new here, and a question about how often to weigh myself..
I'm new here (hi!) and I'm just starting the long journey back to what I weighed before I got pg with #2. I cleaned out our closets this weekend and packed up all sorts of things in size 4-6 (sigh) since I'm now a size 18
Anyway, this is about my 3rd attempt to lose (the kid is now almost 2.5 so I've had plenty of time to take off the weight), and I've been thinking about how/why I managed to not lose the weight those other times.
I think I get discouraged. I know what I should be eating, and I expect it all to fall off overnight, so when the scale doesn't show results, it feels like it isn't 'worth it' and I quit.
Anyway, I was reading through some of the old weight loss posts on here and I noticed that when people post their monthly weights, there's ALWAYS (ok, almost always) a noticeable loss. even a couple of weeks of .2 lbs seems to jump up to 5 lbs or similar when you look over a longer period of time.
So, I'm thinking: since I seem to have a hard time when I look and don't see results, maybe I'd do better weighing myself only once a month.
What do you think?
And how often do you weigh yourself?
Any advice? and thank you for reading so far!
So an answer to your question Of how often to weigh. It really is a personal choice. I choose to weigh myself ONCE a day. It keeps me accountable, and i like to see how eating different foods affects my weight and how my body deals with different veggies fruits and carbs so I can see which foods my body best responds to!
But, some people cannot weigh every day without becoming obsessive. If you are one of those people, then I would recommend weighing maybe once a week!
If I do have a bad eating day, I will eat perfect for the next few days and not get on the scale, because I know if I see a gain it will discourage me, and probably lead to a binge. And I don't weigh around TOM for the same reasons.
Basically, it's all just personal preference. So good luck!
GenghisKhan - it is definitely a personal choice. If you think you will do better weighing 1 time a month, then do it.
Personally, I am a data geek. I have a fitbit that I track cals burned with and I weigh and record my weight daily (although I occasionally hop on the scale at night to see what type of range I have). I started it thinking of it all like a science experiment. I am one of those who loses weight then I bounce around a certain weight for a while and then woosh... I lost 6lbs last week! The scale "owed" it to me though. I track my cals in and cals burned and am pretty darn good figuring out exactly how much the scale owes me. It always pays off within .4 of a lb give or take.
The scale can't "discourage you" unless you allow it to by having unrealistic expectations. If you expect (or even hope) to see a loss every time you step on the scale, daily weighing is going to be discouraging. However, if you have no such expectations or hopes, the scale can't discourage you.
I weigh myself at least twice a day, sometimes much more often than that, but usually twice. I don't expect or even hope to see weight loss. I decided that my goal was to "not gain." And to use the scale to help me do that, not to see a loss every time. Even small gains didn't discourage me, because I didn't compare today's weight with yesterday's, I compared it to last months or even my starting wieght.
No matter what I weigh, I have something to celebrate when I do. If I stay the same, I celebrate "not gaining" (which is my primary goal, much more so than even weight loss). If gain, I celebrate what I HAVE kept off. If I lose, I celebrate not only the loss, but the not-gaining, and the loss so far).
That means no matter what happens on the scale, I have an awful lot to celebrate and feel proud about.
By focusing on the accomplishments, and celebrating them I can step on the scale once a day or a hundred times a day and not be hurt by it.
As for weighing dozens of times being "obsessive," that only means anything if the obsession is interfering with your life, or adding stress to it.
I find weighing very stress-relieving. If I eat something off-plan and start to fret about what impact it will have on my weight loss - I get on the scale to see (It's impossible to gain more weight from a food, than the food actually weighs - so by getting on the scale after an off-plan bite I do get to see a "worse than worst-case-scenario).
In the past, when I tried to weigh weekly or monthly, if I ate off-plan I wouldn't step on the scale (because that was supposed to be discouraging and demotivating) and instead I'd WORRY about what the impact was going to be on the scale at the next scheduled weigh-in. More often than not, I'd decide that I had "blown it," and might as well keep bingeing until the weigh-in at which point I'd "start fresh."
Since weighing was always the "start fresh" point, I've decided to take advantage of that fact. Now, I do remind myself that there is no starting fresh, just moving on, but weighing myself does help me put a stop to the "blown it" mentality. It proves to me that I haven't blown anything, and that there's no need to "start fresh." And if there's no need to start fresh, there's no need to turn a small mistake into a big one.
So if that means weighing myself a dozen times, because I've had a dozen off-plan bites, so be it.
If you're going to weigh daily (or more often) you do need a different mindset than weighing weekly or monthly. There's nothing wrong with any choice, as long as the choice helps you more than hurts you.
Weighing weekly (and even more so monthly) does not work well for me, because if I do have a stall or a gain, I'm even MORE distraught - and it's another week or month before I get positive feedback. Also, I have a very hard time not turning an off-plan bite into a binge, unless I can prove to myself that the off-plan bite didn't set me back.
I always KNEW this, but I didn't always FEEl it. If I was losing 2 lbs a week on an 1800 calorie diet, there was no way that 200 extra calories was going to prevent me from losing, let alone cause me to gain. But it would feel like one bite doomed me to gaining, so I might as well continue to binge and "start fresh" tomorrow or Monday...
Now I see the after-bite weigh-in as my sort-of-starting-over-but-really-just-moving-on point.
And how I know it's not obsessive or self-destructive? Because not only am I having more success with weight loss, I'm also spending a lot less time worrying and stressing about my food and my weight.
When I weighed weekly I'd worry about my weight all week, especially if I had so much as a single off-plan, or less-perfectly counted day. So while I only weighed once (aobut three seconds) I'd spend hours and hours thinking and worrying about my food and my weight.
Now, even if I would weigh myself 50 times a day, that's only 150 seconds - not even three minutes.
I don't think I've ever weighed myself 50 times a day except maybe during my curiosity experiment. I wanted to understand all the factors that affected my weigh, so I weighed myself before and after I ate, drank, dressed, showered, went to the bathroom.... and I noted what day it was in my menstrual cycle... So that I understood all the factors that affected my weight, and how they did so.
After I satisfied my curiosity I brought it down to twice a day on average. Sometimes more, if I have an off-plan bite.
I could weigh once a day, but I like weighing before bed, because my morning weight is always lower, so every day I get to see a loss, even if it's not a "real" loss.
It isn't real, so it shouldn't count, and it doesn't count for much, but I do get a kick out of seeing a weight in the morning that's lower than the previous weight the night before. It may not be real, but it's fun.
There is no right or wrong way to do this. Whatever works is the right way.
I think that, for me, it would be good to count calories rigorously, and not weigh myself so often - maybe twice a month. Then I would see some weight loss when I got on the scale. I get obsessed. Grant you, like Kaplods said, I'm not spending hours a day on the scale, but sometimes I can't leave it alone. LOL!
I think if you do weigh infrequently, you must be very careful about keeping track of what you eat. Keeping track keeps me honest about how much I am really eating.
Thanks everyone. I guess what I should have mentioned in my first post is that I have been a daily weigher, and an obsessive tracker of calories and numbers. It helped me to lose after #1 was born (I took off 96 lbs!), only the math isn't working out quite as easily for me this time around. I know what I've eaten, I know what I've burned, and I know what the scale should say. When it doesn't show as quickly as I expect, I've been getting discouraged and have quit a few weeks after starting 3x in the past 18 months.
I've told myself, after seeing no loss (or up and down the same 0.2 lb) for a week or more, that the running and the healthy choices were a lot of trouble for afraction of a pound, and that it just wasn't worth it. I kind of suspect that if I'd just stuck it out for a few more weeks, I would have seen 4 lbs just fall off.
Anyway, I'm thinking (hoping?) that sticking to the plan but not getting on the scale might avoid this problem - I won't notice the 0.2 lb fluctuations, but I can enjoy the 5 lb drop I should see clearly when I next hit the scale.
bad idea? faulty logic? It might be. I don't know what I weigh today (have a pretty good idea, within about 4 lbs), and I'm not going to look until July 31. I'll see how it goes. I'm more concerned about sticking to my calorie goals, and less about the number on the scale. If I think it's throwing me off, I'll weigh myself. If it works, then I'll keep going.
Honestly, if you can stay away from the scale for a certain amount of time than do it! I like to weigh daily and write it down, but that is just how my brain works (I like to see a chart and even tho sometimes I will be up in weight, I can see that the over all trend is a decrease).
However, I know lots of people that prefer to weigh weekly, bi-weekly and even monthly! If seeing a 0.2 pound gain discourages you or makes you have a bad day, than avoid daily weigh ins! Plus, it might even motivate you to eat better for longer periods knowing that your big weigh in is coming up next week or something!
I used to measure daily. Because weighing often made no sense.
When I was dieting and doing loads of exercise I weighed about the same each day but my waist got smaller. Muscle weighs more than fat. So maybe if you're exercising more this is what is happening to you too?
I weigh myself once weekly. It's exciting to wait and see the results each week. I compete with myself. And if I don't like what I see, I think back over the past week and think about why there wasn't a shift, or why I gained. Then I just have to prove to myself that I can do better the following week.
If I lose, it's an extra boost to keep going.
But it really is a personal choice. Experiment a bit and find what works for you, or reevaluate how you're looking at things and try to change your thought process.
It is definitely a personal choice. I myself am new here and am also a size 18 and decided to count calories this time, as I only attempted to lose weight once before, when I was 17 and was looking to lose some for my junior prom (I did the 2005 weight watchers program it worked great). I actually haven't weighed since the last time I went to the doctors because...well my scale decided to break. Gotta get to a store by foot soon to get a new one.
I found that weekly is pretty realistic, it is exciting to see a weekly progress as you have more time to actually lose than if you do it daily. I know I would get discouraged if I did it daily. I would set a day of the week and time you are doing it and record it, that is my plan at least. Good luck!
I only weigh myself when I'm very sure I'm not bloated from carbs, salt, that time of the month, etc. It works out to be between a few times a week to once a week depending on how things are going.
Honestly, for tracking purposes, I feel like once a MONTH is plenty for me. That's enough to show over the long term if my weight is really trending up or down.
If I feel pretty sure I'm carrying extra water weight, I absolutely will not get on a scale for any reason, lol. It's just too much of a de-motivator for me.
If you feel the same, I would strongly recommend against weighing every single day.
For me, only weighing once a month worked. I knew that if I was working hard and sticking to my plan it WOULD come off. IF I weighed everday or even every week especially in the beginning, I just doubt I would have stuck with it. I know others have different opinions. I know that now that I am closer to my goal and actually at a plateau, I need to weigh more often. I was like you when I used to start a new diet or program. What worked for me, worked for me and everyone has to find what works for them. I chose to count calories 6 days a week and workout 6 days a week. With one free and rest day a week. This free day gave me the fight to keep going because I knew that I could still enjoy something yummy on Saturdays. Dieting and excersizing wasn't as hard for me when I knew that I didn't have to be deprived forever. Others say that shouldn't be done. It finally worked for me and so you just need to find what works for you. Something that is sustainable and over a period of time, will show results. :-)
new here, and a question about how often to weigh myself..
It always pays off within .4 of a lb give or take.
It's just too much of a de-motivator for me.
