Nutritionist told me to hide my scale...

[JanineVSG 93]

Hi guys,

I'm only a week post op but I'm down 15 lbs since surgery and 55+ overall. I told my nutritionist I was kind of struggling emotionally because I don't really feel proud of how much I've lost. I know 55 lbs is a lot to some people but I have SO MUCH more to go and I feel just kind of numb about it.

She told me that I needed to put my scale away and that I should only be weighing myself only every 2-3 weeks. Really?? 2-3 weeks? I think she has a point, though -- I've been recovering in the guest room, which is where the scale is, and I end up weighing myself like 3+ a day . . .

Anyone else struggle with this?

Edited January 24, 2018 by honeyedlife

[FluffyChix 17,415]

Yeah, lol. *raises hand(s)*

I'm pretty sure human sacrifices would ensue...

[hap314ness 90]

I just keep reminding myself that I didn't do this to chase numbers. I did it to stop wheezing after a 100 foot walk. To climb a flight of stairs without having anxiety. To stop having to size up my wedding ring. It's also really really fun to ignore the scale and feel so strong (and wow what's this willpower thing I never had when food was involved?) And THEN after weeks of not stepping on the scale and seeing a number that's lower than the one before...nothing better. Fighting the daily 1 lb down, 3 lbs up, 1/2 down...it's a mental nightmare. You can do it!

[Diana_in_Philly 1,426]

Once a week. That's about all I do now. If you can't let go of the negatives, weigh once a week. Record it and let it go. So long as the overall progress is down, you're good. I can still fluctuate four or five pounds in two days depending on salt intake, carbs, etc.

For me (I'm almost 18 months out), my goal now is to build muscle mass and decrease body fat. So i'm not getting crazy if the weight number isn't moving so long as the muscle mass goes up and the fat goes down. (We have a scale at my gym that does those calculations.)

[KatFight 207]

I have a long "weigh" to go too. And that makes it easy to freeze up and let anxiety creep in. I tell myself to just keep moving along this path because it leads to my destination. I weigh myself weekly and put the scale away. I'd be tempted to weigh myself more if it were left out.

You have lost a good deal of weight and you will lose more. Checking the scale multiple times a day is throwing off your game, right? You are in it to win it so each pound down is a point toward your victory and you can be the champion. Keep your head in the game and leave unnecessary stressors behind (like multiple daily weigh-ins). You will be victorious.

[LittleLizzieLilliput 919]

Due to you being hyper focused on the scale and you are tying your feelings of success to the numbers on the scale, I completely agree with her. You are torturing yourself emotionally and mentally. Everytime you step on that scale you are kind of waterboarding yourself. Weighing 3 times a day?? Why? As you eat and drink Water through the day, put on clothes, go to the bathroom, your weight will fluctuate. It's a totally non-logical thing to weigh yourself and judge your success off of those numbers.

There are SO many more ways to measure your progress:

Measure your head, biceps, wrist, breasts, waist, hips, thighs, calves, ankles and the remeasure once a month.

Create a donation pile of all the clothes that no longer fit, watch it grow for 8 weeks and then donate. Then go out and try on some new cheap shirt and jeans at Walmart or something and revel in wearing a smaller size.

Run your hands over your body each day, feel the skin loosening up, feel the bones slowly reveal themselves to you.

When you go on one of your walks make sure to put on some really peppy music and enjoy the speed in which you can move now, the way there is less pressure on your joints and body, the joy that moving now brings you.

There are so many ways to measure and enjoy your progress, but you are sabotaging yourself and this process if you focus so intently on just the number on the scale. It sounds like you are obsessing. Let's get you obsessing about working out!! lol!

I've lost over 225 lbs so far, I've worked hard for a long time. It was funny when people told me "it's happening so fast!" and all I would think was "Yeah, only took 43 year, hundreds of diets, gallons of tears, mountains of self-loathing, years of sacrifice and hours, days, months of working out, working hard and working towards this goal. But yes...SOOO fast." lol!

What we perceive as "slow" is because of all the second of our lives we've wished to be skinny. All the minutes in front of the mirror in sadness. All the hours we ate and then hated ourselves. All the years we wished we were different. It will NEVER be fast enough for us, but if you are committed it's going to go by very quickly.

Edited January 24, 2018 by LittleLizzieLilliput

[abefroman329 704]

I weigh myself daily because I have a Fitbit scale and I like having lots of numbers for the graph the app maintains, but I can see how harmful it would be for some people to do that. Sometimes if I'm discouraged with a number I got on a particular day, I compare it to a number I got a week before and it's always smaller.