It shouldn't alter our moods or our eating plans, but oh, it does! If the scale shows a loss, well sometimes that's enough to give us some wiggle room to overeat. We feel happy, and why shouldn't we reward ourself with ______(fill in the blank here).
If the scale is showing a gain, well then watch out world, because our moodiness is going to show. We will lose our confidence, question if what we are doing is right for us, and often cause more damage because we feel angry and depressed.
Yes, the scale is only one way to measure our success or lack of regarding weight loss. Looking better in photos, clothes loosening up, fitting in those skinny jeans again, and a whole variety of other variables are excellent ways to track our progress. But for me, I still like to see what the scale has to say.
If you have ever seen a stock market graph of a stock that's performing well, you know you want to see it trend upward. Just the opposite of weight loss.
But if you look closely at the graph below, you see there are minor ups and downs on the way up. What's important is not the day to day variations, but the way it's trending, and the ultimate place it gets to.
That's how it is with our weight too. There will be variations and little dips up and down on a daily basis. But you have to stand back and look at the bigger picture to see which way you are trending.
I feel better when I weigh myself each day. I've tried to put the scale away, go by how my clothes feel, weigh myself once a week, once a month, etc., etc.. That just doesn't work for me. I know there will be daily fluctuations, but for my peace of mind, I want to check in each day. Or at the very least every few days.
I recently found this great app called Happy Scale and I just started using it. You put your weight in each morning and it will graph it for you. I really think I'm going to like it because it smooths out the little blips of up and down weight loss and shows your graph and how you are trending. Hopefully it's down.
Here is what the app creator wrote about it:
Creator of the app here. I made it because all my life, those fluctuations ruined my diet. I would obsess over seeing a new low number every morning, and every time I didn't, the whole day was a failure. So I'd go at diet and exercise with all my energy, trying to get lower every day. But it was never sustainable, and I burned out a few weeks in more times than I can remember.
I later read a book called "The Hacker's Diet" that described averaging out the fluctuations, and I found a free website called "Physics Diet" where they did this averaging. I used Physics Diet for a long time, but I really wanted to have it as an app on my phone. Hence, Happy Scale.
I hope you are finding the app helpful! I have plans to add more features, and it's been an incredible journey to work on it and hear from people who are using it to realize their goals!
I'll let you know more after I try it for a few weeks. I have it on my phone and so far it seems very easy to use and understand.
Check it out here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happy-scale-weight-loss-tracker/id532430574?mt=8
I am still adhering to a grain free, and wheat free eating plan. I slip every now and then and have some potatoes, but not often. I am really learning that for some people like myself, probably from years of yo-yo dieting, I have damaged my metabolism to the point that even a little too many carbs can make me gain. Finding that magic number of carbs you can eat and still continue to lose is difficult.
Right now I am tracking EVERYTHING in Myfitness pal. This is another great app and I have it on my laptop, iPad and iPhone. It can scan bar codes, calculate recipes, set goals and if you have a fitness tracker ( I just bought the Fit bit one) it will sync your activity to it. I'm only concerning myself with net carbs (total carbs minus the fiber in a food item) and trying to stay as low as I can in that area. It's usually about 30- 40 gms of carbs a day, and higher on the weekends.
Losing weigh is hard, but there are definitely some advantages these days with the many apps to help us meet our goals. How is everybody out there doing?
As always sending love and hugs from me to you!
Thought for the day: Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another - Walter Elliot
So good to hear from you, Pattie! Your new app sounds pretty cool and I really hope that it encourages you in your weight loss journey. As you know, I never weigh myself, as I don't want to get obsessive about the number on the scale and I really don't want that number to dictate my mood :) To each his own. If this works for you, than great. I too am still going strong with the gluten free thing, but am also doing the dairy free thing, too (a la Paleo). I tried to deny the whole dairy sensitivity, but I really do feel soooo much better when I don't eat wheat and dairy. My allergies were going crazy a couple of weeks back and I realized that I was eating something that made me react. It turns out that it was seltzer water with natural lime flavor! I switched to plain seltzer and haven't taken an antihistamine since. Soooo weird how food can affect someone like that. Anyhow, I hope your weather is getting better. It's a bit gray and drizzly all the way over here at the beach, but it's still going to be in the 60's or so.
ReplyDeleteHere's to sunshine and spring flowers!
Carey
It sounds like you have really committed yourself to a good way of eating for you. I am curious though, why is eating a potato against the wheat free/gluten free eating? Are you talking because of their carbs in general?
ReplyDeleteI am really struggling to get my mojo back. I am eating whatever I want, whenever I want. I haven't gained again, but I am certainly not losing. I did cut my hormone pill in 1/2 to see if that could help a bit, it has only been 5 days and I haven't noticed "feeling" any different, so that part is good. Saves money by extending the prescription time!
I am excited for you to find a healthy way of eating for you! We are all in the end, responsible for our own health. Honestly I feel "Blessed" to not have wheat or dairy issues. When I gain, it isn't the wheat that did it, it's the calories I ate:(
Blessings my friend, keep journaling!!!
As you know I have said many times - I DO weigh myself every day like you. Can't help it. I don't EVER want to gain all that weight back.
ReplyDeleteDid I say how very PROUD of you I am. Keep it up :-)
Great job Pattie, I love the wheat and grain free way of living I feel so good. I do find that my weight isnt dropping as fast and think I may need to cut back on my carbs. I will have to see if my phone can download that app.
ReplyDeleteGreat to hear from you Pattie! I also weigh in every day, even in times like these when I can't seem to get the scale to go down. I am trying to eat wheat free these days, mostly grain free as well, sometimes I slip up. But it helps! I have been doing a horrible job of tracking my carbs, but they are naturally lower when I skip the grains. I just had my cholesterol checked, haven't gotten the results back yet, so we will see what happens - my doc sort of harassed me when I told her I wasn't following a low fat diet. I am hoping for good results, but I am wondering what I will do if the blood tests come back high. There are too many things to keep track of!
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