Aimee's Adventures
Message Board!!!
I joined weight watcher's going on 3 wks. I really dont know if we are supposed to but im constantly checking the scale. I get frustrated easily and tell myself as long as the numbers are going down some how i am succeeding. But is there a good time during the day to check your weight? And sometimes can it fluctuate? I am sticking with the points and excercise at least 4 times a week and drink my water.
somebody just give some advice for a new beginner. PLeease 
Dear Tobe,
I SUFFER from SCALEPHILIA! The lOVE of the SCALE. It is a dreaded disease! But I have it under control now!:) Yeah Right! There should be a 12 step or anonymous group for us scaloholics.
Obsessing over a 4 ounce wt gain or feeling ecstatic over a 4 ounce wt loss, when in fact it is all WATER because I ate sushi/soy sauce or drank more water to flush out more toxins or drank orange juice (a known natural diuretic).
Only to have a completely different number at the end of the week at Wt Watcher weigh in time!
Weighing often plays havoc on our emotions and our psyche, but we do it any way because we are addicted. FUNNY things is most of us scaloholics are only addicted to the scale WHEN we are attempting to loose wt. Most of us are not obsessing with ounces during times of binging or overeating! I went for 5 years without getting on the scale. But then I gained 50 pounds too!
As soon as I went back to WW (I think this is my 8th time since I was 22, now 52) I got on the scale about 6 times a day!
Then it hit me! IF I am going to obsess then I will do it the scientific way (hee!). I shall prove that it makes no difference no matter what the scale says during the week UNTIL the end of the week. I shall DOCUMENT it!
NOW it is an activity that I MUST do and MUST account for. So because I MUST do it there are times taht I do not do it! Get it? So I do it less often! You might call this reverse psychology, but it worked for me and for others that I have told this too. The topic comes up in meetings about 3 times a year. It has been on WW message boards before too.
Weighing in between our 7 day plan makes no sense because it takes 3500 less calories to lose one (1) pound. Therefore this is about 500 calories a day less than we have been eating to loose one pound.
In the begining when we first diet we are eating many calories LESS that before so we LOOSE the MOST WT the first 2 to 3 weeks. MOST of us loose the most wt in the first week that we will ever loose at one time. As the weeks pass, and as we loose more wt, we are now eating close to what would to maintain our wt.So this is WHY WW came up with a plan to lower our food intake as the number of pounds that wer weigh gets smaller also! So our points change. That is if you are working the program correctly! Of course one other thing that affects wt gain or loss is exercise. So we can adapt our points accordingly with this in mind...others do not adjust for the exercise points. Have you ever weighed yourself after exercising? Ther is usually a slight gain as muscles take on more oxygen. Yet we usually perspire and that can cause a wt loss, but if we drink throughout our exercise and most gyms suggest well perhaps we will remain the same, and if we..... SEE how our minds work? Any thing to trick ourselves into believing that we need to weigh ourselves.
NOW you are either saying to yourself: THIS woman is nuts, I don't obsess like that. OR you are saying YEP I can relate to that.
But IF you do get on the scale and have a hard time not doing so then you are a scaloholic! Only YOU know for sure!
Control of it? I now weight two times a day which is about 10 times less than before!:) I MUST document the wts. I weigh at home in the morning without clothes except for under panties. I record it in my daily food log book!
Then when I get home from work before I eat I allow myself to weigh or not to weigh, but if I do I MUST record it. IF I pass up the chance to record it then I allow myself one more opportunity. I can weigh before I go to bed. But again I MUST record it.
Because I MUST do record IF I weigh there are times I do not (whcih means less than I use to). I also record the TIME of day.
I then plotted on a chart my daily wts and my GRAND weekly Wt lost or gain!
By comparing my daily wts and my weekly wt loss or gain for about three weeks I was able to PROVE to myself that it IS in fact NATURAL for my wt to go up and down minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day and week by week. And that NO amount of weighing was going to change that. ONCE I had MY PROOF in my hand, I was able to obsess less frequently! Do I still want toget on every scale I see? You bet ya, just like a true recovering alcoholic wants a drink of vodka or DOC (Drink of Choice)! But I don't anymore! EXCEPT for the allotted times IF I document. In this way it becomes less of an obsession and daily proof that it does not matter what I weigh any way. What actually matters is that I am eating elss calories, less fat, less sodium, less sugar, more vegetables, more water/fluids, more meals than before (I used to go all day w/o eating then snack or binge at night before bedtime), LEANER meats and MORE fish.
What matters is that my clothes are getting larger as my body is getting smaller.
What matters is my blood pressure/bp, cholesterol, Triglycerides and my A1C are all getting lower/smaller except my HDL is getting higher/larger.
What matters is I am getting healthier and avoiding a sudden stroke or death. (I almost stroked out 2 yrs ago April 1 2005).
As for exercise? I have not got there yet. I have bad knees and an abdominal hernia tha t keeps me from doing much other than walking but I have no day light or safe area to do this. I have a gym membership but fail to get in. I HATE exercise as much as I LOVE the SCALE....go figure! :P)
So I HOPE that you are not a SCALOHOLIC, but if you are and have scalephilia, then know, JUST KNOW you are not alone and you CAN change your behavior.
Some people who I have told this to, have stopped weighing daily, and now weigh every other day, others weigh every 2 or 3 days. Others are now able to go 7 days to WW weigh in time.
Me? well I went from a million times a day to 2 documented times or less a day! I am a much happier person. I think about it less often and focus more on what can I eat that has less points! :P YOU see it is all a numbers game to some of us!
NOT ALL WW members are scaloholics with scalephilia. Some actually have scalophobia, especially at meetings! I get that when I have eaten lots of salt the night before, such as in my sushi. Others get it all the time at every meeting eVEN when they are loosing wt, the just hate that scale and that experience.
Other WW members have no specific problem with the scale.
We are not all alike! and those of us who have scalephilia do not all weigh the same number of times a day. We are all DIFFERENT!
Hope this helps you know that part is in truth, part is exaggerated and part is in fun. Most of it sadly is in truth for ME.
But maybe just maybe I have helped you a bit. And if not....well maybe I have helped someone else. IF not, them maybe ONLY myself!
Love and Respect,
JeanCat
