I have only been doing this a few weeks and I am just 3 lbs away from my first goal (299) but I can't stop obsessing about the numbers on the scale - to the point where its getting in the way of my actual healthy habits. I am hopping on it several times a day and trying to scheme about ways to trick it and letting it rule my day!

I am afraid that even if I put it away, I will still be focused on numbers, how can I get rid of those last few to my first goal! I want to be under 300 soooooo bad! How can I focus on the bigger picture again and slow and steady wins the race and just hanging in there!!!!!

I get obsessive, I'll back up. At first, in the beginning, I would get upset or obsessively upset if my weight went up. Like if I weighed myself in the morning then at night, I would freak out if the weight went up, which obviously it does. My weight fluctuates between 1-5 pounds daily and if I eat something rather heavy that will stay up for days.

Now, I get obsessive, but I weigh once a day (when I'm not banned from the scale) or once a week (if banned) lol. I get disappointed now if the numbers are up, but I also remember that my body is going through changes right now like exercise and I am balancing out my food intake, so that is going to reflect in the numbers on the scale. Case in point, I did sneak on the scale (banned and I did it anyhow) and I weighed 268, but this morning I weighed 270 and I'm on my monthly so I know it is going to be up naturally.

Most of the weigh-ins, as I view now, are made up of fluctuations. My lowest right now, as far as I know, is 266 and my highest is 271. So my thinking now is "that is my range" instead of "that is my exact weight." That thinking helps me not get upset, I do get disappointed, especially if the weight is going the WRONG way and I can tell. I want to get to 260, and I wanted to do that LAST month, so I was getting a little fussy with the scale and have backed off. My boyfriend, sensing my fussy attitude, has also banned me as well lol. Even though I sneaked back on the scale I do remember, or try to, that weight is a range, for me, there is no such thing as one number to define what I weigh as I fluctuate daily. I really changed my thinking from where I was in the beginning to where I am now, yet I still struggle with the scale a times. It can be frustrating...I think we all think here agree.

You know what I did when I was first starting out and got completely obsessed with the scale? I did NOT put it away and continue obsessing about the fact that it was lurking in the dark somewhere, ready to be pulled out again.

What I did was set a pack of post-it notes and a pen on the back of the toilet, and every time I thought about getting on the scale, I wrote myself a note reminding me why I was staying off the scale, or just something as simple as 'you can do this', and stuck it to the scale. At the end of my month-long ban that thing was COVERED in post-its. But it worked! I didn't cheat once.

Barring that, of course, you can always send it to a friend's house for awhile.

seriously...put it in the trunk of your car..or give it to a friend and forget about it! You will make yourself sick worrying about every little pound

When I first started on this journey August 2008 I was totally obsessed with the scale...but then when I started getting visibly smaller I gave up obsessing about the scale in favor of obsessing about what fit and what didn't, yet. I still have that obsession, LOL. I have averaged 10 lbs a month for the last 14 months, 140 lbs total lost, but it certainly didn't come off that regularly. I lost 99 lbs the first six months then it took eight more months to lose the next 41 lbs.

Really, as long as you stick to your plan and you know you're doing what you need to do, the weight will come off. You will see the scale fluctuate but don't worry about it--the weight will come off. It will.

I put the scale away in the closet! but I'm also gonna try DCHound's suggestion and break out the post-it notes when I think about weighing, because I think that might help me break the compulsion overall

Awesome! I hope it does the trick!

Credit for postits goes to thistoo, not DC Hound...I don't even own any postits, LOL.

As long as it works, I don't care who gets the credit! Good luck

oops! sorry!~ embarrasment! thank you thistoo!

I had to take a 4-5 week break from it. This way, or whatever time table works best for you, you can focus on the habits--especially consistency of exercising and movement, the results will come. Good luck.