Thinking of getting on the scales worries me a bit i will be dissapointed if i have gained, i weigh in on a wednesday but how do you not have a sneaky weigh in when you worry ?

I mentally had to turn the scale into a simple feedback object.

The scale doesn't judge me. It's just a tool. It's what I make of the numbers it gives me that matters.

For example. Regular fluctuations on the scale are normal. I decided to "desensitize" myself to the numbers by weighing once a day and making a chart. I can see on this chart that my numbers go up and down and up and down, etc, etc.

Since I now know and -see- that these fluctuations are very normal, I just don't fret over the numbers.

Aside from that, I try to keep most of my focus on the habits I'm changing instead of the number on the scale. For example, my main daily goals are staying within my Points (I'm a WW member) and getting in a daily walk or daily movement. If I do those things, I know that eventually the scale will show a downward trend.

I'm here forever, so a couple days where the scale is fluctuating upwards aren't really going to change that. (And what would be the sense in quitting if the scale goes up, right? I'd just gain MORE weight!)

I also have more than one way of measuring progress to keep myself in line. I take tape measurements, and I take photos every few months to make sure that things really are shrinking.

I'm not going to say that I'm perfect. Occasionally I still see the scale go up and think "Gosh darnit!" But my logical side tends to prevail when I remind myself that "weight" doesn't always equal "fat" and that if I'm achieving my daily goals I'm already succeeding.

I weigh whenever I want to, usually at least once per day, and I refuse to be disappointed by what is perfectly normal. You can only be disappointed if your expectations don't match reality.

For expectations to match reality, you have to understand reality. My doctor helped me see the reality when several years ago, I complained to him that "I should be losing more than 1 lb a month, at my weight I should be losing at least 2 lbs a week like "normal people."

My doctor said something to the effect of "where'd you hear that crap? Most people don't lose 2 lbs a week. Most people don't lose anything at all - and even losing 1 lb a month, means you're doing better then almost everyone else who is trying or wants to try to lose weight."

We think losing 2 lbs a week is normal, because that's what we've read - not because it's the reality. The reality of weight loss is very different, but people don't speak much about losing less than 1 lb a week, because they're embarassed, thinking they're failing, when they're actually succeeding.

I took that to heart, and decided that I wasn't only going to celebrate losses, I was also going to celebrate "no-gains." I started seeing staying the same, not as "stalling," but as "successful maintenance."

As such, I get to celebrate almost every day. Only the gains are disappointment (and really only some of the gains are disappointing, because I know that I can gain up to 10 lbs - usually 6-8) just with TOM water retention, if I'm in that part of the month and I've "only" gained 4 lbs, I'm pretty darn happy with that - which just shows it truly is all about expectations).

When I weighed weekly, I was obsessed with the scale all week - wondering and worrying. Now that I weigh whenever I am tempted, I almost never think of the scale, becaue I know I can check it whenever I want to.

I know a lot of people warn that weighing more than once a week is detrimental to weight loss, but I've not found that true at all. And recent research bears that out. A recent review of weight loss studies (so it was a study comparing the results of many other studies) has found that dieters who weighed themselves daily, lost the most weight and maintained the weight loss longest.

Now it doesn't mean that daily weight loss is right for everyone, but it does seem to prove that daily weighing isn't the "diet-breaker" we've been led to believe.

I weigh every morning and, occasionally, before I go to bed. Part of that is to actually do what Kaplods said - get myself used to the scale fluctuations and learn to accept them as a perfectly normal part of my body's cycles.

I say if you're curious there's nothing wrong with hopping on to check it out as long as you know that whatever the scales says it's not going to send you into a tailspin - emotionally or with your dieting.

Another great post, kaplods. I love hearing what you have to say on any given issue.

scales are evil lol

I just was having this issue the other day. My weigh in day is sunday but every now and then I just peek and step on before sunday to see.

Well friday I step up and it shows I have gained. I fall apart and am just upset and depressed.
I step on sunday and I've lost... lol

Everyone was just telling me to relax our bodies are crazy and complex and so many different things can make our weight fluctuate and be all over the place. Which is why I prefer (to attempt to) just to weigh in once a week and then forget about it until next week. I just get too emotional. No matter how much I know and tell myself it is just a number it is going to throw me on a rollercoaster of emotions.

The rest of the week I try to remind myself and stay focused on NSV. How much better I feel, how clothes are fitting, how much more energy I have. Take pics & measurements too. I read a blog where this girl is the best for NSV photos. She will take two pics of the same weight and look so totally different you can hardly believe it lol