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Rant: The Scale

TheCurvyJones

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vehemently disagree that the scale is the enemy. It is part of a set of tools that people can use to track progress. One must learn how to interpret the information-- among other information - to evaluate success. Along with clothing sizes and general overall feelings of healthy and improvement, the scale can be an effective tool. Knowing how to interpret data and use it in conjunction with other tools can help tremendously. If you track scale weight and inches, you will begin to see patters--- inch loss where the scale stands still... and then a drop in scale weight... and then inch loss. If you track food as well, you can see an immediate impact that certain foods have on our bodies, i.e. sodium. If I eat something salty, guaranteed it will show up on the scale. Bloated? Cycle coming? Constipated? All of that shows up on the scale for me. I bet it does for others.

 

I'm annoyed when I see someone asking about how to improve their efforts and the first thing people say is 'well ignore that data'. Actually.... what is that data telling us? If the scale AND the measuring tape AND the clothing sizes all say the same thing, is the scale still invalid? if I'm at a standstill, HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE STANDSTILL? Telling me to ignore the problem and keep doing what I am doing when I am getting no result sounds nuts to me.

 

Don’t brush me off as crazy because I look at numbers and you don’t know what to say to actually solve the problem.



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I always say this - obesity is a disease like any other and should be monitored closely. Would we tell a diabetic to not check their sugars? Hell no. I think people here SHOULD be weighing in at least weekly. I don't agree with all the "stay off the scale" nonsense either and I am glad to find someone who feels the same.

I think its important to understand that there are a lot of factors that influence how and when the scale is going to move, but if you are afraid of the darn thing you will never learn and you'll always be leery of it for no reason. I know I hold water 3-4 days before and during my period. I wouldn't know that if I didn't have a pattern down.

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I was just thinking about this earlier today. I weigh every day. I do. I know some people advise against it, but it's the only way I can tell about what I ate the day/evening before, or my period, etc. and how it affects me. Some days the weight stays the same - to the OUNCE! - talk about frustrating - but I take it in stride and go on. There's always a little block of chunk that comes off here and there, and I have to have faith in the process. I am not a fast loser, as they say, I am down 30 lbs in two and half months. But I'll take it!!

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I honestly only weigh once a week. I do it that way for my mental health. People have to work out a relationship with the scale according to their own needs, both physical and psychological. It's personal. I don't have patience for measuring, but I know my clothes are baggier.

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I always say this - obesity is a disease like any other and should be monitored closely. Would we tell a diabetic to not check their sugars? Hell no. I think people here SHOULD be weighing in at least weekly. I don't agree with all the "stay off the scale" nonsense either and I am glad to find someone who feels the same.

I think its important to understand that there are a lot of factors that influence how and when the scale is going to move, but if you are afraid of the darn thing you will never learn and you'll always be leery of it for no reason. I know I hold water 3-4 days before and during my period. I wouldn't know that if I didn't have a pattern down.

YES. I am VERY irregular. You know how I know my cycle is coming? I start gaining for no apparent reason. And also everyone around me seems to be stupid. LOL. But yes. I know my patterns and I know when the scale holds, I pull out the measuring tape. It's not the scale that is the problem, it is how you handle that data and most certainly if you CANNOT HANDLE the scale not moving, then don't consider that data in measuring your progress!

Instead of telling people to stay off the scale, how about teaching them how to fold that data in with other factors to measure success or failure.

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I was just thinking about this earlier today. I weigh every day. I do. I know some people advise against it, but it's the only way I can tell about what I ate the day/evening before, or my period, etc. and how it affects me. Some days the weight stays the same - to the OUNCE! - talk about frustrating - but I take it in stride and go on. There's always a little block of chunk that comes off here and there, and I have to have faith in the process. I am not a fast loser, as they say, I am down 30 lbs in two and half months. But I'll take it!!

I am also an every day weigher. I always have been. And the people I follow that have been most successful track everything EVERYDAY including weight. When I don't weigh, I don't care. When I don't see the impact that certain things have on my body, it's like out of sight out of mind. If I hop on the scale and it's up and i don't know why? THAT. DRIVES. ME. NUTS.

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I honestly only weigh once a week. I do it that way for my mental health. People have to work out a relationship with the scale according to their own needs, both physical and psychological. It's personal. I don't have patience for measuring, but I know my clothes are baggier.

And that's cool, because that works for you. But if you weigh in for 3 weeks and for 3 weeks it's the same and you ask about it, and someone says, well don't weigh......................How does that solve the problem of the numbers being the same for 3 weeks? It doesn't.

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