Depressed. Snookums is threatening to hide our scales again because of the way they can wreck my entire self-worth in two seconds. I just don’t understand how I can work out five times a week, guzzle liters of water every day, cut out all snacks and fizzy drinks, eat nothing but three square meals a day (with no seconds) and STILL gain two pounds in three days. Obviously it’s not a real gain; either my lower number was false due to dehydration (which means I’ve essentially stayed the same weight for the past week), or my higher number is false due to water retention (for no comprehensible reason). But WHY? I haven’t done anything differently. I need to live in a universe that is controllable. I need to think that 2+2=4. Because to accept otherwise renders this whole exercise pointless. If nothing I do makes any difference, why not give up?
Yeah, he probably should hide those scales.
Hoey
March 20, 2009 — 10:35 am
I’m right with you, Kris. I do a Wii Fit body test just about every morning first thing. On Monday I had dropped 3 pounds in one day. On Wednesday I had gained 4.5. There was no reason for either of them, but that big gain really bummed me out.
The number will go up and down day over day, but week over week is what to focus on. If we’re doing the right things that number will hopefully keep working its way down.
Good luck and keep with it.
M-H
March 20, 2009 — 10:44 am
Maybe he should hide them and opnly bring them out on Friday mornings. Weight changes are weird, but it’s the trends that matter. And with all the working out you may have gained muscle mass, which is dense and heavier than fat. Are you clothes fitting better?
Michelle
March 20, 2009 — 11:04 am
Remember that muscle weighs more than fat- your weight gain could be muscle gain, not fat gain, like M-H said. When I’ve been working out particularly hard, I notice that my weight goes UP while my clothes get looser.
I don’t have scales in my house. I weigh myself occasionally at the gym, and that’s it.
eileen
March 20, 2009 — 12:27 pm
Oh, don’t get discouraged, RT! It’s normal for weight to fluctuate and I totally agree with Michelle in that it could definitely be muscle gain. That’s happened to me in the past. Do you feel healthy? Are your clothes fitting? Concentrate on the positives and try not to fret too much about a little blip on the scale.
Brittanie
March 20, 2009 — 2:08 pm
Don’t exercise and skip junk food because you want to lose weight. Exercise because you want to have a healthy heart, strong muscles and you want to live past the age of 50. As a runner, I know soooooo many people who are super skinny, but who subside on orange cheese-dust food and McDonalds and who aren’t going to be able to maintain that lifestyle past their 40s.
Kris
March 20, 2009 — 3:46 pm
Thanks, everybody. I know, I KNOW I need to use a different metric to base my self-worth on. It’s just hard. Yeah, my clothes are fitting better. I can tell that my boxing workouts are easier. I can do more situps than I could a month ago. SO WHY ISN’T THE BLOODY NUMBER MOVING?
See? It always comes back to that. 🙁
Rachel
March 20, 2009 — 5:03 pm
Cause it takes a long time to see the numbers work. I reckon without serious dieting it takes about 12 months to see weight loss when it’s mainly through exercise. It’s a bummer and it why I hate scales and why I still haven’t bought a replacement battery for mine. I prefer the feel better and my clothes fit way of measuring weight loss.
Andrea Roceal
March 20, 2009 — 7:05 pm
Ditto the muscle weighs more than fat. It is denser. The more fit you get, the more you are likely to weigh more. Some athletes have a really high BMI, simply because of their muscle mass.
Just think of it as you being even MORE HARD CORE. Flex your muscles in front of the mirror and enjoy them 🙂
I was really pleased that my chiro noted I had much more muscle tone lately. I’m still bummed that I’m stuck on 74kg (on the other hand, I haven’t been very focused on it), but that perked me up.
WeeB
March 21, 2009 — 8:27 am
*Sigh* Why did i just see this, http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/src/cj/Chocolate-Easter-Eggs-P450115/
Looks really nice 🙂 I heard it helps you run!
Kris
March 21, 2009 — 8:40 am
Holy crap, Ferret! That’s 1.5kg! Over three pounds of chocolate. *drool*
Lara
March 21, 2009 — 12:26 pm
One other useful tool for self esteem is the tape measure – often you’ll see progress with a tape measure when you won’t see it on the scales. I also like to try on my jeans straight off the clothesline – that gives me a realistic picture of where I’m going.
You are doing so well, it’s a shame to get bummed over a stupid number. I have the same philosophy for my knitting 😉
tracey
March 22, 2009 — 12:19 am
I am SURE you are doing awesomely – scales/numbers are just evil :/ We don’t keep scales in our house as I want to focus on feeling good, not being a certain number. But as I said, I am SURE there is nothing to worry about – from what I can tell, you’ve come such a long way and have so much to be proud of!