weigh in | Imamother

amother

Ecru

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 9:45 pm

So I'm planning to weigh myself tomorrow.

I've been working really hard with my eating and my exercising.

If there's even a drop of improvement, it will give me much needed chizuk.

If there's zero improvement, it will put me in a bad mood. But more than that - it will discourage me from working so hard and it will make me feel hopeless that I can get the weight to go down. Since I feel that I am already putting in my personal MAXIMUM effort.

How do people handle this? I don't want to avoid the scale - I want to track my weight once a week, but what do I tell myself if I don't see any improvement? I'm already concerned that I'm just stuck at this weight and nothing I do will help.

(And I'm not being unrealistic - even a fraction of a pound in downward direction will be encouraging)

would love your input

Cheiny

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 9:47 pm

amother wrote:

People get hung up on wanting to see a big weight loss on the first week of a diet...but the first week’s loss is usually just water weight. Normal weight loss doesn’t usually go as quickly and a healthy steady weight loss of 1-2 lbs a week is best and most common...

Chana Miriam S

Wed, Feb 20 2019, 10:24 pm

I’ve been plateaued for nearly a year, but am maintaining around an 85 pound loss for the first time in my life. I focus heavily ( sorry, not sorry!) on non-scale victories.

My life has changed completely in the past year and 9 months. It’s taken some time to get adjusted to it. I know I’m still 100 plus pounds overweight on a weight chart, but I’m so happy, so energetic, FEELING SO GREAT that worrying over losing or not losing really doesn’t bother me. Yes, it’s taken time to get here, but I no longer have the sense of impending doom that I’ve always had with any diet. This is my way of life. Period. I’m always going to do this. I’ll never go back. I think when you’re doing what’s right for your body, you stop hearing the ****ty committee in your head, and the relief is completely amazing!

Do what’s right for you. Stay on your path. If something doesn’t work for you, keep at it! Keep learning, adjusting and developing! I don’t do today, what I did in the beginning because I’ve learned what works best for me. And god willing I’ll keep doing that every singl day for the rest of my life!

Just keep on, keeping on. You’ve GOT this!

amother

Ecru

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 9:53 am

But why aren't I getting the 1-2 lb steady weight loss.
I am .8 lbs higher than when I started in January.
Why won't my scale go down?
I know I've been doing well but I really need some positive feedback.
I've always had this bizarre feeling that the 'rules' of weight loss don't apply to me- that I won't be able to lose weight by eating better and exercising more like other people do.
But I keep telling myself that's ridiculous- of course it will work.
But it's not working- even if I saw a quarter lb less than what I started at, I'd feel encouraged- but it either goes up or it won't budge down.

Does anyone else have this?

What to do?

Cheiny

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 10:08 am

andrea levy wrote:

Your story is great and congratulations to you! But what about the rest of the weight that you need to come off and hasn’t moved for a year? It sounds like that’s not a good thing at this point....are there any other options?

Cheiny

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 10:09 am

amother wrote:

I have that too. Some people have celiac sensitivity which causes bloating and weight gain.,,,do you have any thyroid issues? There are a number of things that cause slow weight loss.

zaq

Thu, Feb 21 2019, 12:09 pm

I hear you, OP. We get so hung up on the scale, as if that’s all that matters. It’s convenient, because sometimes—but not always—there’s a quick gratification. But the scale is such a small part of the picture, and a very deceptive one.

You need to rethink and maybe reframe why you’re doing this, what you hope to accomplish. Rather than say I want to lose X pounds, I want to be a size Y, I want to fit into my graduation dress, say instead I want to live and be healthy, I want to feel better, I want to lower my cholesterol and blood pressure, be able to climb stairs without passing out—or better yet, I want to exercise X minutes a day Y times a week, I want to eat Z fruits and vegetables a day, I want to walk N miles a month.

You’re suffering from black-and-white thinking and setting yourself up for failure: if the scale doesn’t budge this week, I quit! Well, suppose you happen to be a bit constipated on weigh day? Or suppose you had something salty or are premenstrual and are retaining water? Or building muscle and bone, both of which are more dense than fat? The scale would imply weight gain, but that would be camouflaging an actual loss. One good gezunte BM and a few days of low salt and suddenly you might shed a pound or three.

Instead, grade yourself—if you must—on how well you followed health rules. Celebrate all the things you did right. Ate a big leafy green salad? Yea!!! Walked 15 minutes? Shkoyach! Went to a simcha and skipped the dessert? Brava!

Get rid of the absolute thinking. You don’t have to be “perfect”. Every step in the right direction is a triumph.

If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. But I think you can.