the stupid scale

D

Dorygirl

New member
I will never, ever figure out how this scale works. Up and down so randomly sometimes! Weighing every day is both good and bad, I guess. Good because it keeps me focused. Bad because sometimes the darn thing just goes up for NO reason.
Can you be addicted to getting on the scale each morning? I feel like I need to gradually move to once a week. But that is such a long time....

I was 164.0 yesterday morning. Felt great. Ate great yesterday and went for a nice walk. Went to bed a bit hungry, which for me is a good sign that I didn't eat too much at dinner.
This morning - 164.9
That .9 is just killing me right now. A few months ago, I was down to 154. Happy! Then I lost control after the holidays and ate too much. Gained 15 pounds. Really quickly. It's incredible how fast the pounds go on and how slowly they come off.

You'd think I'd know by now not to freak out at what the scale says, day to day. But it still gets me crazy.

Christine
SW 226, March 1, 2005
CW 164.9
 
anything can cause the scale to change...

don't worry so much about what it does on a daily basis, but instead pick a day of the week and while you might weigh in daily, use that one day as your 'official' weigh in day and only that weight "counts".

You also probably want to take measurements every 2 -3 weeks and see if they are changing - you'll probably see more changes there than on the scale
 
Christine-

Do not worry about the scale this morning. I happen to know that since it is Friday the 13th that there is a little more gravity on earth today. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Or you can read this article:

Either way, have a great day.
 
It's Friday the 13th! Eureka! That's the answer to my .9 problem.

One regret I do have is that I didn't keep track of my measurements from the beginning of this whole thing. It would have been fun to use those numbers along with the "stupid" scale.


Are any of you heading toward menopause? Have you noticed any changes? You read all the time about how it's harder to lose weight as you get older, but I personally haven't experienced that...if I'm really careful with the food, the weight pretty much comes off.
My problem right now is that my body thinks the 160's are ok. I look pretty good and was skinny at 140 (my wedding). 150 would be perfect for me...not trying to get into a bikini here. 4 kids, you know.
I used to be so regular each month and now my cycle is inconsistent. It was so great to feel a little bloated right before and then drop 5 pounds right after. That doesn't happen as much anymore. :(
 
i am addicted to the scales, but try desparately not to weigh myself everyday as it can really p***s me off (`scuse). i work nights, this morning i was 147lbs tonight when i got out of bed i was 144lbs!
i also find my scale can start the week at saying im a certain weight, it will creep up slowly a couple lbs and then suddenly drop below what i was at the start of the week. ive got used to it now so it doesnt bother me, but to begin i used to freak.
get someone to hide the scales and only let you weigh yourself once a week. also try measuring youself from time to time, often the inches fall off without pounds. i also find going window shopping once a month/ every 2 months or trying on previously too small clothes can be really motivating. ive got a pair of jeans with a 28" waist i havent worn for years. when i first started losing i couldnt get them past my knees. now they just need about 1" around the waist to fit perfectly. slim
 
slimby, wow! You've lost so much. Congratulations.

Just to further my stupid scale idea...this morning I got up at 6am and weighed 164.2. I went back to bed, weighed in again at 7:30 ( I know, I'm sick) and the number showed 163.4.

My scale is most definitely out of whack.
 
dorygirl - thanks, i understand,its really frustrating. i would do as mal suggests. pick one day a week that is an official weighday and try not to worry too much in between. easier said than done i know. im doing the monthly challenges so am weighing in officially on a tuesday at the mo.
i tell you what else is really strange about the scales. i can have a really big binge one day if im stressed etc biscuits, crisps, junk. within about 2 days i usually find i have lost weight, when you think i would either stay the same or gain. slim
 
I'm a fellow scale addict. as has been said elsewhere, if you understand why your weight fluctuates, it is no reason to worry.
When my scales are being silly with me, it kinda motivates me, like "ok, I know that's just water weight, but imagine it wasn't? oo, better be really good today." and I find that actually really helps.

also, if you have analogue scales, notice that your weight changes instantly depending on where on the scales you are standing?
 
Scales are amazing. I weigh every day and don't care what happens unless I see a trend. I've gained 6 lbs. in one day, lost 4 in another, doesn't bother me.
 
I would get on the scale like every couple of hours and it was driving me crazy!!!

So now I picked two days a month to weigh in. I don't see those little fluctuations so they can't drive me crazy:)
 
It takes me 2 1/2 weeks to lose 5 lbs. I gained 5.5 lbs. yesterday in 2 hours!
Amazing what water and soup will do.
 
If you're going to weigh every day (and I do) you have to understand how your body works, and why your weight can fluctuate a lot from one day to the next (or even in a few hours).

Things to think about ....

Do you always wear the same clothes (or no clothes) when you weigh?
Do you always eat your evening meal at the same time?
Is your evening meal always the same weight?
Have you eaten salty food recently?
Do you always weigh at the same time?
Do you eat or drink anything before you weigh?
Do you use the bathroom before you weigh?
Are the scales always in the same place?
Is it your TOTM?
Did you exercise more or less than usual yesterday?

If everything else stays the same but (for example) you weigh 2 or 3 hours earlier than usual, you will probably weigh more. This is because your body has had less time to work on digesting the food in your stomach. If you exercised harder than usual yesterday, your body may be retaining water to help repair your muscles. If you put the scales on a different surface, it can affect their performance. Etc.

Some people find weighing daily really hard. It works for me because I don't get hung up about the daily fluctuations. At the end of each week, I just add up the weights for the last 7 days, divide by 7, and I have my average weight for the week. That average has gone down every week since I started trying to lose weight, and I think it's a far more accurate way of recording weight changes than relying on one single weigh day.

(I can't take credit for the idea of averaging weight. I think I originally got it from TomO.)
 
i am definitely addicted to the scale as well. there's a lot of controversy regarding whether it is good to weigh yourself daily. however, i think it all depends on the person. for me, weighing myself daily works because it's a good reality check. well aware that your weight will fluctuate 3 to 5 pounds due to various reasons. it's good for me to check my weight daily because it gives me a good indication of how i've been eating the past week. i always keep in the back of my mind, weight fluctuations and the different variances causing the fluctuations, “YOU” know whether the added pounds are just water or not. anyways, my point, if you let one pound slip, it's easy to let another, then another, then another, and walla, you've gained over 10 pounds or more. loosing one pound is a lot easier to do than ten. and for me, weighing myself daily, i’m able to maintain my weight by catching that one pound of "actual weight gain" rather figuring it out when i can no longer fit my jeans.

dorygirl, i understand your frustrations. I think the best thing is to learn to recognize the difference between “water-weight” vs. “real –weight” gain. Think of this: eating tons of chocolate vs. drinking tons of water and weighing yourself immediately afterwards. Which has more calories, which weighs more? Obviously, drinking lots of water, which has no calories will make you weigh more. Eating tons of chocolate which has massive calories, won't having you weighing more the same day but it'll catch up to you. therefore, the scale isn't always truthful nor is it a true representation at that exact time of weigh in. However, weigh yourself a few days later for both scenerios, and I'm sure the chocolate versus drinking all that water will have you weighing more. so work from there. i say measuring your inches are a better indication of your true weight. if you're lazy like me or don't know how to measure, i just go by how my pants fit.
 
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Another thing to note, depending on the way they work, some scales can be affected by room temperature! So on a warm evening they say one thing, and in the morning in a cold bathroom, they say another.
 
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