Weighing In

To weigh or not to weigh…oh wait, I've got that Shakespeare thing going on again. Today's blog is about whether or not to weigh daily, weekly, or at all, for that matter.


For years I never even glanced at the scale. And then when I did finally make myself climb aboard, I wanted kill myself, or surgically remove my unwanted fat with a butter knife, so I suppose that's where I developed my aversion for weighing with any regularity.


When I joined weight watchers the first time, it was the weekly ritual, as it always is with Weight Watchers. And then, especially when you're losing regularly, that scale becomes the best form of validation on the planet!


When I was in college and dieting with my roommate, I also participated in a psych experiment on dieting. Funny, I kinda forgot about that. They weighed me in once a week while on my diet, and chronicled my weight loss as part of their experiment. Participating in this experiment also raised my psych grade a half a grade, so it was a win-win for me. But once again, when you're continually losing, getting on the scale is a good thing.


After college, I weighed myself occasionally for a while, but then got out of the habit. And gradually started to put on weight. In retrospect I would wonder if there was a correlation between weighing and keeping my weight down, but at this point…I know better.


Between college and my last successful Weight Watchers attempt I can't recall getting on the scale too often. Naturally it was never a pleasant experience, so I avoided it like the plague. But when I was seriously losing weight on Weight Watchers, that's when I decided to upgrade from our regular analog scale, to a slightly expensive Tanita digital scale. This way I could know what to expect when I went to my Weight Watchers meetings. Because if you know me, you know I always like to be prepared. Always planning, always have to know, can't be spontaneous if my life depended on it.


At some point in the Weight Watchers process, I started weighing myself daily. And kept a running list of these weights. I especially paid attention to this when I finally achieved my WW Lifetime status, and no longer weighed in weekly at the meetings. And as the scale would rise and fall so would my mood.


For a while, weighing kept me on track. If I put on a little weight, I knew I had to be more diligent to take it off. I also knew my weight fluctuated depending on a whole host of factors. Salt is a HUGE issue for me. I just look at a salt shaker and I start to retain water. So I am aware of natural fluctuations. And I do believe those natural fluctuations caused me to fluctuate right up to my current weight. I kept waiting for the scale to fluctuate back down, but alas, it never did.


To this day, I still weigh myself daily. And I still record it in a little notebook that sits beside my computer at home. I actually hide it in a drawer when guests come over. Do I really think everyone is going to rifle through the papers in our office??


I am aware that some people feel it's detrimental to weigh in daily. After doing it for so many years, I am almost numb to it. I see the number rise and fall, and still it impacts my mood. Anyone who really knows me, knows when that number on the scale goes down, because I become elated!! You would think that alone would make me stick to my diet! But apparently not. I still seem to need some additional external motivation. So if you have any, please feel free to share. I’m all about trying to make this process better so to end this blog, I pose a question to you. What motivates YOU to lose weight?