In Tear At The Moment

Okay so on the day of surgery I weighed 279.5, that was May 15th. I had a follow up with the surgeon 8 days later on May 23rd and weighed 257. That's a 22.5lbs loss. Well I didn't have a scale at home so I had my b/f go out and get me one and it says 270, and it can't be wrong cause it says he weighs 140 which is correct. Thats a 10+lbs gain in only 5 days..I dont know what to do, I feel so horribly crushed. I haven't eaten over 700 calories and I am getting in my protein how could I have gained SOOO much SOOOO quickly????? God help me! What am I doing wrong. What have I done to myself...........

Nicole, Nicole, Nicole..... Calm down, little one. There are many factors in the beginning that can affect your weight, and the main one is water retention. I recall that for 3 weeks, my bra didn't fit at all. It wasn't just tight; it totally didn't fit! I wore it home from the hospital just fine and then a week later it was as if it was 5 sizes too small. And, yes, I had lost weight that first week. Are you getting in all your water? Might you be pre-menstrual? Heck; even if the calendar says NO to that, you could be! The surgery whacks out your "regularity" and your friend might show up unexpectedly.    Does your BF weigh in daily? Maybe he is incorrect about his weight? And, on a final note...I beg you NOT to weigh yourself in the beginning. Leave that to your surgeon. Yes, that's the hardest thing to do so don't hit me for suggestingit! But, in the beginning your body is all out of sorts and the weight can yo-yo. My "AHEM" Professional opinion here is a combination of PMS/hormones and your water intake. Make sure you are taking in a MINIMUM of 64, if not 80 ounces of water. Plain'ole water. Yeah they say Crystal light counts but make sure it's decaf. because Crystal Light Iced Tea has caffeine! They do sell a decaf version. Have the BF take the scale home and let him give it back further down the road. It will be the best gift he could ever give you. SCALES ARE EVIL!!!! Hugs, Nicole...please stay calm. -Karen

Nicole: This is a perfect OPPORTUNITY to learn ONE of the most IMPORTANT LESSONS ON THIS JOURNEY... Do not trust the SCALE, and certinly do not get on it more than 1x week and do not give it ANY and I MEAN ANY POWER at all. If this lesson is accepted early on your fear, shame, guilt, anger, hurt etc will be minimal and your happiness, joy and prosperity will be much more readily abundent/attainable and felt. Try tapping into the rational mind, and not the emotional one right now.. Is it possible that 2 scales are different to some degree? YES Is it possible that there are factors beyond one's control that influence wt? YES Perhaps you are obsessing over the scale too much, which can be very discouraging if you're trying to maintain healthy habits as the true goal!!! We all realize our weight may change from day to day for many reasons such as shifts in water weight, constipation, and even the food you just ate can cause daily ups and downs that may register on the scale. These shifts can be misleading and worrisome if we don't understand them. For a more accurate measurement of our weight, we can try to only weigh ourself once each week and on the same scale every time — different scales may provide different readings. Or, instead, let the tightness of your belt be your guide. If your clothes fit better and you feel better, then you're getting healthier — even if the bathroom scale doesn't reflect it. Remember trauma of surgery causes a lot of swelling many gain 20# +/- postop it is normal and expected.....

 

Ultimately, it's our own choice to foster or to stop scale obsession. Weight loss takes time and  patience. Remember, if you're following a healthy lifestyle plan, the extra pounds will come off — whether you step on the scale a hundred times a day or never at all. Happiness and success will NEVER EVER come from an external source (person, object, number on the scale). It can and will ONLY come from internal self-discovery and love. By shaming yourself continually with the scale you stay stuck in the victim role, and miss opportunities to be kind, gentle and loving with yourself. I highy recommend counseling to assist you along this journey to unlearn all the negative emotional tapes of the past that will only be there once the wt is off. Dealing with them now and knowing the only way out is through can help. And as I have said before: of our lives we have set RIGID, UNREALISTIC WEIGHT LOSS GOALS for ourselves that are BOTH UNATTAINABLE and CHRONICALLY DISAPPOINTING and lead to DEVASTATION & the slippery slope of self-sabotage...Review the UNDERLYING lifestyle change such as exercise, food choices, self-awareness/monitoring, avoidance of emotional eating, adherence to living self responsibly in a CONSISTENT way that is the foundation to our long-term success. For me I keep telling myself daily that***THE GOAL SHOULD NEVER BE A NUMBER*** These choices are what makes WLS work long-term and not be another failed diet attempt ...The scale does not have to tell ou if you are good or bad if you do allow it. I encourage you strongly to consider getting the scale out of the house this has helped so many to only weigh on one scale when they go to the MD office as it is truly inmaterial to the process, wt loss is a bonuus but not the goal, keep doing all u can to change your life that is all you can do! We can only influence our wt loss so much the body is in control, stress only will keep it hanging on longer...

Not sure if you have seen this article I may of posted prior but it talks to why the scale lies... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Use Measurements Besides the Scale What's So Motivating About Numbers Anyway? By Mike Kramer, Staff Writer http://www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=104 

 

 

Scale back on weighing in?

 

Dieters should think twice about how -- and how often -- they check their weight

 

Kimberly Hayes Taylor / The Detroit News

January 24, 2006

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060124/LIFESTYLE02/601240395/1040/rss34&template=printart

 

 

Weighing in on the Scale

http://www.calorieking.com/library/article.php?path=13%2C66&art_id=749&printable=yes&noviews=yes Pat Fiducia and Anna Delany, September 22nd, 2004 http://www.primusweb.com/fitnesspartner/library/weight/scale .htm       Why The Scale Lies       by Renee Cloe,       ACE Certified Personal Trainer We've been told over an over again that daily weighing is unnecessary, yet many of us can't resist peeking at that number every morning. If you just can't bring yourself to toss the scale in the trash, you should definitely familiarize yourself with the factors that influence it's readings. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. They are not indicators of your success or failure. Once you understand how these mechanisms work, you can free yourself from the daily battle with the bathroom scale.       Water makes up about 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body's water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don't understand what's happening. Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink, the more of it your body retains. If you are even slightly dehydrated your body will hang onto it's water supplies with a vengeance, possibly causing the number on the scale to inch upward. The solution is to drink plenty of water.       Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Generally, we should only eat between 1,000 and 3,000 mg of sodium a day, so it's easy to go overboard. Sodium is a sneaky substance. You would expect it to be most highly concentrated in salty chips, nuts, and crackers. However, a food doesn't have to taste salty to be loaded with sodium. A half cup of instant pudding actually contains nearly four times as much sodium as an ounce of salted nuts, 460 mg in the pudding versus 123 mg in the nuts. The more highly processed a food is, the more likely it is to have a high sodium content. That's why, when it comes to eating, it's wise to stick mainly to the basics: fruits, vegetables, lean meat, beans, and whole grains. Be sure to read the labels on canned foods, boxed mixes, and frozen dinners.       Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. This is very common and the weight will likely disappear as quickly as it arrives. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum.       Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen. Think of glycogen as a fuel tank full of stored carbohydrate. Some glycogen is stored in the liver and some is stored the muscles themselves. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it's packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it's stored. Your glycogen supply will shrink during the day if you fail to take in enough carbohydrates. As the glycogen supply shrinks you will experience a small imperceptible increase in appetite and your body will restore this fuel reserve along with it's associated water. It's normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level. These fluctuations have nothing to do with fat loss, although they can make for some unnecessarily dramatic weigh-ins if you're prone to obsessing over the number on the scale.       Otherwise rational people also tend to forget about the actual weight of the food they eat. For this reason, it's wise to weigh yourself first thing in the morning before you've had anything to eat or drink. Swallowing a bunch of food before you step on the scale is no different than putting a bunch of rocks in your pocket. The 5 pounds that you gain right after a huge dinner is not fat. It's the actual weight of everything you've had to eat and drink. The added weight of the meal will be gone several hours later when you've finished digesting it.       Exercise physiologists tell us that in order to store one pound of fat, you need to eat 3,500 calories more than your body is able to burn. In other words, to actually store the above dinner as 5 pounds of fat, it would have to contain a whopping 17,500 calories. This is not likely, in fact it's not humanly possible. So when the scale goes up 3 or 4 pounds overnight, rest easy, it's likely to be water, glycogen, and the weight of your dinner. Keep in mind that the 3,500 calorie rule works in reverse also. In order to lose one pound of fat you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you take in. Generally, it's only possible to lose 1-2 pounds of fat per week. When you follow a very low calorie diet that causes your weight to drop 10 pounds in 7 days, it's physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you're really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle.       This brings us to the scale's sneakiest attribute. It doesn't just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose "weight," that doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost fat. In fact, the scale has no way of telling you what you've lost (or gained). Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is a metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the more calories your body burns, even when you're just sitting around. That's one reason why a fit, active person is able to eat considerably more food than the dieter who is unwittingly destroying muscle tissue.       Robin Landis, author of "Body Fueling," compares fat and muscles to feathers and gold. One pound of fat is like a big fluffy, lumpy bunch of feathers, and one pound of muscle is small and valuable like a piece of gold. Obviously, you want to lose the dumpy, bulky feathers and keep the sleek beautiful gold. The problem with the scale is that it doesn't differentiate between the two. It can't tell you how much of your total body weight is lean tissue and how much is fat. There are several other measuring techniques that can accomplish this, although they vary in convenience, accuracy, and cost. Skin-fold calipers pinch and measure fat folds at various locations on the body, hydrostatic (or underwater) weighing involves exhaling all of the air from your lungs before being lowered into a tank of water, and bioelectrical impedance measures the degree to which your body fat impedes a mild electrical current.       If the thought of being pinched, dunked, or gently zapped just doesn't appeal to you, don't worry. The best measurement tool of all turns out to be your very own eyes. How do you look? How do you feel? How do your clothes fit? Are your rings looser? Do your muscles feel firmer? These are the true measurements of success. If you are exercising and eating right, don't be discouraged by a small gain on the scale. Fluctuations are perfectly normal. Expect them to happen and take them in stride. It's a matter of mind over scale.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HUGS

Jamie, Awesome post. Just wanted to let you know: the link to this article is dead, so you may want to edit your post.:

Kimberly Hayes Taylor / The Detroit News,  January 24, 2006

Other than that...it's all great info!

Thanks again,

Karen

Karen thans for letting me know link didnt work here is the article I saved it! Jamie Scale back on weighing in?

 

Dieters should think twice about how -- and how often -- they check their weight

 

Kimberly Hayes Taylor / The Detroit News

January 24, 2006

 

A fter shedding nearly 100 pounds, Angela McCray has come to one solid conclusion about weighing herself: "The scale is not my friend."

 

McCray of Grand Blanc has heard all the debates about weighing oneself. It has taken five years, gastric bypass surgery and working out with a personal trainer to lose 91 pounds. She's decided the most frequently she can possibly weigh-in is every Monday morning when she drives to Detroit for a hard workout session with her personal trainer, Eric Thompson.

 

"I don't want to see the scale, but I know I have to weigh myself if I'm going to reach my goal," says the 38-year-old factory worker. "I don't want to weigh myself too often because I know muscles weigh more than fat. It's just best to weigh once a week."

 

How often dieters should weigh themselves is a question often debated among scientists and weight-loss experts. Some agree weighing weekly is ideal for losing weight. Others argue dieters will lose track of progress if they fail to weigh daily. But daily weighing is not a good practice, others say, because the slow nature of weight loss, plus daily fluctuations in body weight, might make dieters more apt to give up.

 

Arguments for all sides

 

A new study has come down on the side of daily weigh-ins. Published in the December issue of the Annals of Behavioral Medicine, it reports that dieters who weighed themselves regularly shed more pounds over a 24-month period than people who didn't regularly weigh themselves. Those who weighed themselves daily lost the most.

 

To the authors, the implications are clear: Dieters should be encouraged to weigh themselves -- and often.

 

"We talk to people about monitoring calories daily, about monitoring their exercise daily. ... If we're asking them to do those . . . on a daily basis, then why not add this other recommendation?" says Jennifer A. Linde, lead author of that study and an assistant professor at the school of public health at the University of Minnesota.

 

Yet there's a chicken-egg caveat here that some critics point to, and that even those who believe in the findings acknowledge. Sure, successful dieters may weigh themselves more. But the studies don't tell you what caused what -- just that the two things correlate. It's fun to step on the scales when you're succeeding. When the numbers are nudging upward or stubbornly refusing to change, it doesn't seem like fun and games.

 

"They're assuming that weighing yourself frequently leads you to lose weight. I think losing weight makes you weigh yourself more frequently, because -- 'I'm losing weight, yes, yes, I'm down another pound,' " says Janet Polivy, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Toronto, who is not a fan of the bathroom scales.

 

McCray agrees. She says it's the work put into exercise and eating balanced meals that make the difference. Weighing is simply a way of keep track of the progress.

 

"I'm going to be honest with you," she says. "The scale can make you or break you if you are not mentally ready for it. I just can't get on the scale every day. That's torture to me."

 

How about every two or three days? After conducting her own weighing experiment, Maureen Mailhot of Waterford Township concluded that frequent weighing can become a bit obsessive. A personal trainer, she weighed three times daily, first thing in the morning, before lunch and after lunch. During the day, she discovered her weight fluctuated by 3 pounds.

 

Now, the 30-year-old has decided weighing less frequently is wiser, but she still leans toward weighing at least twice a week.

 

"I realized it's how I feel. It's my body fat and my measurements," says Mailhot, who currently trains at Peak Physique in Troy. "It's not how much I weigh. That's only one number."

 

Curves fitness centers offer a Six-Week Solution, where clients weigh and measure once each week. After losing about 20 pounds during those first six weeks, weighing once a month is recommended thereafter, according to Kim Boychuk, who owns two Metro Detroit Curves locations.

 

"You are going to know the way your clothes fit, the way you feel," says Boychuk. "If we can have someone on a regular basis working out, eating healthfully, weighing once a month is going to give them a good indication of how they are doing."

 

A history of research

 

The back-and-forth debate is why, to this day, roomfuls of Ph.D.s and M.D.s sit around discussing an issue you'd think 21st-century science might have put to bed by now.

 

A curious study from the 1960s points to the potential effect of frequent weighing. Eight overweight women in a small, private college were enrolled in a weight-loss plan, part of which consisted of coming in to be weighed four times a day. By study's end, the women had lost an average of 40 pounds each.

 

The study was small; it lacked important controls. But it was intriguing.

 

"People in that group lost more weight than any study since then in nearly 40 years," says Dr. Joseph A. Risser, director of clinical research for Lindora Medical Group, which runs the Lean for Life weight-loss program.

 

The scales couldn't possibly have registered real loss from one weigh-in to the next -- but maybe, Risser muses, something else was going on, such as a reminder of the mission the dieter was on. His own studies of more than 600 clients show that those who were weighed five times weekly lost more weight (24 pounds) than those weighed twice weekly (19 pounds).

 

The new study by Linde and colleagues tapped statistics from two populations. One was a group of 1,800 obese or overweight adults enrolled in a weight-loss trial. Participants were asked at the study's start and at intervals thereafter how often they weighed themselves.

 

After one year, monthly, weekly and daily weighers all lost weight on average, but those who weighed themselves daily lost the most -- about 8 pounds. (Those who never weighed themselves gained weight.)

 

The other data came from 1,226 adults in a weight-gain prevention trial. At 12 months, those who weighed themselves daily had lost about 2 or 3 pounds. Those who weighed themselves less often, or not at all, actually gained weight. In both studies, significant differences also were seen at two years.

 

People who weighed themselves also did other healthy things such as exercise more, but the self-weighing effect was statistically significant on its own, Linde says.

 

Another study recently released by the National Weight Control Registry, a large database of people who have lost a considerable amount of weight and are keeping it off, revealed that people who lost an average of 60 pounds and kept it off for an average of five years, did so by weighing frequently. Most of them weighed several times a week to daily, says Karen Miller-Kovach, chief scientific officer for Weigh****chers International.

 

She defines the thin line between losing, gaining and keeping if off. The difference, she says, is dieters should weigh only once per week. People who want to maintain weight loss should weigh daily.

 

"When it comes to weight regain, several studies show that there is this black magic to 5 pounds," says Miller-Kovach, author of "Family Power: 5 Simple Rules for a Health-Weight Home" ($22.95, John Wiley & Sons Inc.). "People who tend to regain more than 5 pounds tend to regain it all. It's really important to keep within that 5-pound radius. If you are 135 pounds and one day you weigh 136 and the next day 137, if you get to 140, the cow's out of the barn, and you'll probably gain back every pound you lost."

 

At weekly Weigh****chers meetings, Miller-Kovach says clients are told to weigh themselves only during the meetings.

 

"We tell them not to jump on their bathroom scales morning, noon and night," she says. "When they become a lifetime member (after they've lost their goal weight), we recommend that they come in once a month, but weigh themselves more frequently at home."

 

Consistency counts

 

Whether you're a once a month, once a week or once a day weigher, keep it consistent. And frequency isn't the only factor here; Miller-Kovach says it doesn't matter whether you weigh-in naked, with clothes and shoes on, in the morning or at night.

 

"Your weight can fluctuate," she says. "If one day you weighing yourself naked in the morning in the bathroom, and a week later, you are weighing yourself in the evening with clothes and shoes on, that can be a 5-pound difference. The main thing is to weigh at the same time in the same way each time."

 

How to weigh in

 

Here are some tips from various specialists about the best way to weigh yourself:

 

·  To minimize variation, always weigh at the same time of day, such as in the morning just after having used the bathroom.

 

·  If you are weighing yourself daily, understand that your weight will vary day to day. It's the trend that's important. You may find it useful to make a graph of your weight.

 

·  Put the scales on a flat, uncarpeted surface so the readings don't wobble.

 

·  Use a scale that is consistent, giving the same weight when you step on it, then off it, then back on it again. That's more important than the type of scale you buy. Use the same scale each time.

 

·  Don't get fixated on the scales. Monitor your body change in other ways, such as the fit of your clothes, a tape measure or how you physically feel.

 

·  To the best of your ability, try to gauge how the weighing makes you feel, and if it is reinforcing -- or undermining -- your efforts.

 

Washington Post

 

What to watch for

 

Weight-loss experts agree these five factors can affect your weigh-ins:

 

·  Colon health: Within the folds of the colon can be several pounds of waste, particularly if someone is constipated. Obviously, a bowel movement can affect your weight; some form of colon cleansing such as herbs or hydrotherapy such as an enema or colonic may help eliminate waste as well.

 

·  Hormonal fluctuations: Just before or during a menstrual cycle, a woman is likely to gain up to 5 pounds.

 

·  Water retention: Most adults retain about 5 pounds of water within extra-cellular fluid, the natural fluid surrounding cells. Heavier people may experience even more water retention, especially if they frequently consume processed convenience foods. As much as 8 to 10 pounds of fluid may be retained if a sudden weight gain is experienced, such as during the holidays. Drinking adequate amounts of water and exercise can help reduce water retention.

 

·  Time of day: Since weight fluctuates throughout the day, for an accurate weigh-in, step on the scales at the same time of day.

 

·  Clothing: A pair of shoes can weigh more than 1 pound. To be sure you record your correct weight, decide on if you are going to weigh with or without clothing and keep it consistent.

 

Kimberly Hayes Taylor

 

Wire services were used in this report. You can reach Kimberly Hayes Taylor at (313) 222-2058 or [email protected].

 

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060124/L IFESTYLE02/601240395/1040/rss34&template=printart

 

Nicole, I am sooo sorry to hear you feeling so blue      Never mind the numbers.....How are you feeling...healthwise????....How do your clothes feel on your thining body????  I know you are doing everything right...you did sooo much research and were sooo well prepared...don't doubt yourself now.....Who knows....different scale, pms, hormones, water retension,etc.....But you know you are doing all the right things..... Take a deep breath...........Look at your self in the mirror.........what do you see..........a beautiful young woman....inside and out!!!!!!!    You are always very supportive, upbeat and encouraging.......Now let all of us do the same for you...... And this one is for you Nicole.........WOOOOHOOOO..........      YOU BIG LOSER YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!    Much Love to you Nicole....... Jane

I'm so sorry you had a little hiccup on the road to thinness. I hope everything is back on track. I know that surgery will certainly throw your whole system out of whack..but you'll be skinny in no time.  Sending you many hugs and kisses... Let us know how you're doing now...