Obsessing over the scale - how to stop?

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  • sheclimber
    sheclimber Posts: 176 Member
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    I used to as well and there was never a good answer. If I was down I could celebrate with food. If I was up I was depressed and would comfort with food. So I threw it away. Best decision ever. I didn't weigh myself for about 2 years. Even turned my back when I was at the doctors for a checkup. Now I am trying to lose a little to help me out with my cycling and I only can use the scale at the gym. (Interestingly enough my guess was only off by a couple of pounds) And so I only weigh in there and after so long without being obsessed about it, the number on the scale just rolls off my back. It's a tool to guage - that's it and I don't give it anymore importance than that.
  • cheermom614
    cheermom614 Posts: 97
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    Try to focus on how you feel and don't worry about the number on the scale. I know that's easier said than done but focusing on the other aspects of your new healthy life might help take some of the focus off weighting in too often. Like you said, your body weight fluctuates and you don't want the scale to make you feel unmotivated and defeated!
  • Juliebean_1027
    Juliebean_1027 Posts: 713 Member
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    I put my scale in a different room of my house. (I actually put it in my spare room, upstairs, in the closet, behind a bunch of boxes so I couldn't get to it easily...) I did this for a little under 2 weeks. I was worried that I would gain since I wasn't weighing every day. I'm not sure why I thought that when nothing else had changed with my eating and exercising routine. I finally dug the scale out after about 10 days and found that I had lost 2 pounds. Somehow that made it a little bit easier for me to bring the scale back out, put it in plain sight, and not feel the urge to weigh in every morning.

    Like someone else posted before, there's nothing wrong with weighing in every day, but if you find yourself becoming a little too focused on the scale then maybe you just need to hide it from yourself for a while.
  • katkins3
    katkins3 Posts: 1,360 Member
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    Your scale may have to go live with a friend for a while. There will be a period of withdrawal. Hang in there!
    Frequent weighing can be like an addiction. To break the cycle it may help to have a friend or family member keep your scale and you can visit it on some planned schedule. An inanimate object has no right to boss you around.hahaha:smile:
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
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    An inanimate object has no right to boss you around.hahaha:smile:
    On the contrary, if I'm not eating as well as usual, or not exercising as much as usual, and the scales show an increase day on day for more than a couple of days, they have every right to boss me around!

    I'm sure that I've saved myself a few plateaus by taking careful note of what's happening with my body and nipping poor habits in the bud.
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Ask yourself which you would rather be:
    1) A 250 lb person that looks like you weigh 125 lbs
    2) A 125 lb person that looks like you weigh 250 lbs

    That's an extreme scenario of course (and I'm of course just making up numbers, I personally would hate to look like I weighed 125 lbs, but you get the idea) but as long as you don't take into consideration the long term health risks of weighing 300 lbs and only consider the vanity aspect, I think most people would go with option 1. Remind yourself of that before you step on the scale when it's not scheduled.

    It helped my fiance, she weighs herself twice a week now. That's down from way-too-f***ing-much (in my opinion).


    Good luck!
  • Jessica0982
    Jessica0982 Posts: 209 Member
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    I don't have an answer .. I weigh daily.

    I'm the same way. I actually don't 'obsess' over it like I say because it's more of a tracking my weight and just seeing where I'm at. I understand that some days are higher and others are lower but based upon that, I can tell if I'm on track or not.

    At night before bed, I will check in and I can tell if tomorrow morning I'll be on target. Just by how I feel, by what I've eaten and by what the scale says.

    So to those that way yourself daily...do you do a daily check in on MFP? Or do you just track it weekly?
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
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    So to those that way yourself daily...do you do a daily check in on MFP? Or do you just track it weekly?
    I'm in Gryffindor on here, from the Harry Potter Challenge, and they have a weekly weigh in. So I always post my Monday weight on there and update it on my profile at the same time.

    I enter my morning weights and hip / waist / thigh measurements into an Excel spreadsheet, and while the graph shows a steady downward trend, the weekly weights look very erratic and random in comparison, even moving upwards for several weeks at one point, even though I know I'm losing weight.
  • ambercanfly
    ambercanfly Posts: 150 Member
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    I hide my scale in the closet. Out of site, out of mind. Maybe have someone hide it for you? lol
  • angieread
    angieread Posts: 36 Member
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    TOTAL obsession for me. I weigh myself in the morning every day, and usually step on the scale at least five times, moving the scale to different spots on the floor to see if the numbers change (they often do, my scale is a POS) and then I kind of 'average' the numbers together. I had my husband hide the scale for a while, but of course he didn't hide it well, I found it, and there I go again. Seriously. I may implement a two-weigh-in-a-week plan and TRY to stick with that. The daily thing sucks a little because you can have a REALLY great day and see no difference on the scale the next day, which impacts motivation.
  • Kikilicious84
    Kikilicious84 Posts: 312
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    I weigh myself whenever I feel like it. It makes me feel crazy to have to wait a week and I have anxiety... weighing daily helps me see trends and keeps me on track.

    If weighing and recording daily is keeping you on track then go for it. If it's making you crazy then only weigh at the gym or some other place.
  • trhops
    trhops Posts: 295 Member
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    I have to weigh everyday too. I want to go to weekly, but I am so close to getting in the 140's I just want to see it. Once I get to the 140's I will put it away and just weigh weekly.
  • MCDKI
    MCDKI Posts: 16 Member
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    i weigh daily and often a few times use it as a gage but as long as it does not control you nothing is wrong with it.
  • kellsma
    kellsma Posts: 30 Member
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    I weigh everyday first thing in the morning. I only record my weight here once a week but I need to see it daily. I also weigh before I go to bed at night which will give me an idea of how I will be in the morning.

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