I use my home scale daily to track my weight. I just started doing this and the main purpose is to be able to see how my weight fluctuates from day to day. I keep it logged into Fitday, which has a memo section that I'm using.
I also weigh-in once a week at a TOPS meeting. This is the weight I'm calling my "official" weight and the one you see in my ticker.
Like Robin, I use the scale as a tool. I also do monthly measurements and will do quarterly measurements at TOPS. Knowledge is power and I can't afford to let myself get complacent, so I would rather be a little obsessed.
Yep. When I know I am doing badly, I avoid the scale because I don't want to know what it says. It's always a bad, bad sign for me when I stop wanting to weigh because I know the news is not going to be good.
I do understand the viewpoint of people who only weigh weekly, though, or who choose not to weigh at all. I have gone through phases where my mood for the whole day was directly the result of what the scale said. If it was lower, I was a good person and successful; if it was higher, I was bad. A loser. A failure. Not true, of course, but I totally have been in that place where I felt like that.
As we've said many times here before, everyone is different and we should all do what works best for us!
I do weigh myself every day from the beginning of my weight loss journey. I would be excited for the lossed then a little bummed when my weight stayed the same for a couple of days. I decided to have my parents keep my scale at their house for a month that way I would not be tempted to weigh every day.
I absolutely lived and died by the scale numbers. If I was UP or the SAME I would be on and off and on and off all day. If I was DOWN, I figured I'd earned a bit of "relaxation time" on my plan. For me, daily/multiple weigh ins was counter-productive. And, as my mood depended on the numbers, DH wasn't happy, either.
I ditched my home scale. I weigh in once a week at the same time in the same clothes at my WW meeting. I deal with the number then. And I feel much, much freer.
As I am in the weight-loss phase of my diet, I can't address how I will weigh in when I am maintaining. So for now, once a week is plenty.
After all, I want this to be a lifestyle change and to focus on being on my eating plan and following through with my exercise. And NOT just about the numbers. So I define success as being as close as possible to 100% on target with my eating and exercise goals. Which is why, for me, frequent (as in more than once a week) weighing seems to be, well, a contradiction. Weekly info is more than enough info for me to see trends and adjust my plan accordingly. After all, I'm not prepared to tinker with my plan based on daily blips. I WILL based on weekly blips. So that is why I weigh weekly.
I didnt think that i was obbsessed with the scale until my sons friend broke it. now i am freaking out with out..i cant wait till wensday, when i can go and buy a new one... i also took my measurments every monday.and marked them on the same measuring tape so i could see the inches melt away..until my 4 year old cut it up...so now i have nothing...
Thanks for all the input, everyone! I've taken everything in and have given it a lot of thought.
I told my boyfriend that I am picking up a scale the next time we go to Fry's (an electronics store), and that he wasn't telling me no. They have half an aisle full to select from and I'm sure I'll find one I like.
Heh, he'd forgotten all about telling me that I didn't "need" one back when we moved in together a couple of years ago. I reminded him of the reasons and he laughed. I think he's agreed that I'll be able to handle it alright now (I was admittedly stressed out about a ton of different things back then and probably didn't need anything that might set me off).
At this point, I have no easy access to a scale at all. The current weight I've got in my mind (285) is only an assumption based on the last time I had an exam, since my clothes still fit me the same since then.
I'm planning on putting it in one of the rooms we never use and checking my progress once a week.
Thanks for all the input, everyone! I've taken everything in and have given it a lot of thought.
I told my boyfriend that I am picking up a scale the next time we go to Fry's (an electronics store), and that he wasn't telling me no. They have half an aisle full to select from and I'm sure I'll find one I like.
Heh, he'd forgotten all about telling me that I didn't "need" one back when we moved in together a couple of years ago. I reminded him of the reasons and he laughed. I think he's agreed that I'll be able to handle it alright now (I was admittedly stressed out about a ton of different things back then and probably didn't need anything that might set me off).
At this point, I have no easy access to a scale at all. The current weight I've got in my mind (285) is only an assumption based on the last time I had an exam, since my clothes still fit me the same since then.
I'm planning on putting it in one of the rooms we never use and checking my progress once a week.
Sounds like a great plan!
I think weighing oneself on a regular basis is just one more thing that a healthy person does. Part of their overall health "routine". It's just another way of staying in tune with ones body. And that's what it's all about.
By the way, if you're looking for a good scale I have a Tanita scale. Extremely accurate. And yes, sometimes it reads higher then I would like it to. And no, it's not always from a "normal" fluctuation. It's from me over indulging too much. There is no avoiding it when you see that number staring you back in the face. It tells me, it's time to "catch" any minor lapse before it turns into a "major" lapse or worse - a relapse. I am thankful that we've got such an easy and quick reminder. As a 5 foot woman who once weighed 287 lbs, I know how quickly a minor lapse can turn into a total and complete collapse. I avoided the scale for almost 15 years. Now granted, I knew I was morbidly obese, but I can't help but think had I just weighed myself on a regular basis, faced that number, I would have snapped out of it earlier.
I've taken everything in and have given it a lot of thought.
They have half an aisle full to select from and I'm sure I'll find one I like.
I LOVE that place!! 
