I'm a sucessful switcher! I used to weigh myself everytime I walked past the scale, several times a day. For awhile, it was working for me, then it started making me crazy! So I stopped, and just weigh once a week now.
I would recommend getting a scale that does .2 or .1 lbs instead of .5, it's more detailed, you see your successes (and failures) more easily.
Whenever I would fall off the wagon, I would steer clear of the scale. But when I get my act together to lose weight, I hop on it several times a day. I want to try to only weigh once a week though. Unfortunatly I have spent the last 7 years in the cycle of gaining and losing a bunch of weight. I hope I can find that happy balance somewhere.
I tried this for about a month--weighing just twice a week rather than daily. I learned it didn't work for me. I weigh daily once again. I may be ready to "scale back" so to speak in the future, but I am not ready for the transition yet.
My scale is at my parents, so when I go home I weigh then. I find it more discouraging though because I weigh myself in the evening, with the day's food in me, and I usually fluctuate a few pounds. However, I find it much easier to weigh on sunday mornings, and i also measure. Measuring is such a blessing, especially during a plateu, because even if you do not see a pound loss, you can still see an inch loss.
I find that my weight fluctuates day to day, and with my scale measuring .1 increments, i really get depressed. But each week I have lost 1-7 pounds. Its whatever works. Its really hard to stick to my plan of weighing once a week, and I often break my personal rule lol!
I was an obsessive scale hopper during previous weight loss attempts. The scale was an emotional roller coaster, if it was down, I was ecstatic and motivated, if it was up, I was depressed.
This time, I committed to once a week weighing, always the same. Sunday, get up, pee, strip, weigh. Record the weight on a spreadsheet. I had a little rule, if I didn't like what the scale said on Sunday, I would repeat the process on Monday. Usually, any weight bobble would have self-adjusted.
I did have several weeks without any weight loss. You aren't very far off from your goal weight, so it might also be your situation. Just remember, you do not control the scale. Focus on what YOU can control - healthy meals, portion control, exercise.
If you haven't started, I would also highly recommend taking your measurements. I did my measurements every 2 months and wow, that was a happy eye opener. I just wish I had started from day 1 (I waited several months before bothering to get the tape measure out).
I use to be obsessed. What I did was chucked them out and just saw a dietician every week. That actually motivated me to work harder because I could only see the scales once a week and I wanted to see results, also having someone to talk to once a week helps me to keep motivated and she takes my measurements as well. Soon I will drop down to a fortnight and when I get to my goal weight I want to just go by the feel of my clothes.
That's it, I have decided to move my scales completely out of the bathroom and only weigh once a week until...I think this will be my goal until Thanksgiving. I'll see how it works.
..Me! I used to be an every day kind of person, but now I do it once a week.
Removing the scale from my bathroom and storing it in my room's closet is what helped me with that the most.
I think there are two ways to look at the scale issue and a lot depends on your personality and how realistic you are about what the number on the scale means from day to day. I am a daily weigher and for me, if I only weighed once a week and that ended up being the high day of the week, I would get completely frustrated and may not be as committed the next week. I weigh daily but I am realistic about those daily numbers. I usually weigh the least toward the end of the week and the most after the weekend on Monday morning. So I try to compare my weekly weights from Friday to Friday to see my progress.
If you are weighing more than once a day, that is completely inappropriate. I can't even imagine what information you can ascertain by weighing yourself several times a day as the only thing that will be changing the weight is food intake and fluid retention. The best time to weigh is first thing in the morning.
It sure is. But to do it, you might have to actually lose the scale completely for the time you aren't weighing in. My DH hides the scale and I weigh in only once a week, when he brings it out for me and then rehides it. You might want to do this, or give the scale to a friend for safekeeping and either go there once a week to weigh or find another public type scale to weigh in on once a week. If you are close to your MD's office, they might let you pop in and weigh in once a week without fuss. The key is getting the freaking scale out of your sight and out of your reach for the time you don't want to weigh in.
my scale goes in .1 increments as well. I am also obsessed. I can weigh one thing in the morning and be 5 lbs heavier at night. If I weighed once a week, and I happened to weight at a point when I am the 5 lbs heavier, I'd be sooooooooo depressed. Weighing frequently gives me a good idea of where my weight is averaging and I do not stress about gains, because if I weigh again in a few hours, it will be down again. It also has taught me a lot about water weight! I know that if I eat 1 fast food meal, my weight will be up about 3-4 lbs for about 3 days and then drop back down. The sodium effects me greatly. These are things that are important for me to know! It makes me feel more in touch with myself.
I am in transition from being a daily weigher (with all the emotional ups and downs related to that) to a once-a-weeker. This week is TOM so it's even more important for me to stay away from the scale for a few days.
I second what Glory87 said - I can't control the scale, but I can control exercise, portion control, etc. There are so many factors and I can be perfectly on plan and not see the scale move right away...OR lose a bit when I know that I don't really 'deserve' it because I haven't been doing everythign right. I don't take measurements but find clothes a good indicator of loss of inches which is motivating. Since I am lifting weights and spending a lot of time in the gym I expect that I am gaining muscle which also impacts that scale number.
I think everyone has to find what works for them - for me the daily scale hopping was just making me too crazy.
It makes me feel more in touch with myself.
