Saying Goodbye To My Scale

[MamaT 47]

So I went & saw my surgeon today- he asked me how often I weigh myself-- about every 8 days or so. He then preceded to say that weighing yourself weekly can hurt your loss.

It made complete sense to me. He said as you lose weight your clothes will start falling off, dropping sizes and so on. But because our weight loss will fluctuate and hit stalls, by looking at the scale weekly, the numbers start to dictate how I feel, not the WAY I feel. He said that I could have a great week, staying on track , exercising, the whole bit... And I may feel amazing and my clothes feel loose and I feel great, but if step on the scale and only see a 1 lb loss for that week, then I'll get upset and think I'm not doing well.

I've fallen into that trap before.. I can remember years ago walking into a WW meeting feeling great, only to see I lost no weight that week, and leaving and driving straight to McD's.

So goodby scale, I'll visit you once a month when my hubby takes you out of hiding.

[angelakay2 117]

Good idea and good for you!!! However, I have less willpower with my scale than I do with food! haha.

[lose4good2012 8]

I think that is wonderful advise. I think that I will only weigh myself once a month after my surgery. Seems like it will help a lot with frustration level during stalls, etc..

[jazzie 2]

I think I going to do the same thing

[Char 7]

I actually do better sticking to my diet plan when I weigh myself daily. I know several other people that do better that way, too. It's an individual preference, but you do have to know and understand the plateaus and even a little weight gain now and then. Water weight gain can be 5 lbs or more. It can happen if you eat too much salt, because of hot weather, as a warning sign that mother nature is about to come calling, or because someone in Thailand sneezed while you were putting on your shoes for that matter. : )

You just have to keep in mind that kind of weight gain will come right back off if you stick to the plan. My scale helps me keep on track. I almost always gain weight when I don't weigh every day.

[Jack Fabulous 35]

I weigh myself daily to keep myself on track

[azquilter92 82]

my surgeon said not to weigh yourself everyday,because it is misleading,your weight flucuates daily, because of alot of reasons,hormones.different times of the day etc.and you might not lose punds but inches,what is the term?non weight loss victories.

and watching the scale everyday can become obsessive and maybe alittle unhealthy

[MyGastricSleeveLife 180]

I'm like Char, I like to weigh daily. However, it is definitely a personal preference. I actually like seeing my daily fluctuations because it helps me know my own body better. I can then understand if I gain 5 lbs because of my period or because of having more sodium even though I know I didn't really gain 5 lbs overnight. I still remember someone on Nutrisystem saying she gained 2 lbs one day, but felt bloated so she walked around "tooting" for a little while & weighed again & the 2 lbs was gone. Weighing daily helps me learn my own fluctuations. However, I know that it's too frustrating for some people do to it that way.

Another thing is to make sure you're doing measurements either weekly or monthly. Sometimes the scale doesn't move all that much, but inches do!

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,281]

So I went & saw my surgeon today- he asked me how often I weigh myself-- about every 8 days or so. He then preceded to say that weighing yourself weekly can hurt your loss.

It made complete sense to me. He said as you lose weight your clothes will start falling off, dropping sizes and so on. But because our weight loss will fluctuate and hit stalls, by looking at the scale weekly, the numbers start to dictate how I feel, not the WAY I feel. He said that I could have a great week, staying on track , exercising, the whole bit... And I may feel amazing and my clothes feel loose and I feel great, but if step on the scale and only see a 1 lb loss for that week, then I'll get upset and think I'm not doing well.

I've fallen into that trap before.. I can remember years ago walking into a WW meeting feeling great, only to see I lost no weight that week, and leaving and driving straight to McD's.

So goodby scale, I'll visit you once a month when my hubby takes you out of hiding.

Good for you on realizing what works. It's so important to remember the scale does NOT define our entire journey. So many factors go into how well or not we are doing. Everyone is different and weighing often does more harm than good. I weigh in about 3-4x per week, but it doesn't affect my day so it's not a big deal. Only time it did was when I was trying to hit Onederland... lol

[PEvette 297]

Good for you...I plan to hide my scale myself (still single) on Monday morning before I leave for surgery.....I plan to weigh myself on the 11th of every month...

[sleeve 4 me 910]

kudos to you! you will be less stressed!

[sarahcc 184]

Good for you on realizing what works. It's so important to remember the scale does NOT define our entire journey. So many factors go into how well or not we are doing. Everyone is different and weighing often does more harm than good. I weigh in about 3-4x per week' date=' but it doesn't affect my day so it's not a big deal. Only time it did was when I was trying to hit Onederland... lol [/quote']

Omg when I first started I didn't care about the scale at all. I went from 241 to 218 without ever looking at the scale. But now at 204 I am so desperate to see 199 that I am weighing daily. CURSE YOU 4 POUNDS!!! Heh.

[Jill279 65]

I love this post! Good for all you who wait for the scale and all those that can weigh themselves more and not let it affect their success.

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

hi Jennifer

When the Dr. said weighing yourself every 8 days is too much i don't agree, when he says you should give away your scale.. I just don't have the strength to wait that long.

Since after my WLS 6 month ago, i'm now weigh themselves daily.

I could never be stong enough to wait a week or so. before i weighed in, Wouldn't like doing it a couple days or so either. OMG waiting one month - no way. Jose

I know your weight can fluctuate daily, but i need to see my weight daily. Wish i did have the self discipline so i would be pleased after one week on not knowing my weight, oh well..................................

kathy

[june13sleever 223]

I have been weighing myself weekly for one year. I never really stalled, just had a blip in December that I now attribute to having a really bad cold. Tomorrow is my one year anniversary. I am going to go weigh myself on my doctor's scale just to get a more accurate reading. I am also going to try to weigh myself every other week moving forward and hopefully getting to a place where I weigh in once a month. I weigh myself mostly in fear of losing too much. I am liking the thinner me even more than I thought and don't really care if I lose another 10 over the next couple of months. I have weighed the same for the past two weeks, and I am happy with that as well. I think weighing yourself daily is a little extreme, but we all need to do what makes us happy.