To weigh or not weigh? Breaking scale obsession

[iseanu 6]

Before surgery, I was in the habit of only weighing myself when I went to the doctor. After surgery, I’ve weighed once a week, but I’m wondering if I should not weigh myself unless at the doctors office because I’m feeling obsessed with the scale. I’ve heard when we focus on the healthy lifestyle the weight will organically fall off. It’s not fun being obsessed with the scale and there are other great wins post-surgery other than the number on the scale. What are your thoughts?

[GradyCat 3,696]

I am totally scale obsessed. I actually have to get my husband to hide it from me sometimes. I weigh every day but I'm trying to train myself to limit weighing to once a week, the same time on the same day of each week, but I'm so curious as to what's happening with my weight. Water fluctuations don't help! So, long story short, I'd advise you to weigh yourself periodically, maybe every two weeks, to keep yourself in check, but not too often to get obsessed about it.

Like you said, there are many other Non-Scale Victories (NSV) to measure our progress.

[California Guy 131]

I weigh myself daily. It helps me identify trends and ensure I'm doing everything right. Just don't focus on daily data, try to compare by the week or by the month.

[Elidh 241]

Pre-sleeve, whenever I was on a diet, I weighed daily. I could get really bummed out with the fluctuations. Post-surgery, I weigh once weekly, on Thursdays (the day I had surgery). I think it’s more reasonable for me, but everyone has his/her own method.

[Prestonandme 107]

During the first 1 1/2 years after surgery, I weighed myself weekly because the weight was easily coming off. When I plateaued, I then began weighing myself daily. This is to ensure that if there is any micro-trend toward weight gain, I can immediately take action by reducing calories by about 200/day until my weight becomes stable again.

That said, I eat 1200 calories or less every day so am sometimes puzzled by weeks when I notice my weight increasing, even by a couple of pounds. For example, there was one two-week period where I gained and lost eight pounds without any changes in my diet/exercise routine.

Most people weigh weekly and that's enough to stay on course. I'm a little more watchful because that's my comfort zone.