Ok, so I have been using THE worlds oldest scale EVER. It has always worked ok, but would occasionally say I am several pounds more or less than I am. When I went to weight watchers it said I am 3 pounds more than I actually am. So that's fine, really didn't bother me. My hubby and I decided to buy a new scale last night, and my new scale says I'm 3 pounds lighter! I KNOW I only lost about .5 of those, but I still feel like I'm a big fat cheater! Would you just keep adding 3 pounds to the new scale, or just forget it, and now go with what the new scale says?
Go with the new scale....and keep on going Don't get so caught up in the exactness of it, you know? Progress is progress and obviously you are on the right track. I know for myself that if I get "anal" about it, then I eventually give up. I also know I tend to be OCD about weighing myself (so I am talking to myself here as much as you).
Your new scale is cool....I like the clear design. I have a scale that tells me how much fat I have too. Wow I am at 37%....how is that even possible?
Charmtime, don't go by the scale to tell you your body fat. I took a fitness class last semester, and those are 100% wrong. I got the fat folds done, and I had significantly less body fat compared to what the scale said. We went on the scale first, then got the folds done.
We're "taught" to be anal when it comes to dieting, and weight loss, and I think that's one of the most common reasons that success is so elusive, we accuse, blame, and condemn ourselves for not being impossibly precise. Did I eat 1100 calories today or was it 1200. If I ate 100 calories more than I was "supposed to," it means I'm a failure. Was that apple medium or large?
Don't get me wrong, a certain degree of precision is necessary for success, but you only have to be as precise as you need to be, and no more. Is this instance of nonprecision going to make you more or less successful? Are 3 lbs really worth the obsession.
Count them, don't count them - but do what's easiest, not what makes you "a better person," because none of your choices will do that.
Even the best bathroom digital scales are notoriously imprecise. Weight Watcher's scales are usually pretty good - but you're usualy weighing with more clothes on, and your clothes will weigh about 2 to 3 lbs (add another, if you weigh with your shoe on).
Even at Weight Watcher's, if there are multiple scales they will weigh differently (at one WW meeting I attended the line was twice as long for the scale that weighed lighter).
You've got to remember that the number isn't nearly as important as the things you can't measure. And "the lowest possible number" doesn't "win" you anything.
I have a friend who weighs 225 lbs, and she looks like she weighs about 150, 160 at most, because she's extremely (freakishly) athletic. She hikes, she runs, she kickboxes... She has arms most women would kill for. Her figure in general, is pretty awesome, and she has a tiny waist to boot. All of her weight is in the areas it looks good in (boobs and butt). There's no way she can get down to a "normal BMI" without losing muscle.
If I could look like her at 225 lbs, I wouldn't feel the need to lose an ounce.
We make this all about the scale only because it's the only do-it-at-home, measure we've got. You can't tell by the scale how much fat you're losing, and how much muscle you're gaining (you want them both). If you go only by the scale, you will be happy even if you're losing muscle.
Don't let the scale become a focus. It's a tool to be sure, but it's not THE most important focus. You want to be healthy and look good, and the scale can't tell you that, so don't let it tell you if you're "good" or "bad."
"Cheating" really should be taken out of the weight loss vocabulary, I think it causes a lot of unecessary and counterproductive guilt.
How about using a tape measure? Unless you hold it at a different place, surely this must be accurate. I hold mine right at my navel and suck in then read it. I am thrilled that I have lost an inch. I had a 35 in waist and would love to at least get it down to 32. The more I read about "belly fat", the more I realize it is a health issue and not just about looking good.
I totally agree with throwing "cheating" out of our vocabulary. Why is it wrong to eat a brownie? Why is it right to eat an apple? We spend WAYYYY too much time thinking about this stuff.
My daughter is a naturally thin person and she eats what she wants, when she wants but stops the second she is full. Even as a small child, she would leave a couple of kernels of corn or a bite of meat on her plate. It never crossed her mind to eat it cause she was full. I have always been a member of the clean your plate club and I really think that eating has added this 20 pounds to me. Obviously, I am older, slower metabolism as well, but I really think there is a lot to be said for eating what your body craves and listening to your body when it tells you ENOUGH!
Now exercise...that is a whole new ballgame, so to speak. I think exercise, for me at least, is something you have to be disciplined to do. I know that a 30 minute walk every day is the best for my health, my mental state, and my weight...yet I rarely do it. What is up with that?
I toootally feel like I'm cheating!
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Don't get so caught up in the exactness of it, you know? Progress is progress and obviously you are on the right track. I know for myself that if I get "anal" about it, then I eventually give up. I also know I tend to be OCD about weighing myself (so I am talking to myself here as much as you).
I am at 37%....how is that even possible?
