Staying away from the scales

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  • I've promised myself that I would only weigh in once a month because I have a long history of scale obsession and giving up when I dont see results fast enough. Has anyone else tried this approach? I was so determined that I gave my scales to a friend to remove the temptation... but its day 15 and im getting curious because I cannot see any difference in my body. Staying away from the scales is becoming harder than staying away from the sweeties!. How often do you weigh in, curious to know what works for others....
  • In the beginning of my journey, I was weighing several times a day. It kept me upset and stressed out. Now, I rarely weigh at all and am judging my progress mainly by clothing size.
  • I'm the opposite.... I tried weighing in once a month, figuring I'd be much happier seeing a big drop.

    But I get way too ahead of myself. I try to predict what the scale will show, and I ALWAYS over estimate and then I get really sad and really disappointed with whatever loss I DO have.

    If I weigh myself every day, it distracts me from the overall picture, and if my weigh loss process is slow, I can make up excuses to make myself feel better ("Oh, I must be retaining water." "That must be because I did a hard work out yesterday!" "It'll go down soon ")

    A month ago today... I was 1lb heavier than I was this morning (I record every day's weigh in). My weight loss has stalled, but because I weigh myself so often, I feel that there's still "hope" and it doesn't FEEL like the scale hasn't budged for so long. And even though the numbers are floating around the same digits... in reality, my "average" is going down. So I know I'm losing, but looking at single weigh ins (be it daily, weekly, or monthly) it looks like nothing is happening.

    Here, I'll share. (These are from back in January)

    Daily Weigh in

    Weekly weigh in
  • I am the opposite actually from Onderchic. I weigh myself several times a day, I am a little obsessive. I like to know that I am on the downward slope throughout the week. Once I get to my goal I will probably do a daily weigh in. I just want to make sure I keep myself accountable and doing it that often helps me. I do know that a lot of people go by how their clothes fit, and I think that totally can work as well. I used to avoid scales...that is how I got myself up to 280.
  • I'm a daily weigher on an enforced break from the scales whilst on holiday in Florida. It's driving me nuts !!
  • I usually weigh every morning but if I have a feeling that my weight will be up I will choose not to weigh that day or sometimes for a few days. For example, if I ate too much salt and feel puffy the next morning I will choose not to weigh. If TOM is near by, I will stop weighing for a week. When I see higher numbers I get discouraged even though I know those numbers are related to water, not fat. I figure its better to wait it out instead of setting myself up for discouragement
  • I do EVERY morning, exact same time! Guess I am obsessed.
  • i weigh every day, but I Take measurements to offset TOM, and water weight.
  • Quote: I have been following your progress for the longest time and you are amazing!
    Awww thank you so very much, that means a lot to me
  • I did not weigh in at all the first 72 days and now only once a month for the reasons OP lists.

    I do track my calorie deficit so that I know I'm staying on track.

    And on the plus side, when I was starting and my body and mind fighting me on the new plan, I was able to work on "resisting" getting on the scale rather than on something I shouldn't be eating.
  • Im a daily weigher but sometimes when I can feel Im swelling with water weight pretty bad... I'll pass on it til I feel it go down some.
  • When I was losing my first 40 pounds, I only looked at a scale once, and that's when I started. I looked again after a few months and was - 40! I have been monitoring my weight now, but it seems to make me more depressed than motivated. I like to go by clothing/the mirror, personally.
  • Hey,

    I was once very scale obsessed as well and in turn i developed an eating disorder. 5 years later i can say giving up the scale was the best thing i have ever done. I weight myself now only when i go to the doctors so every 5 or 6 months (i am going tomorrow by the way, dreading the number) anyways, 2 years ago i lost about 20 pound and throughout my weight loss i never even checked the scale, it did wonders because it made it easy for me to lose weight. Before, the scale made me obsessed with every little pound and when i would gain one it would wreck my day and i would be so depressed and in turn eat. NOT WORTH IT, our weight naturally fluctuates and it does not mean you are gaining weight and until you can fully understand and accept that i say stay away from the scale, the last thing you want to be obsessing about for a whole week is one pound of water weight. Not a way to live.
  • I do it once a week, Sundays, which for me is after a few extra hours of rest and I try to be sure I'm hydrated, super hydrated. I do get curious around Wednesday but try not to step on the scale.
  • i weigh every day, because it helps me to know where i am, see the effects of what i ate the day before (like was there too much sodium), and helps keep me motivated when the scale moves down. honestly, it can be distracting when the scale does not move or when it bumps up, but i don't think i could go for long periods without knowing, and then the not knowing would be more of a distraction for me. but i think everyone is different on this, so whatever works and feels comfortable.