Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Scaling It Back

How often do you weigh yourself? I find that I will actually get on that blasted device a few times in one day if I feel so compelled. I’m not completely sure why. I’m not altering what I eat based on what it says throughout the day, and I understand that the numbers can fluctuate greatly given a variety of different factors. I know that for myself I have seen as much as a six pound increase from first thing in the morning to a post dinner weigh-in. So why do I do it?

I think that right now, I am all about discovery. I am filing away all the tiny pieces of information that I gather when I stare down at the bathroom floor from my one inch perch. I am investigating the finer nuances of what my diet and exercise patterns are doing to my body on many different levels, one of which is the way their results reflect in those red digits on my scale.

For me, I do hope to eventually move away from being so concentrated on what the number says, but I am content to continue with my current trend for now because I think that data gathering is a good idea. I believe that one of the mistakes I have made in the past is that I didn’t keep a detailed record of my weight loss efforts. Obviously with this blog I am attempting to fix that, but it extends further than online journaling. I need to be conscious of changes as they happen, be they the weight gain that I have between breakfast and lunch, the increase in energy after taking a walk, or a feeling of satisfaction when choosing a vegetable over a cookie.

I know this is a controversial topic with supporters on both ends of the spectrum. My understanding is that studies have been done to both support regularly checking the scale and only weighing once a month. My guess is that many people trying to lose weight work towards the happy medium of weekly weigh-ins. What are people’s thought on this?

How Often Do You Weigh Yourself?



FOOD & BEVERAGES:
- 7 glasses of water throughout the day
- 2 bananas
- 1 1/2 cups of blueberries
- 2 wraps, each on a soft tortilla shell with thin sliced smoked ham, grated cheese, 1 cup of Seven Day Salad, calorie wise Miracle Whip, mustard, and pepper
- 1 toasted English muffin with peanut butter
- 2 cups of a mushroom, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot platter with light ranch dressing
- 1 large mug of decaffeinated tea with milk

EXERCISE:
- 2 hour and 10 minutes of walking completed in 2 outings (2 hours long and 10 minutes long)
- 1 set of 5 minutes of weight lifting with 2.5 lbs per arm

8 comments:

  1. P.S.
    If Enz reads this, I’ve tried commenting on your blog twice and it won’t let me!

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  2. At the moment I weigh myself officially on a Weds and unofficially, I often take a peek at the weekend. It is nice to get some encouragement, but it is awful if you don't see a loss. I think I would like to not give the scales the power, but right now, I need them, lol!

    I have emailed Enz about her blog - hope she can fix it!

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  3. When I started out, I weighed frequently, daily. Now I weigh daily, and usually before I go to bed at night. It doesn't bother me, but I know some people obsess about the scale. I like the science behind it. That's just me. I write my weight in my journal daily. Sometimes I go back over what I ate and look at the numbers and see if there are any red flags--salt, weight gain, etc.

    I say do whatever works for you. When we make the journey our own, taking advice from others that fits us, it works.

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  4. Keep it up, and don't let the scale depress you. You are doing great.

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  5. First off, thank you soooo much for the award! It was incredibly sweet of you to list my blog among your 15 that you had to choose from! It totally made my day!^_^
    As for the scale, I like how you put it as gathering of data. In the beginning I did weigh in once a day, and it was interesting to me to see the ups and downs in my weight depending on what I ate, when I ate, PMS etc.
    Now I just weigh in once a week and remind myself not to freak (too much) if there is a slight increase as long as I have been on track with eating and the exercise.

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  6. I was weighing in once every three weeks, but now I weigh in once a week. Sometimes on Friday, other times on a Monday morning.
    I ALWAYS weigh at the Doctor's Office on his scales -- I feel they are much more accurate than home scales.

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  7. Great post.

    I weigh in every morning as my official data point. I keep a spreadsheet to track, and use the numbers to calculate a whole bunch of things, from my BMI to the moving average of my weight to how many pounds/week I need to lost to hit particular goals. I think weighing in daily is a great way of keeping on track and facing up to what you've done: no cheat days with "time to fix before the next weigh in."

    I will occasionally hop on the scale extra times throughout the day (before bed or after a work out or big meal, etc) just because I'm curious, but I don't put any stock in those numbers.

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  8. Thanks for emailing Enz, F(f)M.

    I'm glad to know that I'm not alone on the weighing often front, but I am pretty surprised! I guess I figured that since most people report weekly that is how often they check - which is silly considering that I only report weekly but am weighing-in much more often. I wonder why we always think that we are the only ones who experience things in a certain way.

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