I weigh-in for accountability and as a reminder to myself to nip it in the bud and get back on plan.....The last time I decided that I wasn't going to weigh-in until I got back on track I ended up gaining 20 lbs.

I weigh in everyday no matter what, for me it is the only way to keep myself accountable.

I have lost and regained a substantial amount of weight 4 times in my life, (until this last time which makes the 5th time losing it). Each time the dreaded regain upward spiral started when I avoided the scale after a "diet vacation". When I don't check the damage, it's easy to keep "cheating". I had a tendency to live in the land of denial.

THIS time, I have lost more and kept it off for MUCH longer than ever before, and the biggest difference is that NOW, I make myself step on that scale and face the music, no matter how much I want to hide from it.

Though, maybe this denial thing is more of a thing that people develop who are obese or morbidly obese. I don't know why some of us don't get back on track and some do. All I do know is that since I changed my tune when it come to the scale, I have managed to fight off slight, regains, no matter how painful it is to do so.

I weigh myself every day, and that has become part of my routine, and for me, it helps keep me in line, even if I've had a bad day or two.

In the past, I would be too afraid to look at the scale and wouldn't weigh myself, thinking that I would give myself a few days to get focused, and then get on the scale. I always ended up just letting that bad day or two turn into more, and it was almost as if I didn't step on the scale, the weight gain wasn't happening (crazy, I know, but that's me!). I always just ended up going back to bad ways and gaining all of my lost weight back.

If I have a bad day now, I still just get on the scale, own up to it, and move on and go forward.

Good luck!

Basically if i cheat, it means i've given up. I always find it hard to get back on the wagon and usually don't.

For me its all psychological. If i am cheating, i will keep cheating and if i'm doing that then i don't want to know what the scale is saying because i don't seem to be able to stop it all from getting worse.

So i just try not to cheat in the first place.e HOwever in your shoes, i know its hard and so i think you just do what you've got to do. Try to eat some good food at least. And keep studying. Get back on it when you can.

Good luck with your studies.

That's the most important time to get on the scale.
It can be hard to step on that morning, but that's the best way to keep it from getting away from you. I don't skip celebrations or indulging when occasions arise, but I don't avoid the scale. Those higher numbers give me motivation and keep me on track.

"Cheating" and then avoiding the scale can be the top of a slippery slope.
Ignorance is not bliss.

I never consider eating "cheating." I used to but I really don't do that anymore. I don't fall off horses and I don't get back on them, that's a business that's sure to fail. When I eat something I just enjoy it as much as possible, try not to judge myself about it and move along. So far this way has worked the best for me. Because as soon as I label myself a cheater I will continue down the line of "cheating."

I agree, very much, with this. The most important time to weigh in is after you've done something off plan.

Why? So you can reassure yourself that you've done something bad? So that you can see exactly what the damage is and know how to feel bad accordingly? I'm just playing devil's advocate here but what can the scale tell you when you've "cheated" that you don't already know? It's almost like a public shaming... I've done wrong... let's display it and in doing so humiliating myself.

I understand the need to be self-accountable, just not the need to rub it in and make one self bad over a number that will most likely do that.

For me, weighing immediately after a cheat does not make me feel punished or bad. In fact, it does the opposite.

It tells me, that I can't gain 5 lbs from a chocolate bar, or even from a 4 lb bag of chocolate.

While I logically know that the laws of physics and thermodynamics make it impossible to gain more from a food than a food weighs, my emotional brain can forget.

Getting on the scale immediately, gives me a "worse than worst case" assessment of the possible consequences, and 99% of the time, it is much, much worse in my fearful imagination than it turns out to be on the scale.

Without post-mistake weighing, I tend to catastrophise even small mistakes, and think " I've blown it, I might as well eat whatever I want today, and I'll start fresh tomorrow (or Monday, if the mistake was near or in the weekend).

The scale provides an immediate "start fresh," point.

Even if I make mutiple post-mistake weigh-ins a day, I feel and act more rationally and responsibly, and make fewer and smaller mistakes than I do without the scale's feedback.

Using the scale this way also reminds me that the actual number isn't as important as staying in control, and there's no shame in using any tool that helps with that control. Today, I needed that reminder.

In the last year, I've gotten lazy about weighing after I've eaten off-plan. I decided that it was too weird and obsessive. I told myself that I don't really need the feedback anymore, because I've learned to avoid bingeing.

My results (or rather, lack of them) this past year have been lousy, and my "I can do this," attitude is waning. This thread has reminded me that I need to go back to "obsessive" weighing.

The scale's immediate feedback doesn't make me feel bad, it reassures me that no mistake is ever as bad as I think it is, and reminds me that I am always able to take control.

Ok. You make an excellent case for those that agree with it.

I firmly believe that for frequent weighing to be a positive, non-punishing, and useful experience, you do have to break the association between your worth and the numbers. The number has to become just a number, like your blood pressure or your cholesterol level.

No one would tell a diabetic not to test their bloodsugar after an unplanned snack because "it'll only make you feel bad about yourself."

Weighing doesn't have to be an emotional event. It's possible (and I think healthiest) to see your weight "number" as simply informative, not a definitive measure of your worth.

Whether I gain or lose, I will not be a better or worse person for it. My health is at stake, not my value as a human being. In the scheme of things, weight is a lot less important than how I treat myself and others.

When I die, I wouldn't want my eulogy to focus on my weight and weight loss. I'd want to be remembered for more important things. I want to live that way too. I don't want to measure my life and happiness by the scale.

We're culturally brainwashed to believe that the number is an important (perhaps the most important) measure of a woman's worth to herself and others.

We usually don't believe this consciously, but our actions and emotions prove what we really believe. If you can break the tie between worth and weight, weight loss becomes less stressful and your life becomes better, with or without weight loss.

Weight loss becomes the reward, not the goal.

I weigh every day. When I don't weigh every day I tend to gain weight.

I have difficulty with the idea of "cheating." Cheating says that there are rules - presumably external rules, since you can change your rules - that you are breaking in a wrongful manner. I don't really think that is a helpful way to look at eating.

Now, of course, I can overeat. I can eat more than I planned or eat something that isn't optimal for health or that will impede weight loss efforts.

I do agree that one should just move on after that. And, if someone finds it easier to move on and get back on track by not weighing immediately after doing that, then fine. For me, I do better if I go ahead and weigh.

I do because then it's usually not as bad as I thought, it helps keep me on track and I don't end up making a mountain out of a molehill . I also don't want to continue the trend if I have a meal that may be less than ideal I need to stay the course and work out more or eat less the next few days. This is how I will have to handle it for life if I want this to be a lifestyle change.