Introduction and questions about Scales

  • Hi, I'm new here. I've read the posts for maybe a month but I haven't posted before. I made a resolution this past January to lose weight. I've gone from 166 to 152 which is good but it's been a year so 14 pounds in a year is good that great. I'm trying to get to 125 ish (I'm 5' 5"). I was that amount in high school and then 133-148 in college. Between bad eating habits in college and then having a teaching job where I focused on that and had no cooking skills I gained a lot of weight. I'm in a good place now in terms of I know how to cook meals for one or if I make more I freeze it and I like taking exercise classes at the gym so I think I will make better progress in this coming year.
    My question is do you tend to use just one scale and do you have that scale in your house? I find that I obsess more about the number and will want to weigh myself more than once a day and I get down if the numbers different when the scale is in my apartment but on the other hand I need some scale to track progress. Daily I could come into contract with five scales.
    There's a medical scale like the ones used at the doctors though the display is electronic at the library near me. There's the one I hide in the storage locker next to my apartment so I don't have it in my apartment though I can access it. There's the manual one at the gym. There's one at my work. There's one at my parent's house who only live 10 minutes away. I like to know how I'm doing but should I just stick to one scale and how often should I weigh myself.
  • My theory is that as long as the number is going down then it's a positive. I definitely don't think you should obsess over different scales giving different readings, besides your body weight can fluctuate quite a lot during the day. Also, I didn't really want to have a scale in my apartment (for the same fear of obsessing), but I don't consistently go to the gym at the same time everyday. I found I want to be able to weigh in the morning before breakfast, so I finally bought an inexpensive digital scale for home. But I only allow myself to weigh in the morning before I eat. That is the most accurate the reading is going to be during the day and there is no reason to weigh any other time because it will just be discouraging. Good luck, whatever you decide to do!
  • Trying out tracker
    I'm just seeing if this will attach
  • Congratulations on your weight loss!!! I'd really recommend choosing one scale and sticking with it. Sometimes other scales are calibrated slightly off or are plain inaccurate. Scales mess with our minds at the best of times, it's best not to throw in even more variables into the mix.

    In addition, it might be best to weigh yourself at the same time however regularly you choose (every day, every three days, every week- whatever). Most people choose to weigh themselves nude first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom before eating or drinking anything. If you weigh yourself in the afternoon for example and you've eaten and drunk whatever, then you're also getting the weight of what you've recently eaten. So keep that in mind if you weigh yourself several times a day and your weight seems to be all over the place.

    Definitely stick to one scale, preferrably one you have access to in the morning. How often is up to you. If you choose daily, be prepared to see fluctuations that are not necessarily a reflection of how on plan you are and are usually a reflection of water retention etc; weekly can also be a downer because you don't get to see your lowest weight over the course of the week just where you are over the course of 7 days but there's nothing wrong with that. In my own journey, I started off a weekly weigher, then I joined challenges and became bi-weekly, then I became a daily weigher, and now I weigh as the spirit moves me usually 3 times a week or so.

    Again well done on your achievements so far!!!
  • I stick with one scale, keeps me sane LOL Congratulations on your weightloss thus far!
  • 14 lbs woo hoo! A year is awhile, but I's sure you feel so much better than when you still carried that weight around. Besides they say slow and steady wins the race. From my failed attempts and regains I am really becoming a believer in the idea that slow steady weight loss is the kind that stays lost.

    As far as scale I have been obsessed and I have ignored the scale. When losing I am obsessed and not seeing results, or seeing the fluctuations up can be discouraging. I do better weighing just once a day and at the same time. I like mornings first thing in the nude also. When I dont check in on the scale is when I start gaining weight back. This time I am making a deal that I HAVE to weigh at least once a week in maintenece. When I am at home I plan to weigh everyday if I can.

    I started my current program on Nov. 1st, and during the first month I am choosingnot to weigh at all. What I am doing now allows me to eat more calories than any weightloss attempts of the past (I'm going for slow and steady). My goal is to eat at my maintenece calories of my goal weight (2040 for 155lbs) or less each day. And I'm focusing on clean foods no processed carbs and a goal of 100 g lean protein and 10 servings of fruit and veggies a day. Since the calories are relatively high for weight loss I dont expect to lose fast at all. This is whyI feel I need to ignore the scale for a month. In a months time I should lose something and have established my new lifestyle as a habit. Also I am sure the good nutitrition will have me feel so good I wont want to throw in the towel, even if the scale has hardly moved. As of dec. 1 though I plan to go back to daily weighing.

    Oh also I am liftin heavy weights and my hope to build metabolism boosting muscle is anothe reason my calories are so high.
  • Hey and welcome! I am also newer here so nice to meet you. I dont even own a scale. I weigh in at my moms house. Scales discourage me.