300+ Club - How do you not let weight loss consume you?

Ok I am having a hard time with not letting trying to lose weight consume me. I want to weigh myself everyday. I am feeling like I am becoming obsessed with the scale and it is sabotaging (s?) my efforts. Can anyone give me any tips on how to just let it be a part of life and not the focus of everything?

For me, it means weighing daily. I record the weight, but really only think of my Monday weigh-in as my "official" weight.

I've always thought of weighing more than once a day as crossing the line into unhealthy compulsion. However recently I started using it as a tool in the evenings. If I was hungry in the evening, I would weigh myself instead. It may sound stupid, but checking on the weight helped me decide whether it was "real" hunger or at least whether (in my mind) if the extra calories were really worth it. Oddly it didn't matter what the results were, as just the weighing myself was enough of a reminder to myself of what I'm doing here helped. To the point, now just thinking about checking my weight in response to an evening craving helps me decide whether I'm "really" hungry or just bored.

Not everyone, especially when you have a lot to lose, can seperate emotion from the scale, so this may not work for everyone. However again, I think one of the mental tricks is only looking at that next pound. Almost pretending that you only have that one to lose. Once you lose that one you can start on the next, but until then worrying about it is sort of "off-limits."

i wish i could, but i'm seriously obsessed with it (watching calories that is, i weigh myself usually a couple times a week but only count my weigh ins on tuesdays)

I have found that I HAVE to obsess over it, but I try to keep it what I would consider a "healthy" obsession. Especially at the beginning of a new way of eating/dieting and beginning to exercise the "obsession" helps me stay on track. I think I've heard it said that it takes about 21 days to form a new habit. I interpret that as if I walk my treadmill and eat healthy every day for 3 weeks, it will become habit. No days off. Just as much as I might have obsessed over a favorite meal or snack or planning a vacation, I now obsess over dieting and becoming healthy. I still have a long way to go. I suspect this will take me more than a year to lose the weight I need to lose to be healthy.
Weighing everyday isn't terrible, but you have to realize the scale isn't going to move everyday and in fact, it may go up and down from hour to hour. Try to only weigh once a week. My DH and I both are on South Beach Diet and he is scale obsessed more than I am. We only write our weights down on the calendar once a week, but I take a second look usually sometime mid-week. He has been known to weigh 2-3 times a day--silly man!
I have found that as I get into the routine of diet and exercise, it becomes easier. I guess it is becoming a habit. We've been at this 7 weeks, although I just started exercise last week. I think if you stick with a routine, you may find that pretty soon it will "just be part of life".

I'm not going to lie. There are days when it DOES consume me. Not that I'm constantly on the scale, but that I've thought about the meals I've planned, the exercise I'm going to do, what I weigh in the evening before bed vs what I weigh in the morning when i wake up. Gah!

But, having a few hobbies that I can be more concerned with does help me out. That way I can distract myself away from the scale when it's not needed.

I was weighing myself everyday but I got so discouraged when I didn't lose or it went up. I am now trying to weigh myself once a week so I am pleasantly suprised when there is a good size drop.

I have to weigh daily at this point week4. I have already dealt with being stuck for a week and not loosing and realising i was cutting my calories to low. I am comsumed right now...not with the scales but with eating right. I am a perfectionist and i am learning that i wont alway stay on track with calories and sometimes will eat to many calories and make bad choices. Im learning to not beat myslelf up when i have a bad day..just to keep going. Im also seeing the scales are more forgiving than I am when i cheat.
If i could only become obsessed with more exercise ....lol
debi

I think being obsessed with it keeps me on track. I blog, I have excel spread sheets, I am working on an access data base so that I can have graphs and daily nutrition, and carry a calorie king book with me when I leave the house and I am always reading forums or health related things. I weigh in about every 2 days but update my blog/trackers once per week, I feel that knowing whether its going up or down helps because if I have not lost what I expect I work harder that day. YMMV but thats what works for me :)

I find that 50 days in its all become habit for me and I don't miss my old ways. so this is my normal life now. will it relax? I am sure it will relax at some point but for now obsession is the key for me.

As Ever
Me

For me, I think I have to let it consume me for a bit. I'm still not set enough in my new ways to not keep vigilant. Although I do weigh myself most mornings, I only do it once. The first few days with the new scale I probably weighed myself way too much. Of course, that was probably because it was much higher than I thought.

I also think if I'd kept weighing myself two years ago perhaps I wouldn't have slid up so much. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think for a long time (maybe forever) I'll have to weigh myself at least once a week. And for a very long time (maybe forever) I'll have to plan my food intake (and calorie count). I'd like to think that I could live well without this, but I'm over 40 and until recently the only real point was that I maintained and gained. I seriously doubt I can break 40 years of habits without being a little obsessive. Maybe other people can, but for now I have to admit that I cannot.

In the end it's a better obsession than planning my drive home from work, trying to decide which fast food place I'm going to hit. :)

I admit it, I am consumed. But, I was consumed before, too. I didn't get to this weight with a balanced thought process about eating. Before, I was thinking about what to eat next. Now, I'm thinking about how to improve my health, and managing my issues the best I can. Will I ever be not consumed? I don't know, but this way is far better for me than obsessing about the next mountain of fetuccine alfredo.

When I was doagnosed with HBP I let it consume me. I was convinced for about the first qeek that anything I ate was going to kill me instantly. I finally turned to DH and wailed "You can't understand how I feel!!!" He glared at me...because he is diabetic and had only been diagnosed a few years earlier. That was when I realized that common sense and education were going to be critical.

When I started WW the first time, I was obsessed...I had a new plan and I was on a mission. I also had my MIL calling me weekly after our Weigh-ins to see how I did. She is in HOW (kin to OA) and does her own program...whch I find way to obsessive to me. I understand the addiciton to food, but my problem with HOW and OA is the need for a sponsor and being responsible to someone else. If they aren't eating the food...then why are they involved? Support is good but it has to be about personal accountability.

WW works for me because I only WI once a week at the same time on the same scale and wearing more or less the same clothing. I see that each week is the average of how I did each day and that way I feel that if I flub a day then all is not lost.

It is about making it into a habit...you start with an easily repeatable set of behaviors...and once you have them downpat...then you can branch out and take the next step. Start with one thing (reducing portion size, cutting out junk food, whatever) and then add to that slowly. Anyone who tried to start a major diet and start a major workout regimen all at one time would likely get frustrated with both when major immediate results were not seen.

The key I think is to get a little obsessed....as much as you would about anytuing you cared about passionately...after all...it's about YOU...and you have to care about you before any of it matters.

I don't think you need to worry about being obsessed with the scale. I have been in a love/hate relationship with my scale for some time now. I finally gave my scale to my neighbor for safe keeping and only weigh-in at the gym. The scale isn't even in the locker room. It is in the personal trainers' room. So I only have access to it on my official weigh-in day. My obsession for the past 6 months has been with keeping track of my calories and how often and intensely I work out. I have found this to be better for me. I also try to focus on my body fat percentage versus my weight as I am a fairly muscular person and as we all know muscle weighs more than fat.

I guess I am saying that especially in the beginning it is okay to obsess a bit, but if you feel that the scale is sabatoging your best weight loss efforts it is time to rethink the availability of the scale. Personally, I don't feel daily weigh-ins are good for me until I get to a maintanence stage. The only reason I would deviate from this was if I went OP for any serious period of time. Then it might be a good idea to weigh more often so you can catch yourself before going too far.

Ultimately, you have to figure out what you are comfortable with and capable of. :goodluck:

I think I would like to try to get over being so obsessed with the scale. I am becoming more obsessed with my calorie counting. Writing everything down really helps me. Maybe I should start a blog. My problem is when I weigh myself everyday and it goes down or up a bit I freak out. I have OCD and get so frusturated with the scale I turn to food to comfort me. Maybe the blog is a good idea to helpo me get over my frusturations. I need to become obsessed with working out! Any suggestions?

I have days where I'm obsessed with my scale - enough so that I feel depressed if it's not the number I want and start thinking really negatively about myself.

I set aside days that I 'let' myself get on the scale and if I ruin it by getting on before then I push the day further back. I had to take a step back and focus on the stuff I really could control - like planning my meals a couple days in advance.. and planning my exercise a couple days in advance. All that deliberating distracts me from focusing on the scale.

I think one of the mental tricks is only looking at that next pound. Almost pretending that you only have that one to lose. Once you lose that one you can start on the next, but until then worrying about it is sort of "off-limits."

I really like this idea. I think because my goal is 1/2 pound a week, I am somewhat taking this attitude.

I am weighing daily, but have one day a week I'm considering an official day.
I'm doing SB which feels much less obessessed about "the diet" than anything else I've done. It's not the boring constant topic of conversation. I do visit here daily. And I'm also finding value in monitoring myself using FitDay.

Bottom Line: I'm not feeling obsessed about this.

I definitely think it's like an obsession. But like BattleAx said, it's a different kind than the one I had before. I too used to obsess about when the next time I could stuff my face, what I would eat, etc etc etc.

I am obsessed with FitDay for my counting calories. But I think it's NECESSARY. I type in EVERYTHING and I pre-plan what I'm going to eat that night so I can check the calorie amounts and make sure it will fit with my plan.

I weigh EVERY day, usually twice a day (one in the am and one before bed). I only take my official weight on Wednesday mornings, though. I understand that the weight on a scale fluctuates... but I think staying on top of things means that you're more in tune with your body. If my weight has stayed pretty high for 2 days straight, I know it's more than just a "fluke" with the scale and I better re-look at what I've been eating to make it stay high. If I waited a whole week, that adds extra days on that could add even more weight.

Prime Example--- a year ago I was trying to diet and I noticed that my weight was higher than I expected it would be. And it stayed high (and got a little higher) the next day... I re-looked at what I was eating and found out that this homemade bread I was eating was HORRIBLE for you--- didn't realize how many calories was in it! So if I would have kept eating it for 4 more days until the next weigh in, that would have been 4 more days with WAY more calories I didn't need.

I think that you have to throw yourself ALL IN to this diet/lifestyle change. We got this way because we were LAZY and didn't CARE and it was too much EFFORT to eat better and healthier and keep track of what went into our mouths. When you down a pint of ice cream and have no idea that it actually contains 1200 calories, you're LAZY and you're gonna be IN TROUBLE.

This kind of obsession works for me.

I know for me there is a sweet spot where I am conscious enough so that I am firmly ontrack but I am not letting myself get stressed and worked up abot every single little thing. This is a very difficult place for me to stay in. I seem to be able to find it easily enough when I really try, but to be able to live there is another matter entirely.

I think weight loss does take a certain level of obsession to be successful at. I think one of the reasons I haven’t been successful with consistent weight loss is that I find that state of obsession uncomfortable to be in for very long. I either get too obsessive and then sabotage myself by restricting too far or I let myself get too relaxed about things.

When I figure it out I will definitely let you know. :)

I agree with BrandNewJen I think that being lazy and not paying attention to what we're eating has gotten us to this point. I normally only weigh myself in the morning. But sometimes I will weigh at night just to see how what I've been eating througout the day has affected me. I tried to only weigh once a week but it didn't work for me. I found that I was too busy worrying about the weigh in instead of planning and actually eating right. So I find doing it every morning very encouraging and it helps me to keep my mind off of it. I think we have to be obsessive about what we're putting into our bodies. I used to just eat food without looking at the nutrition facts or the ingredients, but now I make sure I look at everything.