I'll be discussing daily weighing in this post. It that is not your cup of tea, I get that. Enjoy the photos and come back another day! Thanks.
In a nutshell- daily weighing keeps my emotional eating/binge brain at bay.
I've been enjoying the warm November weather in San Diego County. Many long walks daily to balance out work/life stuff. Since I grew up in Indiana, I appreciate and am thankful for every warm fall day in California.
A good food template, daily weighing All those things keep my weight in check. I've been seeking this for 40 years. For that clarity, I'm thankful.
What is going on now:
My weight has leveled off to my normal, fall/winter cruising area. I draw a line with my eye across the bottom points on the graph (see below) and I can see when my body sets into a weight where I'll stay for a while. I'm thankful for the tool the graph provides.
Winter Weight Maintenance is always a pound or two higher. Always. I don't fight it, just make a note and move on my way. It's data, alerting me to when I may have an un-intentional glutening, a food that's higher in inflammation for me. Hormonal fluctuations. I'm thankful for tools that help me understand my body.
Why it is so, so important to me:
When I don't weigh in often enough, the binge/emotional brain takes over and says..."Oh, go ahead and eat this, you are walking five miles and will burn it off". OR "It's (insert holiday/birthday here)_____ and it's a special treat/ worth while indulgence". This does not last for one moment but days and weeks. Damage is done. Insulin goes up, fat burning turns from fat storage, I would continue to promise myself "I'll start Monday...." The clarity to call myself on my binge brain has been priceless. I call baloney on that way of thinking.
I totally fell into an unhealthy loop with that sort of self talk in years past. I can't out walk poor food choices. Not one bite due to the triggering that goes on in my head. I was BORN this way, being triggered by wheat/sugar not a personal weakness. It's something I have to face and work the process.
Instead of fighting it, I've accepted it. I'm thankful for clarity to reprogram the self talk and connect the dots with the food. Daily weighing is like good quality control. I place the QC in each optimum batch size (daily) so that I keep my brain on the right path.
Instead of tossing out my scale, the scale remains in place. Once a day tool. I don't focus on it more than 1-2 times a day, in the AM only. I kicked my emotional eating outside the door. I do lock the doors. And, there is still occasionally a knock at the door. I don't answer the door!
If daily weighing is helpful to you, use it. If not, find a tool that does work and move on to something that does. We are stronger together.
What works:
1. Walking outside for stress relief and health and photography, not calorie burning.
2. Daily weighing, for me, YES!
3. Clean food template, that does not trigger, forgiving myself for the past.
4. Thankfulness for the clarity steps 1-3 bring.
5. Doing what works and keeping the habit, discarding what doesn't.
What did not work in the past:
1. Trying to out "walk" my processed food choices.
2. Hiding from the scale and not taking action to reverse real weight gain soon enough.
3. Eating food "treats" that triggered the emotional brain.
4. Not being aware of steps 1-3 and blaming myself for being "weak". NOT SO!
5. Trying to do what others did at WW and not examining and letting go of what was not working for me. Hard to find a clear mind when I was under the influence of sugary/carby snacks. ( I've totally forgiven myself and am very thankful. )
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| Smooth sailing in weight maintenance |
I definitely weigh daily, I need to to keep a check on my behaviors. Like you said, I can easily let things snowball out of control. I've been disordered for too long! But I also only weigh once a day- I don't let myself get obsessive with it!
ReplyDeleteJeanne- one time a day, only the in the AM after waking up. If I forget, I wait until the next day...
DeleteI could not agree with you more, Karen! Any time I find myself saying "well, I'll jut weigh in a day or two instead", it's a major red flag to me of a reminder of old, unsuccessful ways of thinking about all of this. Unless it's from a stomach ache that I know will cause a rise, and I just don't want to add the emotional baggage of what I already know...but that is the only exception on a daily weigh that I allow myself. It's about facing the music; like you said, QC. I often wonder if people who don't weigh daily, or at least 6 days a week, are still in that processing of only trying to fool themselves. I don't look at it at putting too much stock on numbers; I look at it as the numbers are pretty darned accurate indicators of what IS going on inside, whether we want to face that music or not.
ReplyDeleteHi Gwen- I totally get weighing weekly, if you are totally honest about the other days. I would result in a graph that was "smoother". I could see how someone who did not eat emotionally could benefit from less data more clothes feed back. That being said I know very few people like that. All the Real Life maintainers I know weigh in daily.
DeleteFor me the health consequences and the $$ it will cost me for health insurance (tied to my BMI) are too much. I worked too hard to get here to be too "play it by ear".
Weighing once a day helps me too as I too have a very insistent emotional brain just ready in the wings to trip me up. But, for me this alone it isn't the be all and end all (hell, I've had my struggles recently) although it sure does help. An increasingly restrictive waistband also helps keep me on track so no elasticated waists for this fat lass! As you say though... whatever helps each individual is the thing they'll need to hold on to - no help, then ditch it.
ReplyDeleteDeniz, ditto on the waist band!. And the emotional brain.. sometimes the old "soundracks" are waiting in the balcony to hop over the main railing and rush up on the stage for me. Very important to bring in tools that they need.
DeleteI weigh almost every day. It is one of my best tools for staying on track. :)
ReplyDeleteSooooo happy for other maintainers like you Caron! When I went looking for other weight maintainers to follow regularly, I knew that I would be a regular reader of yours... :) Every once and awhile, I forget to weigh in , but it's rare.
DeleteI weigh daily - if it's up slightly I know to keep a check on my eating more carefully. When I go away to the beach house or on holidays I don't weight myself but find that keeps me pretty honest because I love the challenge of getting back to the scale and seeing the same weight! For some people weighing regularly is bad but I truly believe it is a great tool to maintain weight - how else can we know if we are eating correctly? If we wait until our clothes are tight, that usually means many pounds have gone on, not just one or two.
ReplyDeleteIt's such a great tool for my Paleo template, Lynda. I've excluded more food because I could see eating them was causing high overnight 2 pound gains (even non salty meals). It's like a "poor mans" allergy test. I would have missed all of that if I had not weighed in.
DeleteI also take a break most vacations- but I stay on plan, too. I weigh in when I travel to family who have a scale, on the cruise ship ! and take a break when I don't have those things. Ditto on the challenge to see the same basic weight. It causes me to choose different decisions day to day. Keeps me on the straight and narrow path... :)
I shared this with my sister. She reached her goal weight a year ago on WW, but the weight has been creeping back up for her.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I went back to my old habits after reaching goal 2 other times. Gained 70 pounds one time and 30 one other time.
DeleteThe structure, focus, habits, and often other maintainers at WW are not talked about enough. We need our own structured group with maintainers topics.
I have a very close WW maintainer friend -4 years in maintenance in real life who told me time after time "I weigh in everyday except for traveling vacations" The skills for long term weight maintenance are not taught, presented, or talked about enough.
Glad you are sharing this with your sister.
I have written this often in the past:
ReplyDeleteeither the daily habits have to be 100% in line, on track, reliable
OR
we have to get on the scale daily
Can be both, can't be neither, in my opinion.
Vickie, - so true! Neither always resulted in active gaining weight for me
DeleteLove this post and totally agree with everything you say. I am a daily weigher and it keeps me on track more than any other weight maintainance tool I use!
ReplyDeleteHi Karen! OMG love this--"I kicked my emotional eating outside the door. I do lock the doors. And, there is still occasionally a knock at the door. I don't answer the door!" Best writing ever! I weigh daily because I need to all of my best tools to evaluate what's happening. :D
ReplyDeleteHi Karen
ReplyDeleteI was so pleased to see your points here about daily weighing and also the comments from other readers.
As I said previously on one of your other posts I do not weigh daily and was very interested in your reasoning why you (and others) found this so helpful. Now thanks to this post I can see your point of view perfectly. Thank you so much for detailing.
It is only by exchanging views, ideas and personal experience that we can look at situations and decide what is best for us as individuals and that I think is great.
Once again stunning pictures.
All the best Jan
Emotional eating is a hard one because for some people (like me) the desire for emotional eating never really leaves completely. I have learned techniques to deal with the tendency but I think it is something I always have to watch out for.
ReplyDelete