WARNING: I’m going to be talking about scale numbers. Specifically what the scale has told me recently. I am not you. We are not the same person, nor do we have the same body. So please, PLEASE, do not compare numbers.
Confession time. I haven’t gotten on the scale in, ohhhhhhh, about 2 months. Well that’s not really true, over Thanksgiving break we set up the Wii Fit
How?
Well even though I don’t weigh every day like I used to, I’m very aware of my size. By Thanksgiving time my jeans were already getting snug. I was indulging in the candy with the little guy more and more. I wasn’t working out as much. I figured I was up 2-3 lbs, not down 5. (My average weight this year has been around 145)
Thanksgiving came and went. The holiday parties were in full swing. The trip to Atlantic city. The alcohol. The carb loaded Christmas Eve dinner. The cookies. I can go on and on but I think you get it.
Jeans still tight but my routine is returning so I’m not worried about.
I’m not.
Really.
I swear. :)
Anyway, Monday I decided it was time to hop on the scale. There’s a difference between not needing the scale and avoiding it. I’ve been skirting that line. It was time to take a peak.
151
Ouch! That’s over my Weight Watchers goal by 2 pounds. I haven’t see a number over 150 since January 2006.
Now I have a choice. . .
Do I get depressed about some stupid number on a scale or do I keep making the best choices I can to live a healthy balanced life?
I choose the choices! :)
The next morning I decided to wake up a little early and hop on the Wii Fit before work. It reported my weight at 144. That makes sense. In my estimates it’s about 5 pounds off. I think nothing of it and continue to make my choices.
Today I wake up and decide to hop on the scale again for $hits and giggles (sorry I had to say it, it’s one of my favorite expressions) and it says 147.
That’s 4lbs down on the same scale in 2 days. I weighed at the same time of day with the same clothes, or there lack of. ;)
Now I’m not saying I lost 4lbs in 2 days. That’s absurd. Let me repeat. . . There’s no way I lost 4 lbs of fat in 2 days! There’s just no way.
No, the lesson here for me is simple. The scale is joke. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tool. One form of measurement that we can use to track our progress over time (Key words there… OVER TIME) but it, by no means should be given the power we give it. It’s just a number. Simple as that.
Ok. That was a REALLY long introduction to the Question of the Week. . .
How much credit do you give the scale? Are you able to objectively look at the number or do you let it affect your mood? Do you even look at all?
70 Responses to How Much Credit Do You Give the Scale?
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About Roni
Roni started this blog in '05 to journal her weight loss. 70lbs later, she's committed to living a conscious, healthy life and hopes to inspire others along the way. Read more on the about page.
I weigh myself at LEAST once a day. First thing in the morning as soon as I get up, I weigh myself. If I shower immediately after weighing, I’ll weigh myself again. If I work out before I shower, I will weigh myself after I work out and again after I shower. Obsessed a little? Maybe. It seems to help keep my 50-lb weight loss in check for the last 7 years.
I do take monthly measurements as well. Like a previous commenter said, I can’t wait until my clothes feel tight, that could be more than just a few pounds of weight change.
Does the scale make me nuts and effect my mood? Unfortunately, yes.
None! man that feels good to be able to honestly “Say”. I had lots of eating issues until my early 20′s. I’d let the scale make or break my days. I’d get so down over a 2lb “gain” and on the flip, get so happy over a loss, that I thought it meant a free pass to eat whatever I wanted for a period of time. But then in my early 20′s I got tired of it. got tired of a number dictating how I felt, got tired of dreading seeing numbers, just got tired of all the dumb numbers that didn’t really indicate anythign about ME as a person – just my weight. So, I did something I didn’t want to do…I threw ou the scale. then I started eating better and exercising more. according to my doctor’s office scale I lost about 30lbs over 18months. sure, I was happy about the number, but what I was really happy about was how I felt on the inside (won’t lie – knowing I looked better on the outisde DID help some, too). I KNOW if I had kept a scale around during my weight-loss process, I would have given up becasue the numbers wouldn’t be moving fast enough for me. But not having it, and letting my clothes tell me, man, that was the biggest motivator for me.
Now we’ve been scale free for about 10 years and I will NEVER go back to having one in my home. Sure, I get curious from time to time, but then I check myself and say “hey! your pants fit. you feel good, why do you CARE?!” or on the flip sidfe “Ugh, i’;m feeling sluggish, and my pants are causing muffin-top…time to look at my diet and exercise regime!” and then I remember, “Oh, I don’t! need a number to tell me what I already know” I really can’t tell you enough how liberating it has been to live scale-free, espeically after letting it dictate so much about me for so long.
Roni, you’ve done it again- posted just the thing I need just when I need to read it! How do you do that!?
I too had been skirting the line between not needing to weigh myself and just plain avoiding it after the holidays. This a.m. I jumped on and saw a number I haven’t seen since last January!
I know being back in my routine and utilizing all I have learned and continue to learn about my body and mind will guarantee my trip into that particular number set is temporary. STILL… I have to admit fighting of a funk all day over that NUMBER!
Thanks for being there Roni! I have come to really look forward to checking in with you a few times a week- I ALWAYS leave with something I can use!
Happy New Year :)
I don’t do the whole scale thing anymore. I judge everything on how I eat, what I drink, and how my clothes fit. Your weight was probably up due to many things like salt intake, ate too much, drank alcohol, etc Good luck on maintaining your weight…I swear since I lost my weight that has been the hardest thing and I working on 4 plus years!
I hate the fucking scale, it effects my mood and I should just avoid it. I eat if it’s down, get depressed and eat when it’s up. It totally screws with my mind, and I am trying hard to be rational and logical, like your post. I so needed to read this. With that being said, I go on often because I avoided it for a long long time – almost 3 years and when I finally jumped on it I was 218, two years ago this week. Today I am 168 and still losing. I need the scale as a gauge however it sometimes controls me, MizFit said at one time – it’s just a hunk of metal, and she is so right!!
Interesting post. I am still in losing mode, and I weigh every day. I have tried several methods (not weighing for weeks, weighing daily, and weighing weekly), and I have found this to work the best for me by far. Weighing weekly was the worst for me! Because of those natural weight fluctuations you talked about, I could easily have the scale show me up a pounds or two or the same from one week to the next, when I actually lost fat. So I do really well and work really hard all week with this big suspense about how much I lost, only to find that I lost nothing or gained (on the scale, anyway). It would freak me out and make me worry that I was doing something wrong. When I weigh daily, I actually put less stock in the number I see each day, because I see it as more one little piece of the overall puzzle, rather then the one number that validates or invalidates my efforts. And I also know that I didn’t lose or gain 3-4 pounds of actual fat overnight, so it doesn’t bother me. I actually look more at the overall trend. I put the daily numbers in excel and plot them, and do fun things like extrapolate where my weight will be at a certain date in the future if it continues at the same rate. And I average my overall rate of weight loss, etc. (I’m totally a numbers person, in case you couldn’t tell.)
The weigh-every-day thing works for me because I treat it what it is: data. I know I’m a guy and a very geeky one at that, but let’s face it: it’s a number. You don’t step on the scale and see, “Gosh, You’re Ugly.” I doubt it’s ever actually said, “GRRRR…PLEASE GET OFF ME…NOW.” And I’d be very surprised if the scale ever said, “Just Give Up Loser and Go Eat a Birthday Cake.”
It’s funny, then–and not always in a good way–how many times we believe it says these things. Don’t listen to it. Just look at the number, write it down, and carry on.
My scale is all powerful and all knowing. Okay not really, but some days it does feel like that! I really have to make an effort not to base my attitude for the day on what the scale says.
I used to weigh myself twice every day! Isn’t that ridiculous?! That was when I was struggling with eating disorders. Now I’m happy to have reached a point where I am no longer a slave to the scale. It’s very liberating! I now rely on measuring my waist every 2 weeks or so at the same time. It helps to keep me in check without being too paranoid. I like the system and I’m sticking to it.
I used to live by the scale more than I do now. I weigh myself on average once a week but mainly as an indication of where I am. I prefer to use my clothes as a guide. But I know the fine line between not needing to know and avoiding the scale!
I know that having only 5lbs to lose, it’s not going to drop off and the number often doesn’t move but my clothes fit better so I try remember that instead.
Roni,
I am in the same boat as you.. only I have not gathered the courage to step on the scale yet! I am pretty sure it is hovering around 155 though. I honestly just stopped caring over the holidays. I would still exercise occasionally, but really not enough (5K run every 2-3 weeks). Now I am still not sure that I want to step on it. I am considering just making healthy choices and counting points until my jeans are not so tight THEN stepping on. If I get on now and see a really high number I am worried I will give up before I even get started.
Unfortunately, I give the scale too much credit. It will ruin or make my entire day. When it ruins my day, it usually started a downward spiral of beating myself up. Luckily, in my case, it is somewhat better after lots of therapy, but it still effects my mood. I HATE IT.
I am only weighing in once a month to take motivation away from the number.
I have a love/hate relationship w/ the scale also. Obviously, I love it when it tells me I am down and I hate it when it tells me I am up. One thing that has helped me is to have someone weigh me (or use the “hidden” form on the WII) just to have the info and a starting point, I will get back on my healthy plan (WW) and then I look at my weight a week later. So I am looking at a week-old weight and I am not emotionally attached to it b/c (hopefully) I have had a better week and am weighing less when I look at it. Assessing my weight a week old helps w/ my emotional state and doesn’t make me as crazy. Thanks for all you post, I really enjoy reading. It really is nice to know that I am not the only one who does all these kooky things w/ food and body issues.
I use the scale to give myself a reality check. At my preferred weight range (its a several pound range) I am between sizes, so I have clothes that range in size in my closet. When I tend towards choosing the larger sizes more and more often, I know it’s time to hop on the scale and look at a number to give myself a kick in the pants.
Hi Roni! I totally agree that there is too much credit given to the scale. I weigh in once/twice a week – only on Wednesday. I weigh myself each Wednesday morning, first thing, and then each Wednesday night at my WW meeting to maintain my lifetime member status. I don’t really pay much attention to the night number, though, since it fluctuates greatly based on what I eat that day.
I used to weigh every day and it was much too stressful! I like how I do it now. :)
I normally do weigh in everyday. Sometimes the number does affect my mood. But to me it’s not the scale… it’s me… I get upset/disappointed in myself because I know that I’m the one making the mistakes and hopes that the scale doesn’t catch it. Now if I’m on track and have been good… when the number happens to maybe go up a pound or two, I don’t sweat it. I know that I’m doing things right…. it only affects me when I have a guilty conscience. So I don’t think I personally give the scale too much credit… but I know of people who let it lead their entire lives.
Thanks for your post, I will choose choices with you from now on!
~Amberly
I lost 40 pounds 3 years ago. before that I was up and down with the scale as my enemy and best friend, but could never get the numbers out of my head, and it did effect my head. But 3 years ago I put away the scale and lost 40 pounds. Did not even know how much I lost until a year later I went to gyno appt. and they always weigh me.. I was down 43 pounds from the year before.. I always go by how my clothes fit me and now know when I need to get my butt in gear again.. which I am doing right now after all the HOLIDAYS!!!!
i like how you say it is ONE form of measurement…I give the scale WAY TO much power. Thanks Roni!!!
I hop on the scale every morning at work, and the Wii Fit every Saturday (this is my ‘official’ weight). At work, to avoid getting bummed out, I set the scale to the weight I started at in April (about 244 lbs.) and then count down in 2 pound increments. So even if, like after Christmas, I was up 5 pounds from what I was in November, pre-Thanksgiving, I can see that I have still made a lot of progress, 35 pounds worth. I find that weighing in every morning helps keep me on the straight and narrow.
I hop on the scale most mornings, though I’m not obsessive about it and sometimes I just plain forget, but I never let it freak me. I find that if I don’t weigh regularly, the weight just creeps upward and upward. I need that little reality check. Otherwise, it’s just a number and a routine.