Fluctuations :-( How to deal?

[psuajblue]

I am having a major issue. When there is a SMALL (i'm talking half pound) fluctuation in my weight, it's really difficult for me to stay motivated. I feel like what I'm doing must not be working. Yesterday, I was so excited because I weighed 142.8... today, 143.4. Logically, I know this is idiotic. I'm a high school health teacher/ track coach, for heavens sake...I know how the body works! Why is this such a setback for me? Any ideas on how to mentally move past this?

[lin43]

Yes---toss your scale and get out the measuring tape! Why put yourself through the angst and possible loss of motivation (and possible giving up) for perfectly normal fluctuations that are bound to show up on the scale. Some folks are fine weighing themselves daily. They can look at the number objectively and logically without it doing major harm to their motivation. I am not one of those people, and it sounds like you aren't either. So, get rid of the scale. Life is too short to have that daily anxiety.

[tuende]

I have the same damn issue and I usually just avoid the scale. Whether this is a good idea or not, I don't know. I've tried the weekly weigh-ins, I've tried daily weigh-ins, I've tried forcing myself into objecctivity, but I just absolutely hate it if the number is up at all. Even 1/2 a pound up, I just know how much freaking work losing that 1/2 pound is. I am just more able to stay on track if I'm not feeling down about my progress, so for now, the scale's out of my life.

[zoodoo613]

Don't weigh yourself so often. It's really not yielding any useful information on a daily basis so if it upsets you, there's not point.

(I'm saying this as a daily weigher. I enjoy it, and it doesn't throw me off too much if it's not what I like to see.)

[Lovely]

I'm a semi-daily weigher for curiosity's sake. I find the fluctuations and the potential reasons behind them to be interesting...

I weigh myself... for science!

I just don't attach worth to it anymore. I can't even say how... it's just an experiment. A lifelong experiment. And my body is the testing ground.

I have discovered over the course of two months of this experiment that (drumroll, please) eating less and moving more has caused me to lose weight. Fascinating, right?

If daily weighing is getting to you, maybe weekly would be better. Don't forget the measuring tape and pictures.

Or turn it PURELY into an experiment by making a graph of your weigh-ins. It's fun to see that line go down, peak up a little, go back down, go down further, level out, go up, go down... Seeing that in front of your eyes might help to bring home the message that weight fluctuates. It's a natural process. Even while still losing weight overall! It's still going to fluctuate.

[shcirerf]

I weigh myself daily. I log all my food and drink daily. I also weigh, not only at home, under a controlled environment, first thing in the morning, but also weigh in all my clothes at work on our industrial scale. Plus my weekly weigh in at WW.

I'm not anal about it. Just interested in the differences. My clothes can give me a 5 pound difference!

Like the above poster, I do it, in the interest of seeing what happens.

A scale is nothing more than one of many tools, utilized in determining success as weight loss.

Inches are important, as well as blood work, cholesterol levels, BMI, fitness levels, how do you feel?

I weigh every morning, in my birthday suit and post hitting the john. I write it on the calendar above my scale. I only really look at the numbers when I have to turn the page on my calendar.

As long as I'm where I need to be, I'm good with it. If it seems a bit off, I go back to my journal to see what is off.

It gives me a way to track progress, and what might be or not be affecting my ultimate goal.