How is everyone?

I'm at work, trying to waste some time, and thought I would make a post.

Has anyone had the issue of the scale going up and down randomly? I'm talking like this: you weight yourself Monday morning, you're down 3lbs (YAY!), then you weigh yourself Wednesday and you're back up those 3lbs plus 2 more (BOO!)

I've been reading online about it and it's said that sodium, how much water you've drank, if you've eaten, etc etc, can all cause the scale to yo-yo.
I used to weigh myself only once a week (recommended) (I believe because of this reason), but what if that day you pick runs on a day where you just had too much sodium the night before or something random and when you look at your scale it didn't budge?

In case anyone asks I have a manual scale, I weight myself in the same spot (minus clothes hehe!) and in the morning before I eat or drink anything.

What caused me to think about all this was I weighed myself last week on a Tuesday and my weight didn't go down. I then weighed myself again the next morning and I lost 3lbs. I decided to experiment and weighed again the next day and it went back up.

I guess the ultimate question is, how does a person truly get their accurate weight? I find the whole thing terribly discouraging, and I admit I've been really depressed since last week thinking I am working out this hard and counting calories this accurately for nothing. :X

I've also been measuring myself since the beginning and I have lost some inches, but nothing in the past 2 weeks.

Well if you lost inches, forget your scale!! I do go up and down during the week when I weigh everyday. I usually gain a good 5 lbs during my cycle week.

You are doing great!

Thanks Teresa, I appreciate the encouragement

I lost an inch on my waist, I 'DID' lose an inch on my thigh except now it's creeped back due to muscle gain in almost 3 months, but that's ok as long as it's not fat! hehe

The thing is, results with measurements seem to come really slowly and the scale comes quicker (though still too slow for my taste, but i admit im impatient), so I find a hard time to give up the scale.
I'm wondering if I bought one of those scales that measure your body fat and everything specifically, if this would reduce the yo-yo problem?

I think what bothers me is I told a friend I've been working at the gym for 2 months now and lost 5 lbs, and they told me 'thats not good, you should have lost 8 lbs by now'. I start to wonder if it means if there's something wrong with me on account of that.

I bounce around all over the place, staying totally on my plan. One day I'm 233, next day, 229, next day, 235, next day, 230... then one day, I'll get a drop to 227, then maybe the day after to 225. It's crazy. I just stay on my plan and pay attention to the general downward trend.

Rae

Hi Rae

When you get all those random weights, do you usually jott down the lowest one or just wait?

The other day I thought I lost another pound so I put it on my ticker, and now my scale is saying I went back up lol!

We can fix this. Walk up to your friend, smiling. With your palm facing out, and fingers up, rap your friend firmly but lovingly on the forehead. Repeat until your friend realizes that a 5 pound weight loss in 8 weeks is a great accomplishment, and being at the gym itself is fantastic, and recognizes how rude his or her statement was, and apologizes with a homemade fruit salad. No marshmallows!

Oh god, fruit salad sounds good right about now. NOM!

And thank you <3~

I felt pretty good about it until they said that, and once I started the whole 'well .5 a week is pretty good..' argument, I wasn't sure if I was just cheating myself by defending it or if it really is something to pat myself on the back for.

I second thundahthighs...your friend needs a smack to the head. 5 lbs lost is awesome, especially if you're gaining muscle!!! So congrats on your progress & keep up the great work!

My weight tends to fluctuate on the scale too. It drive me nuts when one morning I'm at a happy low, then the next I'm up a few pounds. I rarely have the same numbers 2 days in a row, but I don't mind the yo-yo as long as the numbers keep going down. I've been losing fairly steadily for nearly a year, so as long as the numbers keep going down I consider the 'lowest' weight my official weight and try not to worry about the rest.

I lead a pretty much low-sodium lifestyle, so if I have any sodium it immediately shows on the scale...usually 3-4 lbs in water-weight that goes away after a few days.

Thanks Gracie :3 I will move my ticker down to 231 then, as that's what I weighed the lowest last week. Big yay!!

I know I am terrible at drinking water, so starting now I am going to drink as much as I can a day. I am thinking I am retaining a ton of water due to not being very consistent with my glasses.

Anyone know how a person can be sure how much sodium they are ingesting? What are the foods with the most sodium in them that are the most popular?

Meh, just ignore the variations and look at the downward trend.

I think last week I started at 233, saw 232, 234, 230, 231, 235, 231, 230, 227, 230, 229.

I look for two things. A downward trend measured over a week, and at least once a week I love to see a new all time low (even if only by one pound).

Note that I have never once time had two consecutive all time low readings. In fact, I bet I bet the closest I've ever had 2 all time low readings is 3-4 days apart...

Hi ramdoncards

In this case would you be looking for the average as your base weight? In your case I see 230 the most.

Just curious if that's the best way to do it, or just count your all-time low as your weight.

I care less about the number than most folks do, so for convenience's sake I just "count" the measurement that I take at the gym every Monday near the same time, which I do clothed (but generally the same type clothes)

I do not count my all time low, as I mentioned it's often up to 5 days between all-time lows and then you just feel like you are giving up ground for the next several days, when in reality you were probably just a little lower than usual on water/waste.

The funny thing for me is that my all-time lows seem to jump by 2-3 lbs. I'll see one, then be above it for a 5 days, then all the sudden see a number 3 lbs below any number I've ever seen.

I think you should do whatever you want. Pick an average of the last 3 days, pick your all time low, only weigh once a week...who cares? It's just a piece of the puzzle, I think a lot of people get way too tied up in the number. Just whatever measure you use do it consistently because lbs is a decent measure when looked across longer periods of time (as in over a week)

/rant

I gotcha.

And you're right, I am obsessing over it too much. :X

I can blame my OCD all I want, but I think it's more that I just want to shed all my fat once and for all, and I get paranoid if I am doing everything correctly.

In the end the most important thing is if you feel healthy and have more energy.

I agree, that it is hard. I wrote a post in my tracker thread about this concept of the mental struggle between immediate action vs. non-immediate results a couple of days ago...
http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/3097400-post84.html

It looks interesting, I will give it a read tonight. And thank for for all the advice/help

I can't post links yet, so I had to edit yours out to reply.