Yo-yo-ing

[locoAllie]

First of all, let me say that I love this "diet". It seems really easy, and I love how it doesn't feel like anyone really knows that I am on a diet. People don't notice whether you are snacking or not, and it's really not that big of a deal if you decline a dessert. What people do notice, is if you are eating a garden salad, when everyone else is ordering a double cheeseburger! Haha! I really feel like this might be a lifestyle change that I can continue on, but....

The reason I wrote this post is because I have been on vanilla no s for almost 2 full weeks now (it'll be 2 weeks in 2 days). My first week, I lost 5 pounds! I was amazed and thrilled! Then on my S days, I ate whatever I wanted because I had followed the rules throughout the week-exactly! Well when I weighed myself during the second week, I realized that I had gained the 5 pounds back! Did I really gain 5 pounds in 2 days!? Then throughout my 2nd week, the weight loss went a lot slower than the first week. I am probably only down about 3 pounds total (since I gained the 5 pounds back). So now I have S day anxiety. I don't want to be cautious about what I eat on an S day, because that's the whole point of an S day, right? I have read "S days gone wild" and I don't really feel like I was binging. I am worried that if I am scared of gaining weight on my S days then I will watch what I eat on S days and it will make me feel like I am depriving myself everyday instead of Mon-Fri...which will more than likely result in failure for me. What do you guys think I should do?

[wosnes]

Keep following the rules and see what happens over the course of a month. You probably did not gain 5 lbs on the S days -- it may well have been the weight of undigested food and/or water weight. Weight gain just doesn't happen that fast.

Also, weigh as infrequently as possible. In my mind, never would be good!

[Over43]

Wosnes is correct,you aren't going to gain 5 "real pounds" back in 2 days. This is a process. Weigh yourself once a month as suggested.
Good luck.

[locoAllie]

You completely nailed me...I am constantly checking the scale. I don't have a huge amount to lose and I guess, I haven't completely put all my faith in the "No S" plan. I have this fear that if I follow the plan, for let's say a month, and don't constantly check the scale, then I guess I am afraid that No S won't work and I'll be in a worse weight loss position than I am now.

A few years ago, I had gained a lot of weight. Back then I never checked the scale, and I guess I have this fear, that one day, like what happened several years ago, I'll wake up, check the scale, and realize I'm fat. Sorry for the run on sentence but seriously, a few years ago, I felt like I just woke up one day and had a weight problem. It scared me to death because this was something I had never dealt with before! After I lost that weight (with WW). I vowed I would never let things get out of hand without me knowing it.

Several times since then I've thought about going back on WW but honestly, I feel like WW makes obsess about food! I am constantly thinking about how many points I have and what I can spend my points on, and I was always eating at the top of my points allowance. I like No S because it's like "you can't have snacks, get it out of your head, you aren't having one." So then I don't think about having a snack all day-I just put it out of my mind.

Anyway, thanks again, for your response. I am pretty sure I am more aware of my body changing (pound wise-not puberty-haha) now than I used to be. So I know if I was gaining a lot more weight, I would notice. I'll stick to your suggestion and try not to weigh so often and keep up the No S for at least a month.
Thanks again! I was so excited to get a response. I hope I have replied in the right location.

LocoAllie

[locoAllie]

Thanks to you too Over43! I really need to lay off the scale. I really appreciate the responses. I am not what you would call a usual Message Board poster but I must admit, it is so fun to get a response, to a specific question! Thanks guys!

[DaveMc]

The Scalesian vs. NoWeigher debate is one of the longest-lived ones on this board, and many of us have had to learn to agree to disagree. Some people do weigh in regularly, while others (and I'm among them) use the scale very infrequently, and choose instead to focus on things like how we feel and how our clothes fit. For myself, I find that putting too much stock in that one number is risky, especially given how much it fluctuates from day to day. (And as I always note, it's funny to me how often we see people who are feeling better, and finding that their clothes are looser ... and are very upset about it because the number on the scale hasn't changed!)

People who *do* weigh themselves regularly often use some sort of time-averaging approach where they keep track of a moving average of their weight. (I believe that there are web sites that will do this for you, or it's not mathematically difficult to implement in a spreadsheet; I can tell you how, if you like, from back in the days when I did this sort of thing.) The benefit of this is that it smoothes out the day-to-day bounces and lets you focus on the overall trend.

Either way, welcome aboard, and best of luck!

(Oh, and one more note: Any changes in weight that are that rapid, like in a week, or a weekend (!) are almost certainly not long-term changes in fat or muscle composition, they're much more likely related to how much water is inside you. The rough figure is that a pound of fat represents about 3500 calories -- that's how much energy you'd release by taking that pound and burning it in a beaker, and also how much of a calorie deficit you'd need to "burn" that pound off your body. So to lose five pounds of fat in five days, you'd need a calorie deficit of 3500 calories *per day*! This is just not plausible for those of us who are not Michael Phelps. How much water your body retains, on the other hand, can change almost instantly.)

[TexArk]

As Dave has said there are two different camps on this board concerning the scale and how often or not to weigh. I want to give you the other argument. I have tried every version: weigh many times a day and night, weigh daily, weigh once a week, weigh once a month, and never weigh. My experiment of one has told me that I ALWAYS gain weight if I don't weigh or weigh infrequently. I tried the pant-o-meter and found that clothes give you a 5-10 lb. "ease." I tried not weighing and just following NoS, but when I did weigh I had not only not lost but showed a big gain. My S days were so calorie dense that they undermined my N Days (which probably were too calorie dense even while following the one plate no sweet rule).

So my happy comfortable solution for me is to weigh once a day in the nude first thing in the morning, record the weight, and not obsess about the number. I know that the number can vary for the already stated reasons. But when I do this I ALWAYS lose.I need the accountability.

You will have to find out what works for you. If you have success with the pant-o-meter good for you. But I wouldn't wait a month to find out.

[idontknow]

I'm completely with TexArk on this one - I need the accountability too.

[wosnes]

I'm completely with TexArk on this one - I need the accountability too.

I think you get accountability from what you do, not the number on a scale.

[BrightAngel]

I think you get accountability from what you do,
not the number on a scale.

What you do...is your Behavior.
The number of a scale...is a Result.
(A Result that is dependant upon your Behavior.)

Accountability for one's eating Behavior is, of course, essential.
However, Self-Deception is a very common symptom.
Regular use of the scale as a tool to measure Results of that eating Behavior,
tends to be helpful to burst one's bubble of Self-Deception...
and forces one to face oneself---
which hopefully will cause one to carefully examine their eating Behavior,
and make themselves more Accountable for it.

I use the scale as a tool of measurement.
I note and record my weight information,
and watch my weight pattern over time.
I prefer knowledge to blind ignorance.
This measuring Behavior allows me to
....continue with eating Behavior that works...and change eating Behavior that doesn't.

[SpiritSong]

I am a once-a-week weigher, and I think it works well for me. If the number goes down, even though I know it may not really mean anything (like this week when it went down 0.5 lb.), I celebrate, feel proud of myself for a week, and tell myself to stay the course. If the number goes up (which hasn't happened yet), I will tell myself to keep an eye on my portions and be sure to put in a full effort during my exercise.

If the scale is going up on a week-to-week basis, I would rather not wait a month to find out that I need to make adjustments.

[idontknow]

Everyone is different - I was just saying what works for me

[locoAllie]

Thanks to everyone so much for each of your responses. I really have seriously taken each point into consideration. I have been feeling like I should cut back on how obsessively I've been weighing myself anyway, and Wosnes made it clearer to me that, that is what I should do. I am now going to try and only weigh myself once a week, though. I know I would never make it, only weighing once a month. However, I feel like just committing to only weighing once a week is a big cut back for me, and will give me more of an average of weight loss instead of obsessing each day about each pound.
I also felt like Wosnes was encouraging me mainly, to at least give the No S diet a month, before I cast it out with the "doesn't work for me" diets. I seriously love this "plan" or "program", whatever you want to call it, and I don't want to give up. I want to do this forever! I feel like I have learned so much! I am really tempted to make a list of some of the things I have learned in only my 2 weeks of doing this plan. Ok, fine, I will:

1. This diet has really taught me patience...just because I feel a tiny hunger pang, does not mean that I have to immediately pop something in my mouth, to calm it. It's helped me realize that if I feel a little hungry, it's not going to kill me. I can wait an hour, and it's really not a big deal.
2. I was literally sabotaging any weight loss with snacks. The snacks were killing me...literally...and the binging on chips...HAS STOPPED!
3. After going a while without sugar, your skin is clearer, you look younger, and feel skinny and happy!
4. I am starting to learn that I don't want to eat a bunch of sugar on my S days because I have enjoyed how I've felt without sugar so much on my N days. When I do eat sugar on my S days, I either fully enjoy it or I think "that wasn't worth it, I'm not going to eat this again on my next S day"
5. Going to bed without a full stomach feels awesome! I used to always give myself a little treat after putting the kids to bed, and I almost always went to bed with something in my stomach. Lately I have been going to bed with an empty stomach (which takes some getting used to). But I sleep better and wake up feeling SO skinny! It's worth it!
6. Also if you are only eating 3 times a day. You are super picky about what you put on that plate. I had been craving an apple as a snack and the other day, when I made myself a sandwich, I felt like I needed to choose between chips or the apple. When I thought about which would taste better and which I really wanted...it was definitely the apple. Normally I would've had the apple as a snack earlier in the day and I would've had chips with my sandwich.

Anyway, I could go on and on....but I won't..haha! This weighing once a week thing, I think, will be just one more helpful step in the right direction. Thanks again for all your comments and support! I am sure you will see me around here again. I'll keep you posted!

locoAllie