Should I buy a scale?

[BelleOfBatonRouge 80]

Hi all! I am getting my sleeve a week from today and October 17 cannot get here fast enough! I was wondering about your opinions on owning a scale. I do not currently own one. I wasn’t planning on buying one, because 1) I don’t want to obsess if the numbers aren’t moving 2) will I know I’m stalling if the numbers aren’t moving? 3) I am doing this to get healthy, to learn to run, to have an exercise routine become a part of my permanent lifestyle, which is so much more than what a scale can tell me.

BUT I can see the downsides- will I let myself get sloppy if I’m not holding myself accountable to that scale? Will I miss out on moments of feeling proud and excited because the numbers are going down and I’m not aware? I’m sure there are more, this is just off the top of my head.

SO I would love to know your opinions on if I should or should not buy that scale!

[CrankyMagpie 509]

Wait until 1 month, or maybe even 6 weeks, after surgery. Every day someone new makes a post freaking out about a "stall" in their first month, and "oh no the surgery isn't working," but it's just their body reconfiguring and getting used to its new normal. It happens to everyone. I don't know about you, but I have an appointment ~10 days after surgery and another ~1 month after surgery, and those seem like fine times to get official weights recorded.

(I do own a scale now. I had it before surgery. But if I didn't have one, I wouldn't buy one now.)

[MargoCL 677]

Being a scale owner I can tell you I obsess about the number. It's a terrible habit and for me almost impossible to break. I can tell you that when I was not a scale owner, I lost almost a 100lbs without surgery. I'm convinced now that a huge part of my success is because I didn't own a scale. I couldn't focus on the numbers.

With so many post op appointments after surgery, you'll hear firsthand from your medical team how your progress is doing. If I had to do all over again, I'd throw out my scales....

[mousecat88 2,280]

I have a scale already, but I have one that doesn't just tell you your weight, but also your skeletal mass, muscle mass, body fat percentage, Water weight, Protein percentage, and several other diagnostics. I don't plan on using it until I am a month or two out from surgery, but I think it'll be neat to see all of the other figures changing. The scale I have is RENPHO off of Amazon. It also connects via bluetooth to your phone, so you can track the trends of all of those figures over time. I'm more curious about the stuff like body fat percentage and protein percentage and muscle mass than I am about my actual weight.

[GreenTealael 25,163]

I vote no, but im biased lol

[BelleOfBatonRouge 80]

28 minutes ago, MargoCL said:

Being a scale owner I can tell you I obsess about the number.

That is my number one concern- obsessing about it! Sounds like I should go with my gut and stay scale free.

[MargoCL 677]

3 minutes ago, BelleOfBatonRouge said:

That is my number one concern- obsessing about it! Sounds like I should go with my gut and stay scale free.

I get on my scale daily - I fight the urge not to.. I lose every day and the scale wins... it jumps .5 up - I fret, I slides .3 down - I jump for joy... the next day it jumps 2 and I cry... honestly you don't want the emotional roller coaster that goes with it.

I have both an old digital scale and the new body fat one and I wish I didn't own either right now.

You've got this... go with out. - You'll be happier in the long run.

I leave for vacation tomorrow - 1 week scale free.... it will probably be my most successful post surgery week...

Edited October 10, 2018 by MargoCL

[BelleOfBatonRouge 80]

You got this @MargoCL ! I also really appreciate that I think you have responded to every question I’ve asked? Thanks for being willing to share your journey.

[Bhageerah 161]

I own a scale, for awhile I did obsess over the number as well as the stalls. That being said if I had it to do over again would I change anything? Absolutely not, if me stepping on a scale every day or several times a day is the worst outcome then it has been a good day! There really wasn't any harm that came from my obsession and to be honest with you the scale also assisted me in keeping some of this weight off so far. I plan on weighing myself several times a week. I am keeping myself accountable and do not plan on getting back up to the weight that I was. The scale is a tool just like the surgery itself, when used properly it can be an asset, when used improperly it can be a hinderance to your progress. Please do not get down on yourself when you hit a stall, it WILL happen, as Dory would say "Just keep swimming" and keep going and working your plan, and you will find yourself loosing again!

[FancyChristine15 810]

I would say yes, get the scale, BUT only allow yourself to weigh once a week. The same day, the same time, wearing about the same clothes, or no clothes. Be consistent in your weighing, but don't let weighing consume you. I only weigh once a week, and that's what works best for me. It helps me not obsess, yet I know what I weigh regularly.

[sideeye 1,440]

I have a scale, one of the WiFi ones that reports to an app on my phone. It’s made it possible for me to obsess a lot LESS. I’m 7 months out and have experienced a bunch of nonsense that all impacted weight loss, but because I was able to leave all the record-keeping to the app, I could wait until I was in a good headspace to look at it and analyze it rationally. Knowing that it was being tracked somewhere automatically made it stick in my head less.

I’m not freaking out about stalls, but if I see my trend line going flat for two weeks, that tells me I have to try changing something up. It’s a good statistical baseline to have, when so much of this process is emotional or perception-based.

[Lrorrio 8]

I recommend writing down your measurements prior to surgery. I have a scale & I do tend to weigh myself daily and around 3 weeks I did hit a stall & it was stressing me out that it wasn’t moving. At my 1 month park I rechecked my measurement & I could see the difference in inches all over. I also have a Fitbit that tracks my heart rate. Even when the scale wasn’t moving I could see my resting heart rate going down. It clicked that I needed to look at the bigger picture. It’s not just numbers on a scale.

[NYJenn 1,463]

I weigh myself every morning, but I honestly don't obsess about it. As long as you don't live and die by that number, go ahead. Each person is different though

[larisa1 60]

What brand of scale? I bought a Taylor and got a 12 pound difference when I stepped on and off the scale a few times within seconds of each other.

[Bari_KS 499]

I use RENPHO smart BMI scale with bluetooth. Got it from Amazon. It provides info about my BMI, BMR, fat/water/protein/muscle/bone weight/percentages and metabolic age.