Scale Frustration! - 3 Fat Chicks on a Diet Weight Loss Community

Paramedic · 07-02-2010, 03:17 PM

I'm really considering just ditching the scale all together. I know you're only suppose to weigh yourself once a week, usually in the morning... But, I decided one day to try to weigh myself at night, just to satisfy my curiosity. I mean, I feel lighter, I can see myself toning up and losing weight... but when I got on the scale, I was 4 pounds heavier! Agh!

I'm so extremely put off, to the point that I'm afraid to go on the scale again. I know that you're more heavier during the end of the day and if you're exercising, muscle weight is more heavier than fat, but I don't know. I always find myself more determined and motivated when I'm ignorant of my weight. Even when I do see my usual weight, I get pretty put off.

Does anyone else experience this? How often do you weigh yourself and in what part of the day?

ap90 · 07-02-2010, 03:23 PM

I experience scale frustration ALL THE TIME. For instance, in June I went down a whole size yet on the scale I went down a mere two pounds! I do weigh myself every day right after I pee in the morning but only officially record it once a week. I have been tempted lately to ditch the scale as well and base it on going down in size. I hate measuring myself. I always feel like I'm doing it wrong.

audrina · 07-02-2010, 03:27 PM

Yes, all the time. Now I try to weigh myself only in the morning and wait at least a week between weigh ins. There's nothing worse than after a few days of eating really well and working your *** off when you see a gain or a stall. It's so easy to be discouraged.

By weighing myself less frequently I see larger results between weigh ins and it makes it so much easier to keep going. So does weighing yourself at the SAME time every day for accuracy and so you consistently see the same results [instead of your daily weight fluctuations which can be/are HUGE]

m3rma1d · 07-02-2010, 10:37 PM

I weigh myself every morning (bonus if I can poo first--HA!) and enter that weight in my FitDay thingy.
BUT... For entertainment purposes ONLY, I also weigh myself during the day and at night... Just to see how crazy high the numbers go! On average I weigh 5lbs more at night. But that 5lbs is always gone by the morning, which is why I'm not in a heap of tears and find it entertaining.

kaelah · 07-02-2010, 10:47 PM

I get scale frustration very easily, which is why I've been working out/counting calories for a week and haven't stepped on a scale yet. I'm waiting for another week to do so. I may crack and get on one a little earlier because I'm curious, but once I start it's like I get addicted. I don't want that to happen again because I get very discouraged.

calisa86 · 07-02-2010, 10:51 PM

If you're toning up its probably muscle weight. If you're eating high sodium foods and not drinking enough water it could be water weight. Weight yourself at the same time whether it's daily or weekly to get the most accurate reading. Just like m3r said, you gain a few pounds during the day with food in your guts, pee and poop inside, even your dead skin cells and body soil add a few ounces, sweat in your hair, all kinds of ridiculousness.

maybe do away with the scale for a few days and just enjoy the feeling of feeling gooooood.

Paramedic · 07-03-2010, 04:10 PM

I'll be sure to keep your tips in mind.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes through this!

redition · 07-03-2010, 07:48 PM

Weighing myself at night is just depressing for me! It is true, I am usually 3-5lbs heavier, and although I understand why, it's just aggravating to see it on the scale. Just don't weigh yourself at that time and just do it in the morning to keep your motivation.

SarahD140 · 07-05-2010, 10:28 PM

My scale reads all kinds of info through electric pulses... thing makes me MAD!!! I have not budged in a few days...

Next weigh in is this upcoming sunday... lets pray I really move that number in the right direction. I dont know how ppl can weigh themselves daily... I would cry... daily.

StephanieM · 07-06-2010, 12:00 AM

I weigh myself every morning, but I don't log my weight on fatsecret unless it's a lower one that I haven't seen before. This way I keep track of when I am actually going down and by how much.

It happens to the best of us though. It's shocking and depressing! But then you'll have a day where those 3 random pounds disappear and everything is back to normal.

zanheltangia · 07-06-2010, 09:29 AM

I guess that I am pretty weird. I weigh myself "officially" on Wednesday arount 4-5:30pm. But I may hop on the scale in the morning for that low number pick up,

just to be a bit silly sometimes and don't record the number though I'll remember the lowest number, funny how that works when I cannot even remember the number to the alarm system!

.

We burn and 'lose' weight as we sleep, combine that with not drinking or eating as we sleep, means that our morning numbers after rolling out of the bed and hitting the restroom is much lower than any other time in our days. As we eat, drink our liquids, discard waste, and move around through out the rest of the day, the numbers will fluctuate.

Maybe stepping back from the scale and gauging your losses by other means would help you focus more on yourself, than the number. You could always do the once a month (or twice a month) weigh in to make sure you are not slipping back up.

Oh, side note:

Muscle weighs the same as fat. (One pound of rocks compared to a pound of feathers. They weigh the same, but the rocks take up less space/volume.) Same thing goes for muscle and fat. But that muscle isn't just sitting there on your frame doing nothing, it's workin' hard and helping to eat up those calories.

Awesome work toning up! I need to get in the habit of doing that myself.

zanheltangia · 07-06-2010, 09:36 AM

Found this pic, kind of icky looking, but I like visuals:

Sunshinenmysoul · 07-12-2010, 05:31 PM

I actually just made a post about this too! I bought a diet log that tells me to weigh myself every day, but that frustrates me. Especially when I'm doing everything right...not cheating and doing my exercising and I see the scale go up! It's sooo frustrating and discouraging. I'm trying to figure out what to do about it myself. I'm not someone who can wait a whole week in between either.

oodlesofnoodles · 07-13-2010, 04:06 AM

Don't weight yourself at night. You're not only retaining water from working out, but you have food in your belly and digestive tract, you may not have pooed, you may have water brewing in your kidneys. Food/water is HEAVY. That is not uncommon at all, to weigh that much more.

I've tortured myself as well by weighing at night and say the gain and thought "OMG WHAAAT?!" but then I remembered what I just told you. ONLY weigh in the morning, after you potty, and preferably nakie lol. That's your truest weight.

SpoonSockSpork12 · 07-13-2010, 11:18 AM

I've been weighing myself daily, multiple times a day, for years now. My roommates always yell at me and tell me I'm not supposed to do it, but it's become a bit of an OCD thing for me. My morning weight is my "official" weight and then I keep tabs on myself throughout the day. After my first week's weigh-in this Thursday (random I know) I am considering putting the scale away in my closet until Sunday or something. I've lost 5 pounds since last Thursday, but since I've been seeing the numbers move daily, I'm upset that today it only changed 0.2 pounds (aka nothing). If I'd waited til Thursday to weigh and just seen a 5 pound weight loss, I'd be ecstatic! Ugh!