I'm currently in an experiment and doing it for this month...
I'm not sure what I think. I don't really think I've lost any weight but I've been ON PLAN for 95% of the time... so I should have... but I don't feel any lighter. Now that could be because I am in a plateau though...
I find it a little nerve wracking to tell the honest truth!!
No way, weighing only once a month is what got me gaining wait to begin with. I would do once a week, at least. I need to be held accountable on a more consistent basis, and not have to undo a month's worth of something.
I'm weighing only once a month right now. However, after doing this for 2 years, I also know exactly what I need to do to lose weight--how many calories, what kinds of foods, the type and frequency of exercise, and my sleep. So going for behavioral goals right now, rather than focusing on the daily scale number, is the right thing for me to do.
No, but I've often thought about it. I suppose if I slow down a lot and the weekly loss is too discouraging, I'll give it a try just to be able to see a substantially bigger number each month.
Yes, weighing in only once a month is a big part of my plan. In fact, when I started, I didn't weigh in for the first 72 days. I know I need to stick with my plan regardless of what the scale says, and for me in the past weighing in has always gone something like this:
Results better than expected - "woo hoo, I don't have to be quite as disciplined!"
Results worse than expected - "boo hoo, why do I even try? May as well eat x (or skip workout)"
And in the past, I have never dropped more than 25-30 lbs. However, I do track my calorie deficit by logging both my food and exercise so that I can't fool myself into thinking I'm sticking with my plan. I think most dieters use the scale to get this accountability, but as a numbers geek, the deficit tracking works better for me.
No, I have to do either daily or at least weekly. Too hard to slide when it's only once a month AND it's really discouraging to not lose ANYTHING in a month's time, you know? I mean, maintaining week by week is bad enough, but month by month...ugh.
I weigh weekly - but, a very close friend weighs monthly. She says that she has had to give up playing mind games with food, etc. But, she also said that , for her, it really makes eating healthfully about the process for life being the most important thing. She said she was a scale 'addict' (her words, not mine) - and she had been weighing once or sometimes twice a day. She's been weighing monthly for over a year - has lost 90 pounds and has found peace with the scale.
I think everyone has to find what works for them - for whatever reason.
Last edited by Beverlyjoy; 04-20-2010 at 02:24 PM.
Results better than expected - "woo hoo, I don't have to be quite as disciplined!"
Results worse than expected - "boo hoo, why do I even try? May as well eat x (or skip workout)"
I'm still trying to figure out what would work for me, but the quote above really fits me--only I never see "better than expected". I only see the "worse than expected".
My weight veers up and down by five pounds constantly, and I seem to have only one week of losing in a month. The other three weeks are either spent remaining the same, or trying (without success) not to regain.
I've been a daily weigher for years. I weigh daily, then track on a graph which averages my weights, but even that hasn't been very helpful.
This weekend I couldn't stand it any more, and wanted to throw the scale out the window. I had recently lost five pounds, but couldn't keep it off, and watched myself start going back UP.
I weigh once a month and it works great for me. My day is not made or broken by the number on the scale in the morning and I’m more in tune with my body now. It’s not for everyone and you have to be careful not to fall into a bingeing trap, convincing yourself that you have plenty of time before weigh in to make up for it (I do this sometimes...).
Truffle...I could have written your post myself. It is so discouraging when you are working hard and not seeing results on the scale. When I started at the end of September, I didn't even own a scale (because of previous scale anxiety). I weighed once a month at a friend's, because that was all I could handle. Now I have discovered a new method. I am weighing (usually) every day, and just using the average for the week. That seems to be taking the sting out of the ups and downs for me. Another reason I do it this way now is because I realized that even weighing once a month, my weight could still fluctuate due to sodium etc...so even weighing monthly could be a bummer. What is really helps me is staying true to my eating plan. If I know that I have been OP then the scale becomes less of an issue.
I think whatever works for you and keeps you accountable and where you want to be is what you should do. There is no right or wrong to weighing - that is JMHO.
I would ask, too, if you take any other measurements so that your feelings of success don't ride on one notoriously fickle data point.
I take many measurements, including the scale, so that I can know my body and my progress better. Every couple of weeks or at least once a month I take body measurements. I have a scale that will estimate my body fat percentage, which I do once a month or so. I track food intake and exercise daily. Bloodwork a couple of times a year - most recently in February. For me, then, the scale weight is another data point. All of them matter to me.
So yes, I weigh daily, but feeling successful or good about myself doesn't ride on that. And really, what I was reading was not that you don't like to weigh, but that you don't like to feel unsuccessful when the scale doesn't reward you.
Does anybody weigh only ONCE A MONTH?
