Today was actually a nice little Saturday morning! I went to brunch with Joe at a local little restaurant called Rx, and got an omelet filled with mushrooms, spinach, and a little goat cheese. It came with side salad which was nice since many restaurants give you a heap of fried potatoes and lots of toast. Afterwards, we went to Starbucks to get my caffeine fix in the form of a venti skinny vanilla latte (extra shot of espresso) before coming back to study!
So I have a question that I would love all your perspectives on! What do you think is the ideal way to keep track of your weight and prevent weight gain?
I’ve struggled with my weight for many years. It’s gone up and down and back up, etc. After my recent weight loss, I’m more determined than ever to keep maintaining. I personally think the best way to do this is to weigh yourself daily.
First part of maintaining is having a number in mind that you have already reached and want to stay at. If you maintenance weight is 5 pounds below your lowest recent weight is isn’t really going to work. Daily weigh-ins allow you to see if you are straying from that number. 1 or 2 pounds are most likely fluctuations and water weight so I typically don’t stress over those. I think once it hit’s three pounds, I have likely gained.
By weighing yourself daily, you are holding yourself accountable to your actions. I think that this is the most important aspect of maintaining. It’s ok to have a cupcake!!! It’s ok to go out to dinner or to a bar with friends. Just be aware the next day what those things will do to your weight. You are NOT going to gain 5 pounds from a night of indulgence. You probably will gain 5 pounds from a whole week of indulgences (for example an 8 day cruise or 10 day trip to Europe…both of which I experienced this past summer).
My brand of scale: Weight watchers digital. I’m a big fan if you are looking for a model. I think Santa brought me this once year before I moved into my first apartment. Please not that is NOT my weight, just a picture I found on google.
One problem that I have had in the past was obsessively checking weight. Especially if you tend to go up and down like I have before, it can drive you crazy. Lately, since I have been eating a more consistent diet (as opposed to dining out for all my meals for a week then cooking more nutritious meals for a week etc.), my weight has been able to stay pretty consistent from day to day. If it goes up slightly, I usually know who the culprit was (maybe those fajitas last night..hmm). But a 0.5 increase is negligible when maintaining, as long as you don’t have margaritas and fajitas every single night. Also keeping in mind when indulging that partaking in ONE margarita or ONE cupcake will likely lead to a better morning weigh-in. Just because you are having one indulgence doesn’t mean that you can totally indulge on anything and everything the whole day. Pick and choose what is most important to you.
When I was gaining weight in the past year, I generally wasn’t weighing myself regularly at all. I tried to stick to a schedule of weighing myself and recording it on the 1st and 15th of each month, so roughly every two weeks. Even out of those few weigh-ins, some were missed and just not done until the next month. Having no accountability for an entire month was NOT an ideal plan for me. In general, weekly or every other week weigh-ins do give you a better sense of where you are in the grand scheme because it avoids accounting for daily fluctuations, but I found that not seeing my weight regularly was leading to an “out of sight out of mind” philosophy. I wasn’t thinking about portions or nutrition nearly enough.
I found my largest problem to be the summer-time this past year. I originally thought this would be my best summer yet for getting fit. I worked about one day a week, didn’t have much to focus on since I was on summer vacation from school, and had so much free time. Even with exercising 4 or 5 days a week, I found that I was still gaining. The problem was my vacation eating. I went on a Carribean cruise with Joe, to Europe and Florida with my family, and to the Jersey shore a great deal. Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining about time off or vacations, but I was eating an inconsistent diet and not keeping myself accountable by weighing-in. That is a lesson I learned the hard way.
Sometimes the mind just tries to ignore reality because you want to enjoy the present. “Ok, I’ll have the chocolate cake on the cruise (every night) I’ve been spinning every morning and this is vacation after all.” Yes, vacation, but NO not an excuse to eat whatever you want without consequence. Your body has no vacation mode where it doesn’t convert that cake to fat.
In a nutshell, I have found that weighing yourself daily is more proactive in the maintenance phase of weight loss. Where as waiting a week or two to notice a gain or waiting until clothes stop fitting is more reactive.
So…enough of my ranting, what method of keeping track of your weight have you found to be most effective?
Weighing yourself daily? Cutting back on the sweets or exercising more when your jeans start to get tight? No scales at all?
I would love to hear what works and doesn’t work for everyone!
It's funny because for years I had such a love-hate relationship with the scale. I was always kind of elated when I weighed myself, but at the same time it made me kind of depressed because I knew I should weigh more. A lot of people who have had disordered eating habits swear off the scale forever, but I have a different point of view. I probably weigh myself about once a week, and for me the biggest challenge has been being okay with myself as a person regardless of the number. For a few years it crept slowly up, and now I'm at a place where I know I have a healthy body fat level, and I don't want or need to gain any more. I'll admit that that's a little daunting, because I've gotten so used to (rightfully) justifying my weight gain as a necessary process, but for the first time in six years I'm not trying to lose OR gain weight. Learning to maintain without worrying about it is definitely a difficult thing.
ReplyDeleteI think it all depends on where the person is mentally. For me personally, with having an eating disorder in the past, I only ever get weighed when I have a doctors appointment. I know from my old habits that if I have a scale, I will become obsessed with the number, and base my mood/day on it, which usually isn't good. I know many people though, that weigh themselves either once a week or once every two weeks and that works well for them. Now a days, I just use my clothes that fit well and if they get tighter, maybe I need to cut back a bit on the desserts or 2nd helpings. So I guess it's all up to you and what you feel comfortable with doing!
ReplyDeleteThis is such an interesting post and presents a view point I guess I hadn't really thought about before. While there definitely seems to be an idea amongst people that consistent "weigh-ins" are a bad thing, I think I tend to agree with you, that regularly weighing oneself can help make you aware about where your weight is.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I would go for weighing myself everyday, but I think once or twice a week is a good amount. We need to know the number and I think the routine of it can help make any changes seem less daunting. In fact, I'd venture to say that regularly weighing oneself makes more sense if you are trying to maintain your weight as opposed to lose weight. Focus on awareness as opposed to the changes you hope to see, if that makes sense. It's definitely a personal thing, but you present some really interesting views!