Does anyone VERY RARELY or NEVER weigh?

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owlface
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Dec 03, 2014 5:35 pm
Location: United States

Does anyone VERY RARELY or NEVER weigh?

Post by owlface » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:59 pm

I am starting to feel like throwing my scale in the trash but I'm just not sure still. I have been tracking my "progress":
-.4 lbs/wk
I am somewhere between 181 and 186 and I'm a 5'4" female, so I would expect weight loss to be a bit faster? I am just feeling discouraged by the scale going up and down and up and down and seeing the same numbers over and over again. Yet it's so hard to wait to check when the scale sits there in my bedroom asking to be stepped on. Maybe I should just put it in the garage for a while?
Any wisdom to share? Anybody else going through this or been here?
01NOV2014
OPEN

ironchef
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Location: Australia

Post by ironchef » Thu Jan 15, 2015 2:08 am

For my first year or so on No S, I weighed daily, but did not worry about the individual numbers. I calculated a trend - check out The Hacker's Diet or physicsdiet to see how that's done. Calculating a trend takes out the noise (up 0.4 pounds, probably just drank a glass of water, down the same amount, probably just went to the toilet, etc) and can let you see the overall pattern.

I've also seen some posters weigh only once a month or even less, so they've got enough time between weigh ins to see actual change.

No S is generally a slower diet than a lot of others (for most people), so if you're like me and have been on a lot of more traditional diets over the years, it will seem slow.

After about a year on No S, my scales broke, and I couldn't justify the expense of getting more. Since then, I don't weigh (except at the doctors). Instead of tracking weight, I track habits.

Ask yourself if weighing helps your efforts or harms them? Is the scale a useful guide to what works and what doesn't, something that keeps you accountable and a motivator for continued compliance? Or does the scale undermine your resolve to stick to No S, i.e. going up makes you want to give up, or if you see the scales go down, do you celebrate with a cookie? Everyone will answer differently.

gingerpie
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Location: Pennsylvania, US

Post by gingerpie » Thu Jan 15, 2015 11:24 am

I agree with ironchef that We each have to figure out what works best for us. I used to weigh daily but I "heard" that it is better not to. So, I stopped and immediately started gaining. Weighing daily helps me be honest but (and this is a big but) The daily fluctuations don't bother me at all. I think for myself, weighing Is a sort of reality check but if the fluctuations knock you off your game, there is no reason to keep them. Do what works and gives you peace of mind.

eschano
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Post by eschano » Thu Jan 15, 2015 4:29 pm

I used to weigh daily and also recorded my weight in my diary so when I got frustrated at seeing the same weight again and again I went back to my original weight and was surprised to see a dramatic difference after a year of NoS. It never felt like a dramatic difference at any stage but it was.

Now I have times when I weigh often and times when I don't weigh for weeks. I have to say that I feel a lot better when I don't weigh but sometimes I can let NoS slip then. So for me weighing once a week on the same day works quite well but I go with my mood.
eschano - Vanilla rocks!

July 2012- January 2016
Started again January 2021

gingerpie
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Location: Pennsylvania, US

Post by gingerpie » Thu Jan 15, 2015 5:23 pm

I remembered that Reinhard has a podcast about the scale. You might be interested in listening to it.

Episode 24: Put the Scale in Perspective
Posted by Reinhard on 2007-02-14
How I lost 10 pounds, overnight, without even trying.

LoriLifts
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Location: new mexico

Post by LoriLifts » Sun Jan 18, 2015 5:50 pm

I don't weigh myself. I gauge my weight by the fit of my pants.

For me, seeing a number usually triggers "diet" thinking.

My husband, however, used the scale for motivation. He weighs in first thing every morning. He will then adjust his food and exercise according to the number. He's able to maintain a weight range of 3 lbs doing this.
Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables.

oolala53
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Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:04 am

I did weigh myself in the first year, but I don't think it helped my loss. It never has, though I know the stats in the States claim it leads to more loss. I never held back because the scale was up.

I also know that people in slim cultures do not weigh themselves, nor do they know the calorie content of foods. They DO, however, have rituals of how often they eat-very little random eating- and the approximate make up of those meals. Usually only one meal a day is sizable. They treasure the pleasure of food but not the discomfort of overeating it. It's almost as if they think it is disrespecting the food to overdo it. Most of them don't eat sweets all the time, or if they do, the servings are TINY in comparison to ours.

I believe a commitment to those skills are more powerful than scales.

BTW, I weigh officially only at the turn of the seasons, and just sporadically in between. I've sometimes made a deal with myself that I allow myself to weigh ONLY if I've had three compliant days in a row. No weighing after failures.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

abelincoln
Posts: 176
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Location: Midwest

Post by abelincoln » Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:26 pm

Oolala53

that's a great way of making yourself more sane by weighing less often I think that is one of the keys to long-term weight loss when you say change of the seasons do you mean the official dates or do you just sort of decide based on weather patterns ect I also like the idea of not allowing yourself to weigh after failures thank you

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:02 am

I actually weigh for seven days around the turn of the seasons. Then I average the weight and record that. I haven't done it for six months I think because I was wobbling in my compliance. I'm more steady now, so I'll record around the beginning of spring.

I actually don't need scales or pants or anything to measure. I'm quite aware of when I'm out of whack.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

Dale
Posts: 144
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2012 7:27 am

Post by Dale » Tue Feb 10, 2015 9:22 am

I think it's a very individual decision! If it's making you feel discouraged, then maybe it is a good idea to hide it away. Your weight loss will continue regardless! Personally, I would be delighted with .4lb a week!

For myself, I prefer to weigh daily, and look at trends. I managed to catch a recent upwards trend and get in check - I don't think I'd have noticed it if I hadn't been weighing. Because I don't expect to see a loss every day, I don't mind the usual fluctuations. So I don't adjust according to daily weights, but just according to the overall trend.

I think that probably what is important is how it works for you psychologically. I find it is a daily reminder that I'm dieting (which I understand might be off-putting for some people!), and that seems to help keep me motivated. If it makes you feel less motivated, then there's no point, unless you need that information.

abelincoln
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:29 pm
Location: Midwest

Post by abelincoln » Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:28 pm

sounds like a good way to do it to ooala53 by turn of the seasons I wonder if you mean the formal Equinox etc

oolala53
Posts: 10059
Joined: Mon Oct 06, 2008 1:46 am
Location: San Diego, CA USA

Post by oolala53 » Tue Feb 10, 2015 2:11 pm

Yes. Around the 20/21 of March, June, September, and December. The seven days can overlap those dates in any way. It's semi-formal. But I cannot tell a lie. I do sometimes weigh in between. It rarely makes a difference in my behavior, except for ghosts of the old judgement pattern. But then I revert back to the more important elements of my life.
Count plates, not calories. 11 years "during"
Age 69
BMI Jan/10-30.8
1/12-26.8 3/13-24.9 +/- 8-lb. 3 yrs
9/17 22.8 (flux) 3/18 22.2
2 yrs flux 6/20 22
1/21-23

There is no S better than Vanilla No S (mods now as a senior citizen)

abelincoln
Posts: 176
Joined: Mon Jul 14, 2014 11:29 pm
Location: Midwest

Post by abelincoln » Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:35 pm

I don't have any fuss about your way it sounds like a good way to do it I'm probably going to start doing it myself it sounds like a good trade off between weighing once in awhile and not ever weighing... which is right where I want to be.


Have a nice day!!

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