Everyday Systems

I've been doing a combo NoS/South Beach for a few months now and it's worked rather well for me as far as weight loss and management of my compulsive eating.

I've been keeping a food journal on fitday.com, which is a fairly simple free online food journal you can track progress, exercise, food intake, etc. I really only use it for the journal aspect and to record my frustration, and to keep track of trends I might find food wise. Oh and I like the graph where i can see my weight loss progress.

When I am following the nos/south beach plan I drop weight fairly quickly, I don't feel deprived and I enjoy more healthy foods. Its most noticable lately that I am enjoying salads without having to drench them in dressing. I have to order dressing on the side when I go out because I don't enjoy how much most places put on their salads.

My biggest problem currently is my obsessive scale stepping. I know intellectually that its taken many years to get to the weight that I am now, and it will take time to get to the weight that I want to be (at least safely and perminatly). But that scale is a siren that calls my name every morning, I can't resist the sirens call.

My typical weight loss is anywhere between 1-2 lbs every 3-4 days (when I follow my eating plan), but what I find frustrating is the yo-yo'ing of the lbs. I do really good durning the week, lose weight and feel great. I treat myself on the weekend, usually not too overboard, and the weight comes right back with a vengance.

I've been struggling with the same 5 lbs for about a month now and am starting to feel dejected. Like the only way I'll ever perminantly loose weight is to never be able to treat myself again.

I know some of it is probably just water weight coming off and being but back on and that I have to lose slow and steady. But it's so hard once I notice a loss on the scale to see it come right back again.

I have managed to lose and keep off about 11 lbs. I have been yo-yo'ing another 5 for about a month now. I still have about 70lbs to lose before I reach my healthy weight. It's a long hard road to travel but I'm determined to stick with it.

SCALES ARE EVIL !!! GET OFF OF THEM !!

Seriously-- eat what you are supposed to eat, move when you are supposed to move.. and have a life between meals

what works for me is focusing on the process, not the outcome

you will get to a healthy weight, with your sanity if you just do the footwork

for a long time the scale was my judge and jury- weight down and i was 'good'... weight up and i was 'bad'

today i don't have to live like that, and i hope that soon you are able to let
go of the scales as well

XO

Donna O

Hi, I agree, scales are evil.

I was doing exactly what you say you are doing. I was so excited by the initial weight loss that I just couldn't stay off of the scale. Of course when it inevitabley stopped moving it had a huge psychological effect on me. I struggled after that to even stay on the diet....(why bother you know).

I have stopped obsessing, and I am having more success. I don't even log onto this site that often (I was doing it twice a day when I started) because for me that was another was of obsessing. I am simply trying to baby step the rules for the No S diet into my lifestyle.

Good Luck
JB

Thanks for all the support. I agree the scale is probably more detrimental than helpful to me. So I've decided to restrict myself to weighting once a week (on fridays, just before my S days)

Maybe I can ween myself down to once ever month but I'll take it in baby steps.

Thanks again!

Hi Murphysraven..
I'm a little late here but I wanted to comment about your rate of loss...
Any healthy weight loss program (Big stress on the word "healthy") will show losses in the range of 1-2 pounds per week *on average*...
There may be one week or two or even ten where you don't lose much...
Then you might lose 3 or 4....
I feel that your own expectation to lose one to two pounds every three or four days, is really "short term" quick fix mentality and isn't realistic in the longer term...

Don't set your mind on that rate of loss unless you enjoy "extreme" dieting all the time...
If you lose 20 lbs in one year, and keep it off, so what if it takes a few more years to get to goal... You just don't want to keep gaining and losing that quick loss weight for years to come, so with all best intentions, I suggest that you buckle down, stay off the scale for at minimum 7-14 days...And turn your frustration into positivity when you see that you have not lost weight, yet also *NOT GAINED*....
I fluctuate 3 lbs a month due to my period and only get a really accurate read on my weight progress if I weigh about once every three to four weeks...
Scales aren't evil, inherently, but when we give them all of our power and let them decide whether we are having a good day/week/month/year/life,,,, etc... then it might be a good idea to find different ways to measure your success...

Good luck!
Peace and Love,
Deb

Murphysraven,

Congratulations on your success so far. Deb is right about adjusting your rate of loss expectations. Deb is also right about rationing your scale stepping and/or finding another metric (like "days on habit").

Juniebumble,

Good for you for staying away from this site when it was becoming an obsession. Maybe I should build in some kind of obsession detector and have it pop up a "go away!"

Reinhard