Can You Be Happy If the Scale Isn't Moving?
 

When you are trying and working very hard to lose weight, and the scale doesn't reflect your efforts, can you still be happy? Or does the scale put you in a bad mood and taint the rest of your life?

I am curious to see the answers to this.

I'm afraid I'm one of those that if I'm putting in 100% with my eating and exercise and the scale isn't moving downwards it does affect my mood.
After losing over 80lbs I know I'm in it for the long haul and never going back to where I was, but I still get panicky that I won't ever be able to lose anymore and it's out of my control. As happy as I am to be where I am now, I can almost taste goal and I want to get there more than anything in the world.
This past couple of weeks has been hard for me with a holiday and socialising, and I'm having to realise that this is my life now and I'm just going to have to learn to deal with things the best way I can.

My weight stays between 161 and 162 no matter how hard I try. But the reason I changed my eating habits was because of health issues. In this I have gained many benefits. So when I see the scale hasn't moved, I tell myself this is a lifestyle change for my health.

Sharon

To be honest, I have been back to food logging, exercising, getting the right amount of sleep, and having no sugar at all since January. (After about six months where I still didn't eat sugar, but didn't log my food or really work out.) And I have lost no appreciable weight doing so, although I can tell that my body composition has changed--I have lost some actual fat.

While I would like to lose more weight, I am quite happy with the body I have at present. I do want to be stronger and faster and leaner, though.

Sometimes when I see that the number on the scale hasn't changed, it does put me into a bad mood for a day or so, though. That is why I am not daily weighing right now. I am weighing just once per month.

The numbers do affect my mood. Sometimes when I feel like I've been working really hard and the scale doesn't reflect that, it's easy to get discouraged like "why bother?" It's why I can't weigh in daily, even though I'd like to try for a month just to see what my body's responses are to different diet and exercises changes in terms of weight. Sometimes, after I've exercised really hard, I'm actually heavier according to the scale, and I could almost cry. However, when the scale number is in my favour, I'm super excited and it's a major confidence boost and I'm in a good mood the rest of the day.

I don't let the scale control my emotional state. I give myself 5 minutes to move on.

Six years ago I was diagnosed with a potentially fatal autoimmune disease (as it turns out I have a much slower form of autoimmune disease than originaly thought, thankfully), and had to go on disability for the immune issues and other health problems. I've always been an optimistic person, but now I consciously choose to focus on the positives in my life, because I can't let fear and other negative emotions become a Sword of Damocles hanging over my head.

I don't weigh myself more than once a month for exactly this reason. I CAN'T let the number on the scale affect my actions, and I know it would discourage me to not see a loss when I know I'm doing all I can.

WOW! Again I thought I was the only one. If the scale gives me a "bad" number it sets my mood for the rest of the day. I find it harder to even workout. I get the "oh well it doesn't even matter what I do. The scale isn't going to show".

I have been weighing everyday. Sometimes 10 times a day if the scale doesn't say what I want it to in the am. Starting today I won't be getting on the scale for a month. I am going to try VERY hard.

Thanks for this thread...

I can't deny that there is some impact when the scale doesn't move day after day after day. However, I spend quite a lot of time looking for the positive - something I did well, measurements, clothes fit, good workouts, etc so I can think about those - if not instead of, at least in addition to -- the scale itself. The scale cannot be my only metric or I'll go nuts.

the numbers are just numbers.. sometimes i feel.. upset but then you see the way your clothes fit... or the inches youve lost and thats the best!

Until recently, it could really get me down. I've lost the vast majority of the weight I intend to lose, and yes, it's been consistently slowing down and stalling out for a week or two at a time for a while now. And then spring finally hit, and I've spent the last week out in the garden, working my tail off, for hours and hours each day. My weight has been bouncing all around over a 1-2 pound spread, even though I've been very strictly on-plan with my eating, and were I to weigh myself tomorrow, which I won't, my weight would be up, since I twisted my ankle, and my right foot and leg is swollen (it's hideous! I look at it and think, whoa, my leg used to look like that ALL THE TIME, and now I want my hard-earned shapely ankle back, please) and yeah, no question, I am retaining some water there.

...And right now, I just don't care. I'm doing everything right, I've just been hammering my muscles, and hey, they're responding! I am so strong! I can do so much, and it makes me very happy. I can work very hard, doing heavy work, all day long, and it feels fantastic. Instead of going into a spiral of anger and self-loathing, because the scale just. won't. move., I'm kind of shrugging it off. It'll move again eventually. I'm running a serious calorie deficit, getting plenty of exercise, and I can do that now, because I've put in all the work of getting to where I am. What the heck, I'll get a little extra wear out of my current clothing before I drop into the next size, and my body is shrinking, even if the scale is unaware of it.

I'm at the really good stuff now, and I WILL shed these last sixteen pounds, but I am absolutely determined to enjoy my body as it is right at this very moment, except for that bloody sprained ankle, of course. ;)

It really used to set my mood until I had a mental block move so to speak.

There are so many reasons why it may not move that can't be figured out and if I've worked hard and stayed on track I'll choose to be happy about that. I may have added in more resistance training and who knows how much that may or may not have affected the number on the scale.
I just figure I'll look at it as a reason to try something new . . . new activity, new foods, new routine . . . . if you can stay positive all the better. I know easier said then done, took me years, and I mean literally years to look at it that way.

The numbers definitely affect my mood even if i can tell that even though I'm not losing lbs I'm losing inches it still makes me upset and in a bad mood

Yes most definitely, it's very frustrating.
But on the other side of the coin, am always elated when it says what I want it to.
I do find that it is very rare that there isn't a reason though....ie it has only happened once or twice inexplicably, generally if I have put on a bit or stayed the same, it is because I have been on some way naughty! So I just tell myself to try harder.
For me, though it is a little excessive, i weigh every day...if I didn't I might let myself get away with more.

I was stuck in the 230's for 9 weeks...at first it was my fault but then I started working out really hard and counting every single calorie and it finally just moved today.

Before actually being in the situation I would guess that it would totally affect me negatively and put me in a sour mood...possibly even slip into old habits again but really it just made me work even harder! I really surprised myself! I did get pretty frustrated but I let all the frustration push me harder to break through and get the scale moving again.