behind you and start fresh and you will probably see a wonderful drop in the next few days that makes as little sense as the gain!
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denisemlarnder wrote: »I went over my calorie limit for 2 days (didn't even overeat or binge eat, just ate probably around maintenance) and gained 3 lbs! Kicking myself for it now.
In about 5 days you will see that what the others have been telling you is true because you will very likely have dropped that 3 pounds back off.
As annoying as it is to gain water weight it is absolutely going to happen and the faster you can desensitize yourself to it (at least mostly) the better off you will be. My capacity to retain water is much higher and I can go away for 3 days and come back 15 pounds heavier... that is right... 15 pounds. It takes me a little longer than 5 days to visit the restroom enough to get it all back off but within 10 days I am back to about the same weight as when I left.5 -
Thanks everyone, that helps a bit.
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denisemlarnder wrote: »Thanks everyone, that helps a bit.
sometimes just sailing that scale right out the window helps too! 4 -
I haven’t done it yet… I’m not even up yet… But I’m thinking I might weigh myself this morning. I’m not even sure if I can see the number and I cannot bend down so it might be like a super safe thing to do. I haven’t weighed myself since March …during that time Ive had two breast surgeries a little bit of recovery after each an eye surgery 10 days of lying face down with zero activity three weeks of being up and around but with no exercise and finally this past week of 20 minute rounds of easy activity.
It sounds like I’m making excuses for a potentially higher weight and I imagine that’s exactly what I’ve done - though not consciously.
I’m just trying to prepare myself for what I might discover and to eliminate any bouts of self low loathing.4 -
Goodness Laurie after what you’ve been through self-loathing is just WRONG! You’ve had very little control over what you’re eating and certainly not the energy to make deficit decisions. Either weigh and accept it’s just a number. Or put it off until you know you can be in mindful control.
You probably don’t need the added stress right now. Weight loss is a mind game. I know because I’ve been losing the battle the last few days and don’t expect improvement in the next couple of weeks. Let’s just forgive ourselves temporarily?3 -
Thank you, Yooly! And I found that post that I couldn’t find because I thought I put it in the numbers thread 😂1
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And right back at you on the be gentle with yourself front. Putting extra stress on yourself seems to make everything worse if the threads we are hanging on by are getting a bit ravelled.2
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I would think after 3 weeks of recovery 'up & about' + now 1 week.of light activity it makes sense to get a weight to take stock of where you're at, so you have that info for planning next steps & fyi as to how your body responded to all the trauma it's been through. And please note - it is right & good to be feeding yourself well during this period of healing.
However, I am concerned about your mental process in all this and please don't weigh yourself if a concrete number would be worse for you than your imaginings! ❤️
Please try hard to have at least close to the same compassion for yourself as you would have for one of us laying out the same circumstances in our health/weight-loss journey...(assuming you don't judge us all as harshly lol).3 -
Well after ten years of reliable service, my bathroom scale broke. One of the senser feet cracked. I was wondering why my weight was all over the place. Especially since I weigh daily.
Ordered a new scale today. And now I’m anxious to see what my real weight is!2 -
Fingers crossed for a nice number, Yooly!
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WOWSER.
STOP.
Weight is NOT COMPARABLE across non reference weight calibrated scales.
SORRY.
I was overjoyed when my two identical manufacturer identical model scales when brought together on the same floor location were yielding the exact 0.5lbs difference I had deduced via comparison.
And that's not a large discrepancy. Even if it "FEELS" large.
A new scale is like a new box of chocolates! And not necessarily more reflective of reality than the previous!
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Not expecting miracles with the new scale but it would be nice! Hoping for some reliable consistency.1
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Be careful. Most scale sold today feature fake consistency
You can test fake consistency by using a big jug of known weight.
After you get consistent results that don't change, let go of the jug and try again.
Repeat again while holding the jug a second time and then you'll have a better idea as to how much of the consistency was fake or real! 🙀🤬🙈🤐😱
(trend over time still works more than fine for the purpose of weight management! And semi accurate fakely consistent samples can also work for the right operator! 😎😜😘)2 -
Yes1
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I'm all about those semi-accurate, fakely consistent results!3
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The new bathroom scale arrived yesterday after several failed attempts by Amazon to deliver it to another zip code. No miracles were had. Pretty much the same weight as expected.2
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That’s probably about the best? If it was higher you would either have to disbelieve it or feel sad - if it was lower you wouldn’t trust it. Being kind of the same probably is the best for your peace of mind???2
