Hello All -

I joined WW last week - and asked the person signing me up if she would be so kind as to write my weight down -but not tell me the number until I get the courage up to know what it is.

I am going back tomorrow - and feel quite silly asking them to help me with this crutch.

Why am I so afraid of the number?? Does the number define me as a person? Trick me into thinking I am "bad" for having put all this weight on since getting married?? For being at the heaviest weight ever of my life?

Why am I afraid of a single number - giving it so much power over me?!

I think fear of the scale is what has kept on the sidelines afraid to get into the WW game - but I can't wait any longer - I must take charge of my health.

Has anyone out there ever been hung up in this mental rut? Any words of advice?? I would really really appreciate any words of encouragement as I step onto the big scary monster!

Thank You - vegasbride - Terri

Hello and wecome to a group of very caring people who are all the same. I too feared that NUMBER for so long but you have to remember you are doing something about this now and not letting it get any bigger. Good for you. Only you can do this and you are on your way. The NUMBER doesnt signify nothing more than the place where you started not the place you are going to end up. YOU CAN DO THIS, Patti

Vegasbride:

How can you be worried about the number the scale reads when you know that you are actively working to change it? I know it can be frustrating to know how much you weigh, but I doubt that it will surprise you- afterall, you see yourself in the mirror everyday, and obviously, since you have joined WW, you know that it is a number you are unhappy with and want to change. Please don't be afraid of what the scale reads. It won't stay that number for long!! The only way you will win this battle is to face up to reality of your situation. Be honest and upfront with yourself, and try to remember that you are in this to win! Good Luck!

Colleen
263/217/160 (?)

Hey there. I was very much in the same situation last month!!!! I know exactly what you mean!! I did the same thing! I think it is OK if you don't want to look at the number yet, you have already began getting on track and taking control of your life. You will feel yourself losing weight by now, or soon if your sticking to program, so this will be a great time to look and see how much you have lost. By SEEING that you have made progress already, you will feel a sense of accomplishment and be inspired to remain on this weightloss track and it wont matter so much what your scale read last week...what matters is that it dosen't read that anymore!!!. so if you feel like looking at it tomorrow, go ahead...if not, wait till next week when you are in even better shape...but do it soon so you can really take FULL control. It would be ashame to have lost lots of weight and not know it untill you've began putting it back on ( you lose most of your weight in the first 2 weeks), so do it soon. I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT AND SO DO YOU! feel free to send me a private message and keep me posted!!! bye for now

China

There are many girls at the locations I work at that don't want to see there number. Hey! thats OK we put too much stock in the numbers anyway. Sooner or later you'll want to see and then you'll also be ready for it. I even have some Lifetime Members over goal by many pounds or just a few who only want to know when their weigh- in is free again. When your ready let us know that you did finally look. OK?

I'm debating whether or not I want to look at my weight this week. See, last week I went to a registered dietician for the first time. She gave me some suggestions on how to balance my meals, and keep my blood sugar up so I didn't have cravings. I've followed her suggestions for the most part, and it's helped with the cravings -- this week, anyway. They come and go on their own as is.

So I think I've done pretty well, and I don't see how I could possibly gain weight since I'm eating about 1500-1600 calories, and I weigh 195 pounds. Logically speaking, that should cause me to lose. I'm somewhat unwilling to see the number simply because I might sabotage myself. What if my body is just retaining water this week, and I think I maintained (or worse, gained) when I really didn't? A week isn't really long enough for a trend. I keep thinking I'm probably better off waiting a month.

Anyway, another weight-related anecdote, this time from someone who's been at a "normal" rate her entire life, my sister. She's always been fit and athletic, very active. When she was in college she was even more active, and correspondingly ate more, and picked up about 10 pounds. I think this might actually have set her above the BMI 25 mark.

She was upset at the time, and worried about how she had to lose the weight. So she tried dieting and realized she was miserable. Then she stopped to think about it. She'd been a lot more active than she was, and had a lot of muscle mass. She was no bigger than she was before. She wore the same size clothes, and if anything, they were a little looser. All she did was lose fat and put on muscle mass. Her BMI was high (I think it was like a 26 or something) because she's short and athletic.

At this point, she decided that worrying over a number on a scale was silly, she'd just worry about clothes sizes. So she threw away her scale and refused to think about how many pounds she weighed. All was well and good until she moved up north, and got a new doctor.

Anyway, since the story is rambling at this point, I'll get to the conclusion. She went in for something or another, and the nurse went to weigh her, and my sister said she didn't want to see the weight. This apparently sent off some sort of warning signal, with the nurse insisting she know. My sister refused. The new doctor talked to her about whether or not she had an eating disorder. Here my sister was, trying to explain that she simply didn't care about her weight and never wanted to be in a position to stress over a number on a scale, she was happy with her body and knew she was fit. The doctor insisted, my sister caved in and heard the number, promptly forgot it, and went about what she was in there for.

It just seemed silly to me that here someone was, refusing to be ruled by some number on a scale, and the doctors seemed to think that was a bad thing.

Don't forget to take your measurements! The scale is just a number but we can tell a lot just from the way our clothes fit. Sometimes the scale is a disappointment, but that is usually when our body is tightening up and we lose inches.

Every once in a while my leader asks the receptionists to tape our weigh in booklets closed without letting us see the number (with our agreement of course). We then sit through the meeting and talk about whether we had a good week or bad week and why and celebrate small successes. She does this to reinforce that our journey is NOT just about teh number on the scale. A couple women at my centre always weigh in with their backs to the scale and I think they may even keep their booklets at the centre because they don't wnat to obsess. Sounds healthy to me!

Flib
292.6/175/165

Found this post interesting because I've been thinking about this very same thing.....the scale number. Last meeting I didn't even weigh for I had a bummer week before and guess I didn't what to face up to the consequences. Did stay for the meeting was re-charged and had a good week. Tomorrow is meeting day again and I've decided to weigh in but am going to tell my leader to NOT tell me the number. I have about 65# to lose and have decided to look at it in 5# increments. So.....because we get a star with every 5# loss I'll just wait until she presents me with one to know I've dropped that much.
That way, I'll be focused on forming new eating habits and not numbers, which in reality, aren't the best measure of fitness but size, being healthy, and feeling great are. But then, that is just my opinion. Anyhow...I'm going to try this for awhile and see how it goes.

thanks so much everyone! I did it - it was tough - but as someone here mentioned - you know approximately what to expect.

now onward and downward! thanks again, believe it or not - this is the one act that has kept me from starting WW for more than a year.

Cheers to a new life! (step one: the scale step two: posting my weight here


Have a great week -Terri

Yea!!!! Good for you!

I think you're all getting on the wrong kind of scale (like the doctor's office has with the slidey thing). At my clinic they use a bioelectric impedance scale made by Tanita (a Japanese company). This scale tells me something VERY important: my lean body mass. My goal is to see that number go UP and I work very hard at keeping it at least where it was when I started. Losing muscle while on a diet is a bad thing, and you can't tell if you're losing muscle by a regular scale or a tape measure.

At my last check I have lost 22 pounds of fat mass and 2 pounds of muscle mass. Another guy, so smug and proud of himself, lost 30 pounds altogether, but 12 was muscle mass!!!!!! Now his metabolism is slow and he'll probably gain the fat he did lose back.

Moral of the story: Some numbers are important to know. I would add blood pressure, fasting glucose and cholesterol numbers in there too
Moral #2: WEIGHT TRAIN while losing, and eat plenty of lean protein (dieters need extra).

I hated the scale too, but now I love it and bought my own Tanita scale (consumer model). I like the mirror now too!

YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE THAN NUMBERS!!

I find that if I worry too much about what I weigh, I will obsess about it constantly and end up feeling horrible about myself, unable to enjoy the wonderful people around me, unable to take advantage of the great opportunities, and thinking that all my bike riding is just exercise and ignoring the gorgeous sunsets right over my head.

Then I look up, and I come back to earth.

Relax a bit, let yourself be you, understand that you have made a choice in the EATING area of your life, and
that you are so much more than a number on a scale or a dress size or some other number. Enjoy yourself, and learn to enjoy the healthy choices you are making for yourself!

In short, keep your cool!