I have been so excited since I started this journey just over 2 weeks ago - and I've been gradually losing weight. Go on vacation to visit family and their scale is 5 pounds more than my one at home. I have been great while on vacation. Walking just as much, taking over 10,000 steps, eating right and counting calories. It's not like I've "cheated" and stopped exercising. I know that I can only go by the numbers on ONE scale and I will continue to use the numbers from the scale at home - just feel deflated seeing that I weight 5 pounds more on my moms scale - she said it is relatively new. SIGH!
I'm about 10 lbs heavier on the gym scale. I'm also weighing under different conditioned then at home, but yeah, it's disheartening to see. I actually would prefer to use the gym scale only, but I feel like it's easier to control your conditions with a first thing in the morning weigh.
Yes! I only weigh myself on one scale for that reason, but on vacation with a different scale it would be tough not to use it. Just think of the number you see as a starting point. You don't want to be above that starting point at the end of your vacation. It doesn't really matter that their scale reads 5lbs more (or less) than yours. What matters is the direction it's moving in.
I did the opposite. I went on holiday for 2 weeks and my starting weight was 110lbs. I didn't realise the hotel had a scale for the first week. As soon as I realised, I jumped on it and by the end of my 2 weeks it read 107lbs . I was over the moon. I flew back home, stepped on my scale and it said 109lbs . It turned out the hotel scale was wrong and losing those 2lbs again was discouraging because I already thought I had lost it!
But now I've lost it and more plus I enjoyed my holiday! So not too bad!
I used to use my mom and dad's scale when I visited them and finally had to make myself stop! I knew they would be different, every time I got on their scale is was a few pounds more, but for months, I continued to torture myself getting on it. I don't know why I had this compulsion to get on it...it's not like it was magically going to sync with mine at some point
Yea, I do. I only go by one scale and glad for you that you have made that decision. I never even get on any other scale anymore. I used to weigh more than 100 pounds from where I am now and I have learned I'll get discouraged if I see conflicting numbers. Even at the doctor's office, I tell them not to tell me what their scale says and I don't look at it.
I have compulsion to step on any scale
I see. In my classroom where I teach science, PE, and music, I have a scale out. Its funny because both kids and adults, a lot of times when they think I am not looking, step on to check their weight. Glad to
know I'm not alone!
My husband always laughs at me for weighing everyday. I don't do it as much now, but it can really be obsessive. But you should ONLY use 1 scale because that is only one factor to use in your journey. Your other 2 factors should be measurements and bodyfat calculations. If you don't have a bodyfat scale, I have a formula you can use to find it. That is the best way to calculate your journey, because it isn't just about your weight, its about getting healthier. Just make it a point to stay away from the other scales, you really don't want to cause yourself any undo unrest. Stay happy.
Nope. I don't really care at all what different scales say, because I'm not worried about the "number" anymore. The scale is just a tool, and it doesn't upset me any more. Even gains don't upset me anymore, because I've leearned to focus on the bigger picture.
That being said, it took me decades to learn this. I used to get all twisted up inside about the scale and the discrepancy between scales, but now I don't.
The number doesn't matter. The lifestyle is what matters, the scale is just a reflection (and not a very good one) of the lifestyle.
I was visiting my family in Illinois, and wieghed myself every day. My mom's scale weighed about three pounds higher than mine - but I didn't care, because I don't consider any weight my "true" weight, or any scale a reflection of my "true" weight.
The only reason I bother with the scale at all, is because it's the most expedient way to measure progress. Not the best way, not the most accurate, just the easiest.
What I'm really after is regaining health, mobility, stamina, energy-level... all things that are really hard to measure, and difficult to "see" a difference in, because it tends to occur so gradually that it doesn't even feel like progress at all.
My mom's scale did it's purpose, it helped me stay fairly close to plan. I did gain a little weight from eating out (water retention, because it was gone within a week of being home and back to my regular schedule and woe).
I am not a size. I am not a number. I remind myself of that all the time, because it used to hang me up in the past. In stead of focusing on the REAL issues of feeling better and to a lesser degree looking better, I always focused on the number, as if the number had any importance at all (it really doesn't).
No wonder weight loss is so difficult when we're taught to make it about things that ultimately have little significant intrinsic value (like clothing sizes and numbers).
I've really worked very hard to make the number unimportant. If I could feel good, have all the energy I wanted, and looked good, I wouldn't care if I weighed 4,000 lbs. Weight isn't health. It isn't looking good. Of course, there is a correlation, which is why the scale comes in handy, but the exact number and even daily, monthly variations aren't important.
It's important to see the big picture or little things will throw you off. I'm amazed at how often in my life I let the scale matter more than the big picture.
I've finally learned the lesson, it's just kind of sad it took me more than thirty years to do it.
My dad's a doctor and he was telling me (after I complained my scale shows 5 lbs heavier than his office one) that in order to get a truly accurate reading I would have to use an official cattle scale as apparently they are regulated. Even the two scales at his clinic differ by about 3 lbs.
I know what you mean. Differences up or down can be startling. This is what I do. The only place I feel compelled to weigh is when I'm visiting my DD - she is 600 miles away and I usually go for a long enough period of time that I like to check in on a scale. I weigh myself the first morning I'm there and assume I am the same as the day before at home, so if there is a difference, it's due to the scale. I can never be totally sure, but I then have a stating point for the days I'm visiting so I know if I'm up, down, or stayed the same while I was there. Seem to work OK for me. Just ignore whether it's more or less than at home and track the changes while you're away from your home scale.
So glad to know I'm not alone! Funny that a Drs. office scale also fluctuates. I didn't know how to "calibrate" mine - and not sure why the "real" number matters - so long as I know my starting point and I know I've lost 10 pounds from that point - that's what matters. Getting healthy matters...but just curious what my "actual" number is. I do get compelled to step on the scale - not just once a day - but morning noon and night! Sometimes I have weighed less before bed than first thing in the morning! And I always weigh less right after a shower, LOL. My husband keeps telling me to only check one scale, once a week - I need to listen to him!!!
The problem is there is no "real" number. Your body fluctuates up and down throughout the day (sometimes by as much as a few pounds).
I weigh daily, several times a day, but I KNOW that none of the numbers are "real," and yet ALL of them are real. Trying to pin down a "real" number is like nailing jello to a tree.
And since the "real" number is always a moving target, knowing you've got the most accurate scale in the world, doesn't really help you any, because your "real" number is a moving target.
Wanting to stay a constant number, I think is why so many people who don't really need to, become obessed with dieting (and then the yoyoing dieting can actually cause a weight problem that didn't exist before).
I used to believe the admonishments against frequent weighing - the problem was one bad day could add so much stress that when I did weigh again, if I had a gain or no-loss, I'd be so discouraged it would affect me for ANOTHER week.
Now, I weigh whenever I want to. Dozens of times if I need to. I weigh when I get up, right before bed, and immediately after I make what I "think" is a mistake.
The reason I weigh after every "mistake" is that I used to let a 100 calorie off-plan bite, derail my whole day, if not my whole week. I couldn't concentrate until I could "start fresh," so I made the "start fresh" moment that off-plan bite. I'd get on the scale and say "there, that's the worst case scenario" (because you can't gain more weight from a food than the food weighs - the laws of physics still apply. If the food has no fat, then you can only gain about half the weight from a food than it weighs).
The wrong-bite weigh-in gave me peace of mind, to start-fresh from that point. The numbers are "real enough" for my purposes, even though they don't matter in the sense that they're always changing, and I have NO control over the exact number (at least not without a chainsaw, or at least a large scalpel).
Believing in a "real number" can make you crazy, because what do you count? Do you count your weight in the morning before you go potty? After you go potty? What if you haven't pooped yet today or in the past couple days? Digestion can take up to 3 or more days, so how much of your weight is due to the weight of the food you haven't yet pooped out? How do you know that your body isn't holding on to extra water because you've caught a cold and don't know it yet or because you exercised more yesterday (healing, fighting off illness, carb level, and muscle repair and recovery all require "extra" water for your body to heal)?
So which of those numbers is your "real" weight? And when and how can you capture said "real weight?"
When you realize that our bodies are so imprecise, expecting a precise scale can get a bit ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong. My scale is pretty darned precise, and I love that about it, but I can't take any of the numbers it gives me too seriously, because my body is less reliable than the scale.
Don't you hate it when 2 scales vary greatly?
. I was over the moon. I flew back home, stepped on my scale and it said 109lbs 
. It turned out the hotel scale was wrong and losing those 2lbs again was discouraging because I already thought I had lost it!
