I know it's not advisable to get on the scale at the end of a day. But I just had the urge to step on the scale for the first time in 3 weeks. So I just did, at 4 pm. I almost cried...ok so maybe I did cry a little . It hadn't budged an ounce! How much does your weight vary at the end of the day? I know you are supposed to weigh first thing in the morning, but I couldn't resist, I was sure I'd lost. After eating healthy and exercising for 3 weeks now, I was sure I'd lost something. Now I regret it and am feeling down . Welcoming any and all pep talk at this point.
I am sorry you are discouraged! It could be that you are building muscle and that is why the scale hasn't indicated a "loss"? How do your clothes fit? How do you feel, aside from being fixated on the numbers? I am sure you feel better than before your new plan...focus on that and keep working on yourself;you deserve it!
Step on in the morning and report back. If it is the same at the end of the day, as it was in the morning (3 weeks ago) you have surely lost. My weight can vary 3-5 lbs in the course of a day.
Whoa, take a deep breath!! I agree with Sandi, if it's the same at the end of the day as it was three weeks ago, then you almost certainly have lost something. 3-5 or more pounds is pretty typical for an average days fluctuation, and nothing to be alarmed about, though I completely understand your disappointment, what a shock that must have been! But fear not, this is surely just your body retaining water and registering the food you've eaten, like it does every day. Good luck, and I've got my fingers crossed for in incase you decide to double check in the morning.
Sandi's right! If you have to get on the scale then do it again in the morning! My weight varies a lot, but I'm always at least 2 lbs heavier if I weigh in anytime other than first thing in the morning.
Thanks so much everbody. After my initial freak-out, I calmed down. I will re-weighin in the morning tomorrow and report back. Even if I have not lost any, I feel so much better. I no longer get (as) winded walking around campus, can walk my dog further distances, have more energy, and a host of other NSV (see, I'm learning the lingo). But it's always nice to see the scale reflect your efforts. Hopefully, the morning will bring good news. Fingers crossed.
So, I can relate..I got on the scale after 3 weeks vacation, at the end of a long hot hot hot car drive, after I drank like 4L's of water and after a shower... wow, that was probably the dumbest thing I've ever done. I cried, and then had to laugh at myself, there were no worse circumstances. Weigh tomorrow, I'm sure it'll be down! Oh, Never trust at scale at night if you normally weigh in the morning!
After reading this, just the **** of it I stepped on the scale and it was a 4 pound gain from my weigh in Sunday morning! I haven't been stuffing my face with ice cream either!
Weight naturally changes throughout the day.
I agree with Sandy, weigh yourself tomorrow right when you wake up and I gaurantee that it will be lower than it was tonight.
If I step on the scale at night and I weighed the same as I did that morning, I KNOW that I'll weigh less the next morning. Sweetie, haven't you heard my lecture about the scale?
It is an evil evil device. Do not judge your weight loss by it.
I'm sure they're all right. By the time you read this, you'll have weighed yourself again, and you'll probably be feeling better. If you're not, remember that when weight loss slows or stops, that just means it is time to switch it up. Can you change the type or intensity of your exercise? It might speed things along. Also remember to factor in things such as TOM. I always gain a few lbs around my TOM, but they're gone by the end. Don't let one weigh in discourage you. You're doing great, and we both know it.
For me the scale is a strange thing. I weight myself on Monday mornings. If I'm down 1 pound and I step on it again every morning, noon, evening, whatever for the rest of the week I'll be up 2 or 3 pounds. By then again, magically on Monday morning, I'll step on again and I'll be down another pound or two. I never pay attention to what it says any time of the week or day except for Monday mornings.
The scale is not evil, really. It's a tool, like any other. But we ask it to do what it is not designed to do. We want it to tell us how fat we are, and that we have lost fat. It does NOT do that. Our bodies are much more than fat. It can only measure the whole.
It is up to us to understand what it can and cannot do. It is in our perception of the "rightness" of the scale for measuring fat (which it doesn't do) that leads to our upset when it shows an increase, or no loss, when we KNOW we're following our plan.
I weigh almost every day. Sometimes twice. I weigh in once a week. I understand "the tyranny of the scale." But I also know when my weight is up three pounds in the evening that there is NO WAY I ate enough to gain that much fat. I know when I hold steady for three weeks at a time, yet my dresses are getting looser, that I'm losing fat and my body just needs time to adjust. And then, three weeks later I get a "whoosh" of three pounds or so.
Your body is not a machine, such that you can measure what goes in and what goes out and calculate from that exactly what you will weigh. You are instead a work of art, fluid and in motion, changing from day to day depending on what your body needs and what it's doing and how it's reacting to things. It is and MUST BE the overall trend that we look at, else we fall too easily into discouragement.
Shannon :: Just a big DITTO to what everyone else is saying about daily weight fluctuation ... like most my 'day' weight is anywhere between 2 to sometimes 5 lbs higher than it is in the mornings ...
Why oh why did I step on the scale?
. It hadn't budged an ounce! How much does your weight vary at the end of the day? I know you are supposed to weigh first thing in the morning, but I couldn't resist, I was sure I'd lost. After eating healthy and exercising for 3 weeks now, I was sure I'd lost something. Now I regret it and am feeling down 
. Welcoming any and all pep talk at this point.
