To scale or not to scale

I have NEVER owned a scale. I am not sure if that was a good thing or not. So now I am wondering if I should buy one. The reason I am contemplating it is because I don't want to be discouraged when I don't see the numbers go down, or the scale doesn't move as fast as I think it should. I want to concentrate on my health, not my weight. Does that make sense?? But the downside could be that if I hit a stall and am not aware of it, I won't know to change up my exercise/diet regimen. Now I am a member at the local YMCA. They have scales inn the locker room. I could only use the ones there.
What are your thoughts???

I personally need a scale because when I was gaining weight I didn't own one & my thoughts were, "what I don't know wont hurt me".
I just lost 5 pounds this week after being on a long stall. I had been seeing the numbers go down a little everyday so that was nice to see but now I plan to stay away from the scale for at least 3-4 days because if I see my weight fluctuate, I also tend to get discouraged. It's a double edge sword really.
You haven't been sleeved yet so I don't know if you feel it's necessary to get one right now. Stalls are frustrating to see but it also helps us see what is going on with our weight loss during this journey.
Good luck!

Thanks for your input Jenn. I feel that if I had owned one, I may not have gotten so heavy (I gained 80lbs in 5 years). I will wait a bit before purchasing one. And when I do purchase it, I will try to limit my weighing in to 1x per week. I think I will go buy a tape measure today instead!! BTW, you are beautiful!! When I make it back to Cali I will have to meet up with you and Allison and the rest of the SoCal group!!

 Buy one.  Before surgery.

This is on of those topics that everyone has their own opinion on.  Its very personal.  In my surgery center they want us to weigh every day, a lot of others only want you to weigh once a week.  I haven't heard of one that doesn't want you to weigh at all.

The idea is to build the habits for accountability early.  Weighing and tracking is like measuring and logging our food.  You can't control what you don't measure.  Mental controls and tracking always tend to get sloppy.

You have to learn to use the scale correctly.  This can be hard for many of us, myself included.  You need to weigh, log it, check the trend, then forget it.  In weight loss you want to see the trend be downward.  In maintenance you want to see a flat trend.  Anything else indicates a problem you need to fix.  Its hard to not obsess over it sometimes.

If you are a person like me, there is no way I could only weigh once a week.  It would KILL me.  Other people, it destroys them to see the number every day so they only weigh once a week.  This is where its personal - you have to strike a balance between being accountable and your personality.

The mechanics of weighing also push me towards weighing at home.  The best weight to use is first thing in the morning after going to the bathroom.  Its also best to weigh nude.  If you weigh in the middle of the day before or after working out, you will be holding some water weight, possibly food and waste weight, or even be dehydrated from your workout.  Keep in mind that 32 ounces of water weights 2 lbs.  If I weigh in the evening my weight can be 4 or 5 pounds heavier than in the morning - just because of my fluids.

Again, since what you are looking for is a trend - you want to be sure that you set up a pattern where you do it at the same time, in the same way 99% of the time.  Having your own equipment in your own place makes that a snap.

I definitely felt/feel the need for a scale.  It does help to keep me on track, but more importantly it helps reassure me.  I chart my weight daily on fitday.com.  There have been times when I felt I hadn't lost even a single ounce over several weeks a time.  When I went back and looked at my previous entries, I would see that I had actually lost 5 lbs or so.  I just love that daily affirmation of how far I've come....but that may just be me :)

Go for the scale.  It will help keep you on track, but don't become a slave to it.  I think we all have to learn what our bodies will do after WLS, and it's not always what we want.  Just get back up, dust you and your scale off, and weigh again another day.

I cant live without my scale! It helps keep me on check  Are you on on My Fitness Pal? That helps keep me in check too, lol.

I weigh every single day. I do it so that my mind is at rest and I'm not wondering constantly.

BUT you have to be willing to remember that your weight will fluctuate. Mine goes up and down by a few pounds sometimes (recently, I saw a 6 pound and then 2 pound gain over the course of 2 days after a day surgery - it's back on the down trend again, just a temporary gain from the surgery stuff).

If you are going to make yourself crazy, then have a loved one hide it from you or use another scale once per week.

Thank you all for your replys. I guess I will be scale shopping. LOL. And yes..Rhearob...I am numbers driven. I will just have to train myself not to fixate on the numbers themselves, but the trends.