I am afraid of my scale.

You have good reason to be afraid of your scale. It has the power to make or ruin your day/week. It lies to you and tells you that you've "lost weight" when in fact you've just been for a long pee, and it tells you that you have "gained weight" when your fat starts to melt and you build muscle. I personally would avoid it unless there are loooong intervals between visits, and instead use your clothes and mirror as your guide. I bet "those last 35lbs" wouldn't actually be 35lbs if you used your clothes and mirror instead.

The main reason why the scale does not budge when you are exercising and dieting is because at the same time you are burning fat you are gaining muscle. You said you have lost 9 inches, so you are doing something right, if you are doing anytime of strength training, then it is most likely that you are gaining muscle at the same time.

I try not look at the scale so much but like you I cant help myself, I try to weigh myself at the end of the month, but I usually break down by the end of week to and weigh myself.

I haaate the scale. Instantly ruins my mood.. I used to hop on it every morning and now I don't even want to look at it. My lowest weight was 114 and I was so happy about that. Then I started upping my protein intake and started strength training and the scale number started going up.. generally it reads 120 now.. and I remember how I looked before at 120 and just seeing the damn number totally skews my perception of myself. I KNOW that I am smaller now than I was before but it can really screw with one's mind when the numbers just keep going up.. ugh and I weighed myself two days ago at the gym and was 122..

Why are we so obsessed with the number? People out there in the real world that see us would probably assume we weigh less than what the scale reads. When people ask me my weight (or my pants size.. I'm a size 6.. curse of the big hips) they are always shocked. I have a couple friends whose bodies I have always been jealous of before I decided to get in shape.. they weigh around 130 lbs and I would have pegged them for 110-115 because they are so fit. When I was 130 I didn't look nearly as good as them. I try and tell myself that as long as I'm exercising and eating right it shouldn't matter if the scale goes up as long as I can still fit into my clothes and look good wearing them.. but it's SO easy to let that damn number screw with my head.

I think I have to just get zen about my daily way ins… I am smaller size wise than I was in my last year of college.. (no small feat for a 53 year old) I am striving to keep my long lean musicales, strong bones and I am going along with the experts that it weighs more than fat but in a smaller package!

While the scale can make me mad because it doesn't line up with the inches that I keep losing, I don't let it guide my mood anymore. I do think it is part of my daily routine for life, just like recording my food and my exercise daily.

I am on maintenance, (phase III or consolidation on Dukan) so the scale is only going up 1/2 a pound some days, but still….I just exercise more that day. I am told to just expect that the rest of my life...

I'm 4'10 and my doctor said 90-100 for me. I haven't weighed that since I was in high school. I'm just trying to get back down so I can fit into my old wedding dress for my anniversary in October. So frustrating.