Ditching the scale.....sort of

I am one of those people that need to weigh myself every day to keep myself in check.


I used to weigh myself only if I thought the number would make me happy. If I didn't think I would like the number, I wouldn't weigh myself, and before I knew it I hadn't weighed myself in months and I would have gained 15 pounds. To me, seeing a bad number on the scale made me think that the rest of the day was going to be horrible. So I would skip it.


So on 1/1/2010, after weighing the heaviest I ever had been not related to pregnancy (221.8), I decided I needed to weigh myself every day - the good, the bad and the ugly. And I would track it on an Excel spreadsheet, along with some notes about the day.

This all worked well up until 5 weeks ago when I started working out. You see, I weigh myself at my "lightest" every morning (I apologize for this being a little bit of TMI) and being pretty "regular", I am confident that at 6:30 am, I am going to be the lightest for the day. I don't weigh myself after a shower or any other time during the day - Why would I? I wouldn't be lighter. I am not one of those people that thinks the scale will say happier things after a work out. Why would it - I just drank 24 oz of water during that workout? I have been known to re-weigh myself on the weekends if I am up early with the kids and then 2 hours later if I still haven't eaten or drunk anything and then I go to the bathroom again. I will go upstairs, take off my pjs again, and re-weigh myself.

But on the days I work out, because of the "regularity" I am not at my lightest at 5:30 in the morning. So I decided on the 3-4 times a week that I am supposed to wake up, I won't weigh myself. It is a little easier too, because I have been shleping the scale downstairs each morning so I don't wake up my family by using the bathroom upstairs. So I also had this routine in my head that maybe the scale wasn't saying nice things to me because it was positioned in a different place in my head. The games we play.

But I was actually okay this morning with not weighing myself. The less-than-stellar numbers on workout days were resulting in negative thoughts as I walked on the treadmill - You might think it may be an inspiration to work harder, but no, at 5:30 am I wasn't happy.

So I will weigh-in tomorrow. Another neuroses I have is that on WW day, I do not work out (because that results in drinking water and needing a snack afterwards) and I don't eat anything until after my weigh-in at 11:00 am. I do drink 20 oz of water, but only before 8:30 am.

I am not expecting the weigh-in to go well tomorrow, but I am going to go, no matter what. Like stepping on the scale at home, regardless of what it says, I need to do that with Weight Watchers as well. I didn't go last week with a 2 lb gain. I need to go tomorrow regardless of what it says.