"Yeah, I know it was jus****er weight..."

We say this all the time but do we really stop to think about what we are saying to ourselves??  It's quite a negative comment.  We can throw science at this all day long saying it isn't possible to lose more than 2 lbs of fat in a week..but honestly none of us really know whether it was water, fat or a combination of both.  I think what's really going on is we're not allowing ourselves to completely enjoy the loss. We're tightening the reigns and not letting go.. for what??  Because it's our nature?  Because we're afraid if we get too excited that we'll mess up???   The further I go through this journey the more and more I realize just how intricate the bond is between emotion and the physical.  It seems beneath everything is the emotion driving it.  If we can't learn to change the emotion then how will we ever lose the weight and make all the work permanent??

Ok.. how much do you trust scales? I'm trying to trust mine.. it measures body fat percentage, water and weight.  I believe it IS possible to lose more than 2 lbs of fat in a week so I REVEL in the loss.  If my fluid percentage doesn't go down... well.. I must have lost fat!  I'll take that emotion.. I need it. I can also tell when I have a fluid gain.  I'm not going to quote this directly, but this is something I've read and discussed with others.  We all know that fat cells never go away.. but when we shock them into giving up the fat, they immediately fill with fluid to fill up the space... then the fluid drains and they shrink.. something like that.  I can see that happening on my scale by watching my weight stay the same, but my body fat % and fluid % fluctuate. I know your post isn't about this, but rather our resistence to the positive emotions generated by the number on the scale.. and I REALLY believe this is some sort of built in motivational device.  If we allow all the gushy feelings we get from that sense of accomplishment, we might become complacent and ease up on the effort.. so we tell ourselves that this measure of accomplishment isn't an accomplishment at all in order to keep us on our toes... Did that make sense?

I don't know how those scales work. I don't have one.  Quite frankly, I don't see how they could be accurate..but then that's probably because I know nothing about how they work... so I can't really comment intelligently. It does make sense and I think that's exactly why we tell ourselves that.  Still though.. Just once I'd like to fully enjoy the loss.

Pfft....I enjoy every single loss I see. I don't care if its water....fat....air...whatever!!! Its a loss and I L.O.V.E IT!!!!

I don't understand the correlation you're making.  If it's water weight how is it emotional anything, except tha****er weight makes us PO'd?

Because instead of being joyous that we lost weight at all, we stifle that joy by saying "it's only water weight" therefore making the loss insignificant.

Exactly.. and the medical profession reinforces this.  I remember seeing my endocrinologist for the first time.. he told me to lose weight and he doesn't care how I do it.  Two weeks later I went for a follow up after having lost 17 lbs.  I was pretty proud of myself.. 17 lbs in 2 weeks.  He looked at it and said matter of factly  "that's nothing.. it's jus****er".  WATER!  I WORKED tha****er off me!!! 

I think that whether it's water or fat... it NEEDS to be celebrated! I mean think about it!  So, it COULD be "jus****er", but it STILL makes us LOOK Fat! You can gain FAT back- just as easy as water! Who cares what the loss is... as long as it's a LOSS. I'm sure we gain/loose water here and there along the way... but we loose FAT as well- as we move forward... the water comes back on and we are still getting lower/smaller.  I think with most of us it's all workin together I think you are soooo right with the emo thing! If we don't change that part of us... we'll struggle the rest of our lives. BUT... I say CELEBRATE whether it's water OR fat.... we deserve it!!!  We LOST some weight!! We are a little closer to being a healthier person!  

For me, I am afraid to enjoy any loss cuz the scale has let me down more than it has "rewarded" me. The weeks I feel like I did so great, not much "payoff" - in fact I've seen a higher number! I try hard to be able to let the numbers go. They mean some thing, so much in fact, that it is very hard to remove emotion from a reading.  But we must do exactly that. It is what it is. PS I don't see how those water/fat/weight scales can possibly work either.