For those who know my finger-wagging comments about those daily weights, skip this lecture. I am only repeating it for those newer to lc who may have missed reading this in one of the books.
DON'T WEIGHT YOURSELF EVERY DAY!!!
You are going to allow that scale to make or break your day. Hide it or throw it away. Measure at least three or four places on your body you want to see get smaller, and measure once a month (or a week if you are that compulsive) and believe what the inches say and not the scale. Here is why:
1) With low carbs (for those of us who are not lucky enough to have had bypass surgery!) you will probably get some muscle and lose fat, slowly. Fat does not weigh as much as muscle. It will seem as though you are not losing much or are actually gaining on some days.
These muscles begin to grow because we have been misled into believing eating lots of carbs is the best way to achieve a low fat diet, and many of us were eating almost no protein and very little fat. Those actually are NECESSARY for a healthy body, for replication of our body's cells, especially muscle cells and organ cells (such as liver, heart, and kidney cells) and for things like neurotransmitters, blood cells, our natural antibodies, and hormones (estrogen and insulin are only two of many of your hormones which need protein and fats to be properly formed).
The low carb diet, properly done, supplies those very needed building blocks for our proper functioning. If you used to be on a very low fat diet, you probably felt quite energetic and well when you changed over to low carbs.
2) Just as your tempurature changes throughtout the day, so does your weight. And it changes day to day, according to what is going on in your body. Eat a salty handful of nuts, and you may not get rid of that extra water in the next few hours. Some medications might make you hold extra water (probably AlkaSeltzer and such meds that are high in sodium) and for a few hours your weight might be higher. And lets not even talk about a week or so before your .... "on-the-rag" day. Some people's weight might be very steady from day to day, but most of us probably fluctuate constantly. The weight might be expressing water loss or gain, not actual fat loss or gain.
3) If you are watching the scale so closely, you are possibly obsessed with whether or not you have lost a tiny bit of weight. It does not work that way. Some days it will be lower (your weight) and some days it might be higher. Why put yourself into a depression over something that may not be valid or true? Throw away the scale and get out the tape measure. Worry more about the taxes, the World Series, your kid's next grades or dance recital, and what to have for breakfast tomorrow. Don't watch your body grow thin. It's like watching grass grow. It ain't gonna' be happnen' fast enough to see!
4) Think of the great feeling if you wait a week or even four months to find out the actual weight. Even if it is the same, it isn't a gain!
Thoughts for a sober planet. Be good to yourself, believe in yourself, and if you lose weight, consider it a blessing. If not, consider it a blessing.
But first learn to love yourself as you are. The first step to success is knowing you can get there.
I think I'm probably obsessive/compulsive. If I don't weight myself every morning, right after I get up, right after I go to the bathroom, it's all I can think of the rest of the day. I've been known to get on the scales we keep here in the office to send out packages if I've skipped weighing myself in the morning. I have to know. It doesn't bother me if it's gone up, I just need to know. Like this morning, I weighed in at 167. I know why; I had dirt cake and baked beans last night (not together). I don't care that it's up 2 lbs for 2 days ago. I guess that it's like a system of check and balances for me.
My mother prohibited scales in our house when I was growing up, and a teen-ager. Her thinking is (direct quote) "If God wanted me to know how much I weighed he would have put numbers on my toes". She is a bit heavy, probably about a size 18, but she's been that size for 30 years. She doesn't give a flip about her weight, never has. I on the other hand, cried when the scales hit 106 (I used to sneak around my mom and weight myself on the machines in the mall as a teen). I went for a long time without weighing myself. My weight ballooned BIGTIME without me realizing it. I guess thats where my obsession comes from. I think I'll probably continue to do it as long as I don't let it depress me or ruin my day. I always think, "look how far I've come", not "oh no, I've gained a pound".
Okay, enough justification. I'll try to cut back to once a week.
Some very valid points made. And I have been fortunate not to have required by pass surgery. I definately agree that losing inches should be monitored. However, in following CAD I must admit that I lean towards weight averaging. Like Dyan, I looked forward to the daily "look see".
All I can suggest is what worked for me while following and maintenance on CAD.
Each morning I weighed myself on the same scale approximately 10:00 a.m. and documented the weight. I definately did not panic if I was up a pound or two, but it did help me to think about what I had eaten the day before or pay closer attention to my fluid intake. I called it "healthy monitoring". At the end of seven days I would total the daily weight and divide by seven. I found this gave me a realistic weight and proved beneficial during maintenance.
I weigh daily and average the weights for the week. I no longer am as obsessive as I was .... weighing at 2 a.m. after a pee is obsessive! To each her own, I guess.
I weigh myself every Friday morning. I feel no compulsion to step on the scale before then. I just know that Friday morning is accountability time.
I've tried that whole forget about weighing business and it just didn't work for me. AFter four months of careful eating I finally got on the scale and I'd gained 10 lb. I also hadn't lost inches. I really don't trust that method. Some people's weight hits a plateau and stays that way for years no matter what they do. My sister is one of those people. I am definitely NOT.
I haven't found tape measures to be too reliable either. I've lost 38 lb in the last 15 months and I haven't even lost an inch off my waist. Yes, my face, shoulders, bust, and even my hips and thighs are thinner but I really need to lose in my tummy and it's not going. If it wasn't for the scale showing a loss in weight, I'd find it hard to believe I really was getting slimmer.
Well, I see my opinion is not needed here! You have all grown up in LC knowledge and skill, and are doing well. Again, I said this was for those who were newer to this place.
My brain turns itself off at times, and did in the middle of that last lecture.
I meant to say those who are lucky enough to have bypass surgery might lose weight faster than most of us who work at decreasing our low carb intake and start exercising regularly. We cannot lose more than 1/2 to 2.5 pounds of adipose tissue (doc-speak for fat) per week on a low carb/lowish calorie diet. More than that is probably fluid loss or muscle loss tissue or worse.
Starvation diets of the past always made us more sick and certainly did not help us keep weight off.
This was what I MEANT to say. Then, as a separate item, to mention that at the beginning of this diet, as we correct the intake of protein and unsaturated fats (the 'good' kind), we might find ourselves gaining weight but noticing our clothes fitting more loosely. This is due to the increase in muscle tissue and decrease in fat tissue at the same time.
Weight averaging is a great idea for those who can't give up the constant reassurance that you are doing well.
And Linda, Funny Lady, how can you not know you are getting slimmer with the repeated questions from people about losing weight and how are you doing it? If every part of your body is getting smaller except your tummy, it must be frustrating.
But sing for joy that the rest is slimming down so well. Thirty eight pounds! You must be so proud. I guess the combo diet (low carb and WW still?) is perfect for you.
This was only to be an extra-curricular lesson for those who are starting low carbs. Glad to have the mature hens add their experiences.
Just wanted to remind newbies that this is a life-style change, not a weight loss diet. Any weight loss is serendiptious.
Giggles - Are you possibly Dr. Dennis Mayeau masquerading as a chickie? LOL I swear you just repeated the lecture I got from my Dr. yesterday afternoon. I kept trying to tell him he was preaching to the choir about this being a lifestyle change not a diet, and he kept going and going.... Crazy cajun doctors, gotta love um.
Anyway, thanks for the swift kick in the butt for those of us who are scale obessed. I did manage to weigh myself only once this morning, without the ususal routine of leaning every which way trying to get the number down just a little more. Just jumped on jumped off and got on with my life. LOL
One more thing... I find my digital scales much more accurate than the "pressure" ones. Also it has a nifty little thing that measures my body fat. That's the number that I really stress for progress reports. You can be 100lbs but if you're 45% fat your still not healthy.
giggles.. you are a wise woman. but you've managed to confuse me with your use of the term 'lucky' right by 'bypass surgery.' there's nothing LUCKY about those of us who have had this done.
perhaps we are lucky enough to have survived everything we had to in order to get through the process and on the road to healthy, but lucky enough to have it??? not in my book!!!! debkay nearly died afterwards, and i nearly died beforehand. and barb's husband nearly died a couple of months later.
Gee, seems as though everything I said was wrong! Just trying to help the newbiew along.
Glad the hens gave their opinions, though. That is how we all learned, and I hoped to offer some "learnin'" to the newer chicks on this block.
Jiff, I do know that was a very serious decision and your life is not easy now. Nor was it before the surgery. Sorry to have made light of it. I meant the struggle to lose weight is taken away from you with that surgery, dangerous as it is. And that seems, from this perspective, to be one consolation for the life-threatening body before the surgery, and the enormous struggles you face now. You are right. I should not have implied, especially for those considering such a solution, that this is the easy way out. Not so.
However, since you have commented, I have a question I was wondering about your way of life now. I was wondering about your water intake - how are you able to get enough in? I drink by gulps and glassesful, so I suppose you drink by sips all day.
To get enough water in to protect your kidneys and to supply all the liquid necessay for such things as blood pressure and many chemical processes, you need quite a bit. But you cannot take it all in at one sitting or two. (A gross exaggeration - neither can I. But I can take in 8 to 20 ounces at a time when I am thirsty - Texas is a great place to sweat and get behind in your water balance!)
So, I was wondering about whether you have an IV constantly supplying a bit of liquid, or if you had a straw implanted into your mouth so you can constantly be sipping on glasses of water, or ... whatever. But I was just wondering....
well, in august when i couldn't keep water down and threw everything up for more than 36 hours, i DID in fact have an IV. fortunately, that's not usual.
it would be easier WITH the IV on some days.
but to answer your question, the only way i manage to get in the water is to ALWAYS have some around and to track everything. in fact, at my desk, i have a HUGE collection of tiny sticky notes with numbers on them: one side has the protein grams and the other the water intake. and i keep forgetting to throw them away.
it's hard to drink everything and not drink 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after eating, especially since i have to eat several times a day just to make sure i get the protein in. i have to stay on top of it.
so, there are water bottles in my car, at my desk, and i'm sipping on herb tea right now. and cans of V8, and packets of soft drink mix and crystal light. EVERYWHERE!!!! i've been managing 70-80 oz per day for awhile. but if i don't get my 20 oz of diet lemonade in after my morning 2-mile walk, i'm so off track for the rest of the day...
and giggles, at first, the weight loss is easy, but it's extremely easy to sabotage this tool, which is all it is. the struggle is still there, but in a different form. think aversive conditioning. if most folks overeat or eat something that disagrees with them, they tend to moan and groan and kick themselves. we [with the exception of debkay who somehow hasn't thrown up yet], get extreme pain, and head for the bathroom. or pull the car over to the side of the road.
a dear friend who has been anorexic and bulemic for decades has commented that they've surgically turned me into her!!!!
and we have only about 18 months before weight loss turns into the same horrible challenge it is for everyone else. 10-15% regain EVERY POUND back. some destroy the tool by eating and drinking the wrong stuff [carbonated beverages, milkshakes, carbs, alcohol, whatever].
perhaps the good thing is that this surgery seems to have short circuited some of the feedback loops so that there is no carb craving. if anyone had told me before the surgery that pasta would taste disgusting afterwards, well, that just wasn't a possibility! but it's happened!!
the main reason i had the surgery: to NOT gain the weight back. to have some set of rules that worked for me. if i followed them, i'd lose the weight and keep it off. if i didn't, the weight would come back. no different than anyone else's weight loss and control plan. you find something that works and stick with it!
and G2G... the now [20 + 16 + 24 + 16, not counting the 8 oz of milk in the protein shake] 77 ounces of water are catching up with me!!!!
Did I forget to mention that it is SO LOVELY to see Giggles posting occasionally. And Giggles, your advice and opinions are always welcomed and valued.
BTW, I didn't lose the 38 lb on LC/WW combo. I lost 28 lb on WW then learned that my blood glucose had gone sky high. Switched back to Atkins, then tried the Fat Flush Plan for a couple of months. That's when I lost the next 10 lb. Now I'm back on Atkins because I just can't live the FF way. I have kept some of the basic principles of the plan and am incorporating them into Atkins though. Hopefully, it will work.
Reminder: weight scales
