Help out an obsessive weigher...

[DragonflyMoon]

Okay, so here is the thing: i weigh myself too much. I think this is where i have had a problem in the past. I'll tell you what happens... i start Atkins out with a bang... lose a lot of weight... then i get obsessed with the "how much" and the tracking of the numbers (to the point that i make graphs and charts - i am Capricorn and anal)... then, let's say, i am up a pound one or two one day or i think i've lost more than i have... then i get depressed and cheat.

Anyone familiar?

So there is my plight. To all of those out there who have committed to NOT submitting to the obsessive weighing cycle, i pose these questions to you:

1) How did you break the habit?

2) Have you noticed a difference in your progress?

3) How do you know for sure that you are "on track" (that is my biggest excuse for weighing... "But what if i am not losing... i have to know!")

4) Any advice or other thoughts?

[nikki_e]

I am also an obsessive weigher, but I don't have the problem of letting the numbers get to me. I'm actually kind of the opposite. If I see the numbers go up or not move, it motivates me to work even harder at it to get the numbers to drop again.

So, I may not be the best person to respond to this, but here are a few thoughts. Get rid of your scale. Give it to somebody to hide and have them promise to only give it to you on set dates (maybe once a month in your case). Or put it in a very inconvenient spot to get to it (attic, at the bottom of a box in storage, etc.

Also, why do you need to know if you are not losing? As long as you are following the program, you can be confident that you are eating healthy and feeling better about yourself.

[DragonflyMoon]

I know... it is totally irrational! I must be stopped! Ha ha ha...

[nikki_e]

Just curious, how many times a day do some of us obsessive weighers weigh? How many times do you weigh? I'm really bad and I can't believe I'm going to admit this, but I think I weigh anywhere from 6-12 times a day!!! And I work 8 hours a day and have a commute of about 1.5 hours with no scale available to me! Its really sad.

[DebbietheHugBug]

I usually weight once at night because it gives me an idea of what I'll be the next morning, roughly 2-3 lbs less in the mornings.

And then I'll weight twice in the mornings because I don't want to believe what the scale is showing me. :raving

[Terry]

I would weigh many many times a day beginning with first thing al fresco when I got up in the morning. Best thing that ever happened to me was my scale breaking. I am not buying another one and do best when I watch the measurements I take. Even if the scale doesnt show it the measurements always did.

I love my measuring tape!!! It is my best bud.

[Finelly]

Last time around, I weighed myself several times a day, just out of curiosity. Didn't get upset about whatever it said.

This time around, I decided not to. My daughter cleaned the bathroom and I have no idea where she put the scale. So when I get the urge, I remember that I have to go LOOK for the darned thing.....and I'm too lazy.

Maybe if you give your scale to a friend to store for you?

[Finelly]

You know, the thing about "how will I know if I'm losing"?

Measuring tells you more about that than weighing. You could measure once a week instead of every two weeks if you need to.

And as to "how will I know"...what if you aren't losing? Then you are stalled. And that's normal, there's nothing you can do, so what's the point of knowing?

[victoriansoup]

I weigh once a day, in the morning! Right after I go potty for the millionth time! Then thats it. Last time I bet I was on that scale 10 times a day. I just had to keep making sure that I was seeing what I was seeing! Finally it was consuming my life and I knocked on the neighbor ladies door and asked her if I could keep my scale on her porch!! So when I wanted to weight myself I had to walk over there. I only weighed in about once a week finally, I didn't want her to think I was a complete nut! Now I'm not so obsessed. I haven't even taken my measurements yet! But I haven't cheated and am sticking to this like gum on my shoe!

[michigangirly]

i used to weigh myself like 2x a day in the beginning. then i moved home for the summer and the only scale in the house is in my parents' bathroom which is in their bedroom, and i don't usually find myself going in there often. that automatically cut down the weigh-in's. i hate watching the normal fluctuations that we all go through on the scale...and even though i will KNOW that okay these few lbs are because it is tom or the weather is making me a little swollen...i still hate when the numbers have been the same or go up. i've come to realize that my clothes and friends/family are better judges of the weight/inches i have lost. :yes

[DragonflyMoon]

The other night i got up to go to the bathroom at about 1:30 in the morning and popped out the damn scale to weigh myself. How weird is that? I am trying to just do it once a day... but maybe my new committment for the week will be to try to do it once a week for now. I think i'll take the advice of leaving it with a friend and just doing a one week weigh-in. Try to ween myself off of the habit.

[Iapetus999]

During my weight-loss phase I weighed once a day, same time.
But then I had a weekly "official" weigh in that I would put on a chart and graph. I really only cared that the weekly number showed some progress.

[DebbietheHugBug]

That's a good idea, also. I weight everday, but only count 1 as my point of progress, which is usually the Friday one.

[DragonflyMoon]

Hey - i am one day weigh free! Woo hoo... i'll check back in with everyone when i do my weekly weigh in on Sunday... so far so good! :joy

[psigna]

Re: Help out an obsessive weigher...

Okay, so here is the thing: i weigh myself too much. I think this is where i have had a problem in the past. I'll tell you what happens... i start Atkins out with a bang... lose a lot of weight... then i get obsessed with the "how much" and the tracking of the numbers (to the point that i make graphs and charts - i am Capricorn and anal)... then, let's say, i am up a pound one or two one day or i think i've lost more than i have... then i get depressed and cheat.

Anyone familiar?

So there is my plight. To all of those out there who have committed to NOT submitting to the obsessive weighing cycle, i pose these questions to you:

1) How did you break the habit?

2) Have you noticed a difference in your progress?

3) How do you know for sure that you are "on track" (that is my biggest excuse for weighing... "But what if i am not losing... i have to know!")

4) Any advice or other thoughts?

OH MY GOD>>>>>>> That describes me to a T!!!!!!