On the topic of the dreaded scales........

i do the same thing! i agree with justdoingit .. weigh yourself without any clothes on, before you eat for the day, on the same day, once a week. that's what i do. if for some reason i can't take my clothes off i usually just subtract 2 lbs for my clothes, definitely take your shoes off though! .. i know it's frustrating getting on the scale because you just want it to be magic and tell you that you've lost a bunch of weight because you are feeling and looking so much better. i would try to base what i think about myself more on my measurements and what i look like in the mirror. i've only lost 4 lbs. but people were telling me how i'm looking good and they can tell i'm losing weight. as long as your looking & feeling good, forget the scale! it's just too disappointing when you're feeling so good about yourself haha!

You also have to remember that muscle weighs more than fat. So if you are working out with both cardio and weights like you say, you have definitely gained some muscle.

As most people have said, ONLY measure yourself in the morning before you eat but after you use the bathroom. Make sure you are as close to naked as possible, and never weigh yourself after you excersize (so if you are a morning workout-er, do it before!).

Also, remember to drink a lot of water during the day. This helps with appetite, skin and BM's. I would suggest that you weigh yourself every other week (every week is ok too, but if you need to see bigger numbers do every two weeks).

I was to the point of weighing myself 2x a day, morning and night...how neurotic is that :laugh:

But yes, it really is detrimental for your psyche. You've been working hard all day, doing everything right, then what? The scale has gone up .5? Or it's the same...So weighing yourself every day actually is a really discouraging act because you can't see the progress over time. All you're seeing are the day to day fluctuations which aren't encouraging at all.

I'm breaking the habit and only weighing myself 1x a week. It's actually pretty hard to do once you get addicted to stepping on that scale constantly...but being able to step on the scale one day, seeing the weight, then stepping on it a week later and seeing it go down a large chunk will be so much more indicative of the hard work that I've put it that week.