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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 22 October 2007 05:11 pm |
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I have become a connoisseur of scale reading, and I like it...
I weigh myself at 7:00am every morning, just after going to the bathroom and before having a drink of water, and with no clothes on. That is the weight I post in my weight loss journal each day, and the weight that I use to calculate what my allowable Net Calorie Gain will be that day. Actually, I keep whatever Net Calorie Gain was arrived at based on my lowest weight to date (so if the weight goes up, my Net Calorie Gain allowed does not).
That's where it starts:
I also weigh myself, with no clothes on, just before I go to bed, immediately after going to the bathroom. I find I am usually 1.5lbs heavier then than I was in the morning.
I weigh myself just before taking a shower and again, after towel drying my hair, just after taking a shower. I have long hair, and I usually weigh 1lb more after my shower. That's good for me to know, since on Sundays I get up between 5:30am and 6:30am to get ready for the 7:30am Mass. On these days if I weigh myself at 7:00am, per the norm, my hair will still be wet from my shower.
However, I usually wake up at around 4:00am - 5:00am just to go to the bathroom and then go back to sleep each morning. As long as I'm up anyway, I always step on the scales just after going to the bathroom, again with no clothes on. I'm so glad my scale lights up so I don't have to turn on the light and awaken my husband. I have come to know that whatever I weigh at 4:00am or 5:00am, I will be between 1 and 2 lbs lighter by 7:00am.
Sometimes I wake up at 6:00am to go to the bathroom, and I weigh myself after returning to the bedroom. I have found that some mornings my weight remains the same between 6:00am and 7:00am and sometimes it lowers by up to a pound, never more.
My weight has never increased from the time I go to bed until 7:00am, nor has it from any of these early "weigh-ins" until 7:00am.
I don't bother weighing myself during the day, after 7:00am. It's not that important to me then. After all, I have better things to do, like counting all my Calories in and all my Calories burned over the day and recording these daily in my diary. __________________
CandyLast edited on 22 October 2007 05:12 pm by newstart
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Nir
Senior Administrator
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Posted: 22 October 2007 05:57 pm |
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My official weigh-in is in the morning. There is no set time but it is after I've been to the bathroom and before eating the first heavy thing. As a consequence if I fancy a snack during the night I have something that weighs practically nothing (for example between 3g and 10g of nuts or seeds, or chewing gum) to be allocated out of the next day's calorie allowance. I always apply some water to my feet before stepping on my BIA scales otherwise it reads too high as I have dry feet.
I have 3 scales. I weigh myself on the first one (which also reports body fat%), then the 2nd one and finally the 3rd one. I record all weights. The first 2 scales report to the nearest 0.1kg (0.2lb). The 3rd scale reports to the nearest 0.5kg (1lb). My official weight (the one I enter into the physicsdiet.com graph) is from the 3rd scale, which I've had the longest (I forget how many years).
When I'm cataloging my shopping and want to know how much I've bought, and given that my kitchen scales have a limit of about 2kg, I sometimes save time by weighing myself with and without the goods on scale #1 and then subtract to get the weight of the goods, roughly to nearest 100g, but I guess that does not count.
I will confess that recently, switching from low-carb back to high-carb and expecting to weigh more I did weigh myself several times throughout the night (each time after going to the bathroom first) though I only use scale #3 (which incidentally is also illuminated). I don't do this often but I did appear to lose 1.5kg throughout the night on the recent ocassion that sticks in my mind.
If I am staying elsewhere overnight I will weigh myself when I come back home, regardless of the time.
If you click my name and visit my 'homepage' you can see my graphs for weight, body fat and calories eaten.
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Ohm
Senior Member
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Posted: 22 October 2007 06:12 pm |
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Newstart, you certainly do seem to have got yourself sorted as to a relationship between yourself, the food you ahve eaten, the fluid you have drunk and your weight. But don't imagine that those fluctuations are fat, they are more than likely, in fact, almost definitely, just water fluctuations (e.g. you weight 1lb more after your shower because of your wet hair and the small amount of moisture left on your body, and possibly due to havingswallowed a bit of water too).
I think it is admirable that you have yourself so well observed - so long as you don't become obsessive. Obsession is never a good thing.
Long may you lose!
Becci
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 22 October 2007 06:57 pm |
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And here I thought I weighed myself more frequently than anyone else. I will admit I have weighed myself before and after bathroom breaks once in a while, but for the most part I stick to weighing myself every morning at 8:15 AM. Just like you, only my first weigh-in for that day counts. I only weigh myself on weekdays since I don't have a scale at home, but once in a while when I'm at WalMart I may try out their scales just because I'm curious. I will re-weigh myself at work if I'm not satisfied with my weight after going to the bathroom, or waiting until that afternoon before going home. I couldn't have a scale at home; I'd weigh myself every hour if I did.
I know a lot of people say you shouldn't weigh yourself more than once a week, but I found that by weighing myself everyday it's a reminder to eat better. I'm pretty sure I would have gained weight when I quit smoking if I had restricted myself to once per week on the scale. As luck would have it, my weight stayed the same for most of that week, and I lost a couple pounds at the end of 7 days.
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nevd
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 22 October 2007 07:15 pm |
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I weigh myself once a week - when I remember.
But I always use my skinfold calliper twice a week, just to check I'm not kidding myself about what I've eaten and drunk.
So far, so good...
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 24 October 2007 01:02 am |
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I'm planning to buy a skinfold caliper when I have just a few non-accounted for dollars. I wish I had started using one 34.5lbs ago, but I know it's never too late.
I also have been tempted to purchase the "accurate to 500lbs" digital talking scale that measures % body fat and % water, as well.
My fear is that my kids will stand outside my bedroom with a tape recorder...
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Scoobees
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 24 October 2007 05:56 am |
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newstart wrote:
My fear is that my kids will stand outside my bedroom with a tape recorder...
 Now THAT was funny!
I normally weigh myself 2-3 times per day...hate to admit it though.  First thing right out of bed after using the restroom is the official weight I record. And I am always 3 pounds heavier when I weigh myself at night right before bed. Without fail.
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CodeMonkey
Senior Member
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Posted: 24 October 2007 06:23 am |
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Scoobees wrote: And I am always 3 pounds heavier when I weigh myself at night right before bed. Without fail.
Good, it's not just me.
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zenobia
Moderator
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Posted: 24 October 2007 07:08 am |
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| hhmmmm.. yes, i think i want to become a scale junkie again myself. back to at least daily. no matter what the circumstances are....
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 24 October 2007 03:00 pm |
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It's so-o-o fun! People who don't do it have no idea what they are missing... Maybe we should start a new post called "weight (wait) a minute" and just record our weights as we've recorded them, each time we record them, whether they've gone up, down, or stayed the same.
If I ran downstairs to the computer room to record the fact each time I weighed myself, and then ran back upstairs to go back to bed or to dress, or whatever else I had been doing, I bet I'd have quite a cardio workout there.
And, of course, I'd have to weigh myself each time I came back up in order to see if it the stairclimb had any immediate effect on my weight, and that meant I'd have to go to the bathroom again (I am a little compulsive about emptying my bladder last thing before I do anything else...just in case).
That means I'd have to go back downstairs and record that time that I stepped on the scales...Would that constitute interval stairclimbing?
ONWARD FELLOW SCALE CONNOISSEURS!!!
Last edited on 24 October 2007 03:02 pm by newstart
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 24 October 2007 07:26 pm |
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Yes, you are officially a Scale Addict. But there are worse things!
Once my sponsor in Overeaters Anonymous asked me how many times a day I weighed myself. I'd never counted, but my routine included 7 times each day!
You'll often hear people advise once a week so you don't become obsessed. But the problem I have with that is that yout weight can jump around from day to day and so it can be misleading. So I perfected the idea of weighing myself for three consecutive days each week and averaging them! (Just as obsessive! Haha.)
Right now I'm weighing myself every morning and posting my results in the Halloween Challenge. It's pretty consistent, except when I get up early and then the reading is higher.
Peter
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 25 October 2007 03:12 pm |
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What I do is weigh myself at 7:00am everyday and record the daily weight in my signature for that week. When Monday rolls around, I record Monday's weight and delete all the previous weights, except for the previous Monday's weight and then record weights for the current week on a daily basis until the next Monday.
Sometimes it really hurts to delete a midweek weight that happens to be lower than the weight I am on Monday, but I delete it anyway, but remembering to keep my ncg at the level based on that lower weight, not my increased Monday weight.
I like to keep all my Monday weights, because when I see a pattern, like my large weight gain for the month of September, I can go back to my daily posts during that period to see what I was doing. And I saw, "Oh, yes, that was when I baked a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting for Oldest Daughter's birthday and TWO chocolate layer cakes (one with eggs and one with mayonnaise) with dark chocolate ganache (more like truffles on cake) for my Middle Daughter's birthday." We had a lot of cake that month.
Now I'm using a tape measure, too, and measuring monthly, but only keeping my first month's measure and my most recent measure, deleting all in between. If I wanted, I guess I could get pretty o-c about that, too, but I haven't yet. Last edited on 25 October 2007 04:55 pm by newstart
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
| Location: | |
| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 25 October 2007 04:54 pm |
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I think it's only an addiction if you want to stop and can't. If you like it, it's a hobby.
Oh yeah, my husband, who was standing behind me, reading my signature, told me, "Why you're half way to your Goal."
I answered, "No, I'm a little over a third of the way."
He walked away, laughing. It took me a while to get it. __________________
Candy
weekly weigh-in:............................................... ...
205.0lb 06/01/07 200.0lb 07/02/07 188.0lb 08/06/07
202.5lb 06/08/07 199.0lb 07/09/07 188.0lb 08/13/07
203.5lb 06/11/07 197.5lb 07/16/07 185.0lb 08/20/07
206.5lb 06/18/07 195.0lb 07/23/07 185.5lb 08/27/07
202.0lb 06/25/07 190.5lb 07/30/07 ....................
183.5lb 09/03/07 181.5lb 10/01/07
184.0lb 09/10/07 180.0lb 10/08/07
183.5lb 09/17/07 178.0lb 10/15/07
185.0lb 09/24/07 176.5lb 10/22/07 175.5lb10/23/07 175.0lb10/24,25/07
......................
neck
07/26/07 17.5"
10/20/07 16.5"
underarms
07/26/07 44.0"
10/20/07 40.0"
bust
07/26/07 47.5"
10/20/07 44.0"
waist
07/26/07 45.0"
10/20/07 41.5"
hips
07/26/07 47.0"
10/20/07 43.5"
thighs
07/26/07 24.5"
10/20/07 23.5"
calves
07/26/07 15.25"
10/20/07 14.0"
biceps
07/26/07 12.0"
10/20/07 12.0"
forearms
10/20/07 09.5"
GOAL:
lean & mean on Mothers Day, 2008
Objective:
stay at 1000 Cal below maintenance by exercise and diet until I achieve goal. Then stay at maintenance by exercise and diet.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 25 October 2007 06:59 pm |
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Okay, you are officially a Scale Hobbyist! 
Peter
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 6 November 2007 02:40 pm |
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From October through April (our winter heating season) we keep our furnace turned off from 7:30am - 5:00pm and again from 8:00pm - 6:30am. We only have it on long enough to build up enough hot water for showers and doing dishes. All my laundry is done in cold water, and the people who take the longest showers take theirs last, so they can decide if they want to take a long, cold shower or a short, warm one. Our furnace is relatively new and does a really good job of heating quite a bit of water in a very short time.
The same furnace provides our home heat and I leave the thermostat set at the lowest level (somewhere between 55°F - 60°F), so our house is never above 60°F during the fall and winter unless it's unusually warm and sunny outdoors, when the sun coming in the windows of the south side of the house provides us with free heat, or, even when it's warm enough that I open all the doors and windows for fresh air and more free heat. My kids don't catch all the colds that seem to go around the school, and I believe it's because their bodies aren't stressed by the extreme change of moving from a very warm indoor environment to an extremely cold outdoor environment and back again, over and over again. My kids also feel that the air in their school is entirely too warm, and I agree with them.
All that being said, our house gets to be pretty darned cold by midnight on, but we are all in bed, snuggly tucked in under our blankets, wearing socks on our feet and caps on our heads, and sometimes the two youngest put on mittens, too (just like in the poem "The Night Before Christmas").
I still have to get up to go to the bathroom once or twice before 7:00am (wake up time for everyone when the furnace has been running for half an hour), but guess what? I don't stop to weigh myself on the way back to bed any more. It's enough that I take the time at 7:00am, between taking off my bed clothes and putting on my day clothes.
So much for my addiction/hobby...
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voodoodoll
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 5 December 2007 09:40 pm |
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| wow, i had no idea others weighed themselves so regularly. at present i weigh myself every friday though i am considering weighing myself every day so i have more motivation to stay on my plan. i mean who wants the scale to go up after a curry night!
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pinklady1709
New Member
| Joined: | 13 May 2007 |
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| Posts: | 71 |
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Posted: 6 December 2007 11:34 pm |
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Sooo... What is the best time to weigh yourself? I normally weigh myself once a week. I weighed myself the day before Thanksgiving and returned a week later to find I had lost 3 pounds. The next week, I weighed myself after a week of eating right and exercising regularly to find I had gained 2 pounds. I was weighing myself at different times of day. Is that my problem? When should I weigh myself for best results?Anyone?
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 6 December 2007 11:44 pm |
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I weigh myself once a day about 5-6 days out of the week. Sometimes I forget. I've been telling myself that I should only do it once a week. Maybe I'll try that sometime. I always weigh myself in the morning wearing shorts and shirt because our scale is in the kitchen where we have a hard floor.
I think it's very interesting that newstart noticed her weight drop only in the last hours before waking. I wonder why? What is going on with the body that causes weight loss while sleeping?
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pinklady1709
New Member
| Joined: | 13 May 2007 |
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| Posts: | 71 |
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Posted: 7 December 2007 12:53 am |
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| I heard once that sleeping burns more calories than watching TV. That's interesting to me since you do stuff like blinking and changing the channel while watching TV that you don't do while you're asleep. Those things are tiny, but I would think they would count for something. I also read somewhere that sleep is when the body really changes. I don't know. I wish they would develop a weight loss program where all you had to do was sleep. I'd sign up right away!
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Sassykat
Distinguished Member
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Posted: 7 December 2007 02:54 am |
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Yeah me too! I think I like sleeping so much because my brain doesn't get any peace or rest during the day because my kids all like to talk to me at once. So sleeping is my main source of relaxation!
And sometimes I have vivid dreams so sleep can also be entertaining.
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 7 December 2007 12:02 pm |
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I learned years ago and passed it on to my kids (all of whom are taller than I am) that the long bones (ie arms and legs) only grow when you are asleep.
I believe this to be true, and explains why I am not only the oldest, but also the shortest of all ten of my parents' children. I went to bed the latest and got up the earliest to help dress the younger members of the family for school before I could have my own breakfast, and to help bathe them before bed at night, before I could start my own homework and go to bed myself.
Whenever any of my kids objects that s/he never gets to stay up as late as one or another schoolmate, I counter with, "that's why you are a basketball super star and s/he isn't. Now, go to bed and grow, grow...You don't want to end up as short as your mother..."
It is true, though, that over the course of the night, if I weigh myself after I get up to go to the bathroom, my weight is always lower the later I get up. Of course, as time progresses, so does the time since supper or the evening snack before bed...time during which my body is metabolizing and using the Calories it received before I went to bed...
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newstart
New Member
| Joined: | 26 July 2007 |
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| Posts: | 359 |
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Posted: 7 December 2007 08:24 pm |
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I walked 10 miles today in under 3 hours in the cold and slushy, snowy streets, without having anything to eat.
I needed to take a shower to dress for the Vigil Mass tonight, and I looked forward to stepping on my scales before the shower. I did that, and the scales said LO. "Well that's all well and good, but I'd really like to know HOW LO!"
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Victor version 4.0
Senior Member
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Posted: 13 December 2007 01:59 pm |
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I believe that body mass (weight) measurement is a valuable metric, but is not the "primary" metric one should use when changing their health.
I found that weighing more than once per week was actually de-motivating, as my body mass will fluctuate +/- 6 lbs a day!
A balanced set of metrics is the best approach taken (like everything else) in MODERATION
- Body mass (weight)
- Size measurement
- % of body fat
- strength (how much muscle do you have?)
Victor
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Tom S
Member
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Posted: 13 December 2007 04:08 pm |
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I also have a scale hobby. I agree that your weight can fluctuate more than 5 lbs a day especially if you drink a lot of water. Although I may step on the scale a few times a day, the only one I care about is the one first thing in the morning after I use the bathroom and before I eat or drink anything. If I am out of town or away from a scale, I could care less that I don't have a scale.
I understand the love affair with the scale but how I feel and how my clorhes feel along with how long I can run or ride my bike really determine how I am doing.
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boomer79
New Member
| Joined: | 31 January 2008 |
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| Posts: | 4 |
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Posted: 31 January 2008 04:09 pm |
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I like the daily weigh ins personally and I agree that first thing in the morning after using the bathroom is the best because there are fewer factors that enter into your weight since you don't have anything in your stomach really and less water weight or clothes or whatever effecting your results.
As to regularity I find it easier to check it every day. The more I weigh myself the easier it is for me to match it up with what you did the day before. However if at the end of the week I get a bad surprise that can be incredibly frustrating. Shorter intervals help me to determine causes and to correct them quickly.
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mollymoo24
Senior Member
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Posted: 2 February 2008 01:30 pm |
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Since I am new to this I really like weighing daily. Not because what I weigh each day is precisely important. I am trying to learn more about variability from water weight (high sodium days, TTOTM) so that I don't get discouraged when I see those pounds uptick from time to time. It is inevitable that they do.
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Peter
Founder, caloriesperhour.com
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Posted: 6 February 2008 05:06 pm |
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When I haven't been eating much salt a salty meal can spike my weight by two pounds, easy.
Peter
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kalypso
Member
| Joined: | 3 March 2008 |
| Location: | Eh?, Canada |
| Posts: | 168 |
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Posted: 10 March 2008 01:12 pm |
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Wow, scale junkie unite.
My scale time is the same as most, right in the morning after going the bathroom and before eating or drinking anything. I was told that's the time to get the most accurate weight reading. Any other times through the day that I step on the scale is just for fun to 'see' - but otherwise I don't really take it seriously unless it's first thing in the morning.
Sometimes it makes me feel silly though because diet experts always seem to say, 'Go by the way your clothes feel, and not the number on your scale'. I can't seem to do it though, I'm too addicted to numbers!!
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kakki
Senior Member
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Posted: 10 March 2008 01:50 pm |
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| Me too. Especially since those numbers are going down, I like to see them. I think I've already had a similar thread w/ Bert about scales, weighing in and our morning rituals to go w/ it.
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cportwine
Member
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Posted: 15 April 2008 08:53 pm |
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Wow, and I thought I was bad. I only weigh every other day and sometimes (lately) less. I have been trying to convince myself that I don't need to weigh so often.
Like victor said my weight will go up and down from day to day and can really bum me out.
Yesterday, I was at 128lbs. Today, I was 125lbs. I think it messes with my head when my weight fluctuates so much.
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kakki
Senior Member
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Posted: 21 April 2008 02:50 pm |
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| I understand that and can see it. But for myself, it's tracking just like my food journal. if there is a huge difference, I know there is something I've done differently and need to look at my journal and see what I've done. I'm not so uptight about getting on multiple times to make sure the number is right or the scale is working just right. I get on, and only if there is an error showing do I try again.
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