Thing about getting off the scale for now.

I normally weigh myself everyday. Something that I have been noticing about myself is that I am more motivated when I see a loss of any kinda...but when I stay the same or gain anything, I am less motivated. I feel disheartened and almost like "give up". My behaviors change and I don't follow the rules as well as on a losing day. I might track a little less accurately, measure a little less carefully, that type of thing.  I have been losing so slowly the past month and I am extremely frustrated. I am afraid that something happened with my surgery that it just 'didn't take' or something. I can eat more than what seems like everyone else with the same surgery. I can eat 6 or 7oz of protein (like grilled chicken or fish) before I feel full. Anyway, maybe this scale is really messing with my head. What if I just get off the scale, follow my plan and just wait until my doctors visit to get weighed (mid March)?Has anyone else stopped weighing themselves for similar reasons? Did you still lose when you finally did weigh yourself? What if I stop weighing myself and then come March I find out I didn't lose anything!?!?!?!?  UGH. Sometimes I feel like my body wants to stay fat. It is such a BATTLE to lose anything. 

ABSOLUTELY--stay off the scale if it affects you so much.  We've all been so traumatized by the tyranny of the d****d demon wheel all our lives.

Learn your "High Level Alarm" and stop when you get the signal.  You may be eating too much simply because you don't recognize when your pouch is full.  For me, it's when I get a runny nose. I get the sniffles and stop eating.  Some folks hiccup, others belch.  Learn your own HLA. 

Be patient.  Stay with your program, walkwalkwalk, sipsipsip, chewchewchew.

Yes, it sounds like you need to avoid the scale for a while. This is not a bad thing, though!  It will enable you to focus on really establishing your new eating habits, and that will serve you well in the long run. Keep in mind that eventually the weight-loss is going to stop completely, and there won't be any scale reward on any day... you will just need to continue to follow the food plan consistently if you want to avoid regaining!  So not relying on a scale NOW for motivation is a good thing!

Lora

The subject line of your post is great.  Staying off the scale for awhile is what you should do.  The scale is running your life - your mood and as you go about your day.  If you think about it, the scale is a box that sits on the floor that we stand on.  It has NO power except the power that WE give to IT.

I went through a period where I drove myself bonkers with the scale.  I weighed every day and what the scale said was what determined how I felt about myself that day.  Craziness.  I was very compulsive and gave it way too much power. 

When I stopped weighing myself every day, I felt so much better.  I felt free which is silly to say but I did.  The scale was weighing me down from enjoying my day and my successes from my surgery.

Like you suggest, I waited for my monthly post-op visits and got weighed at my surgeon's office.  I regularly lost and was pleased with my weight loss.  By not weighing every day, you'll not see the small fluctuations that occur due to water retention, irregular bowel movements, etc., etc. 

I commend you for considering to give up the scale.  Do it and I think you'll be glad you did.

Wow. I just REALLY REALLY love the support that I get on this site. It is irreplaceable! I was planning to go to my first post-op weight loss support group from my surgeon's office tonight...and then I found out it was LAST NIGHT! so disappointing. Glad I have you guys though!

That thought of giving up the scale just came to me on a whim...but after reading what you have all said to me, it just confirms it. I need to break my addiction to the scale. It's exhausting! I think waiting and not weighing myself for awhile might really be the way to go for me for now. It will be kinda like...waiting to find out the sex of the baby! It will be more of a big reveal than the day by day thing that is driving me nuts! I need to just LET IT GO!!!

Hide it. Somewhere were you had to do extra efford to retrieve it - i.e. using a laddder..etc.. Or wrap it in a few layers of paper and plastic bags in bewteen layers so you could not just rip the paper in one move... (In case you are bit obsesed with the scale - i was...and really want to give it a break..) 

GREAT ideas!! love that!

I am so glad that you made this post and. Hope that people who are new to this read it! You are doing the right thing by "getting off the scale"! Your emotional well being will be all the healthier for it. I only weight when I go to the doctors office. I know that it sounds crazy but I care more about how my cloths fit (or don't) then how much I weigh. I Look and feel great! I am following my plan and I trust that I will lose the weight "as I am supposed to".

hang in there, you got this! Keep working that plan!

One of the things that really helps me with the scale is to use TrendWeight.com to track my weight.  My scale syncs to it, so I don't have to do anything extra.  That allows me to really focus on my trending weight instead of on my daily weight which is subject to fluctuations.  I find it important to weigh myself daily so I won't be caught off guard by regain, so this might work for you also!

Please stay off the scale.  It can drive you crazy, weighing yourself every day.  I would never weigh myself every day, I would weigh myself weekly.  And now it is driving me crazy.  Weigh maybe once a week, or during your visits to your surgeon's office. 

I have gotten so disgusted with mine, if I had a firearm, I would use the scale for target practice.  I am so done with it. It's like a watched pot that never boils.