A Traumatic Event

I went to the Y today for my second exercise (walking three miles) and decided to weigh myself on their balance scale. I'm sorry to say that it weighed me 14 pounds heavier than my home scale! I'm devastated! Later, I learned that it is about 8 pounds off, but this has had a real deadening effect on my urge to keep going.....I know I am still the same no matter what the scale says but it was terrible to see those numbers again.

You have to learn to ignore it. Losing weight is about a lot of things, but when you really boil down to the root of it, it comes down to two things:

1) Aesthetics
2) Health

Aesthetics: If I told you Jessica Alba was 245 lbs in the movies "Honey" and "Sin City", would that make her any less attractive? No. As men, we still all want her.

Health: Regardless of which scale you use, you're just as healthy or unhealthy as you were before. If you keep exercising and dieting, you'll be moving in the correct direction. Why give it up because one of the scales is not calibrated correctly?

Weight is one of the least important metrics we have. Look at these two pictures -





Both of these men weigh the exact same. They are heavyweights in the UFC. Do their bodies look anything like each other? Absolutely not. What's the key difference? Body fat. Two people with the same weight but different body fat percentages will look nothing like each other.

Ignore the scale for a while, it'll put a whole new perspective on things and keep you less worried and more motivated.

Yeah, I dread weighing at the doctors office and finding out how far off my scale is. Yes progress has been made, regardless, but that's how my brain works too.

It is fine to feel disappointed, who wouldn't? You're working to lose weight and you feel like someone took away weeks of progress. Sure, it doesn't REALLY change anything, but I can see why it would be upsetting.

But it is no reason to give up. Use it as motivation instead. So it will take a little longer- so what? It will take your entire life. Disappointment is no reason to quit or feel defeated. Things aren't always going to go your way. You just have to keep on going anyway.

And for goodness sake, only weigh yourself on ONE scale if you're a person who can't deal with seeing an unexpected number. You're just setting yourself up for frustration if you use multiple scales.

Btw, i sometimes weigh myself on the gym scale in the evening even though I weighed myself at home in the morning. It just doesn't bother me. I always weigh 5-6 pounds more (in the evening in clothes) than I do at home, naked, first thing in the morning. 6+8=14, so there you go.

I agree with this 100% Don't sorry about it. call me nuts but I have fun with it.

Check out what I ate yesterday!

http://www.fatsecret.com/Diary.aspx?pa=fj&dt=14923&id=394296


weighed 204 that morning and when I got home fom the restaurant I ran home and I weighed almost 211 ! Awesome!

something happen to your Roy Nelson Pic as we can't see it. It's ruining your good illustration. I'm assuming thats Big Country any way.

It is, good call. Hm, it's showing up fine for me.

If anyone can't see it, here's a few links to all of Roy Nelson's glory:
http://www.mmatko.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/roy.jpg
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/307486/roynelson.jpg
http://www.mmabay.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Roy-Nelson1.jpg

Thank you all for your sweet encouragement. And you are right...if I can't take it, I shouldn't do it anymore!

I had to add my "two cents". I too weighed myself at the gym and was 5 pounds heavier but attributed it to clothes. Stick to your scale at home and try to weigh yourself at the same time each day for consistency. Also realize that water weight gain plays into it. If I eat too much beef, salt, or certain cheeses, I can be up sometimes three pounds but loose it the next day.

Water plays a huge roll, so do hormones. If its near your time of the month you could be retaining a lot of water. The scale sometimes jumps up 7 lbs for me then, but I ignore it and don't record it because I know its not real.

If the scale is too emotional for you, you might want to use a different metric to judge your progress, maybe take measurements at your waist, hips, arms, or wherever every week or two weeks and record them instead of the lbs. You will always be calibrated to yourself