weigh in - during loss vs during maint?

Hi folks -  I've never been a big 'get on the scale to see how much I weigh' type gal at all - even with my surgery.  I'm all about the size of the clothes, the way I look and feel vs the number on the scale.   Now that I'm at goal tho, I'm a bit paranoid that I may gain back and not notice it till I'm 'fat' again.   I'll be a year next week ~~ YEA FOR ME ~~ and do find a few bad things slipping back into my diet.

Out of curiosity - how many of you changed the way / day / times / etc about how you weigh in once you reached your goal weight?     Do you still do it the same ie: once a day, once a week or whatever you did before?    When do you address any weight you may gain back?   Do you consider your daily / monthly history of past time or do you jump on a pound like it is a rattlesnake you want to kill?

Thanks~

 Hi Robin,

I weighed almost daily before goal and have almost daily after.  I'm really not obsessive about it but want to remain vigilant in making sure there are no surprises.  My goal was 153 which I hit at 10 months.  I got down to 146 for 5 minutes and have bounced between 153 and 157 for the last 6 months.  Admittedly, I haven't been too careful with my eating and I rarely exercise  BUT I am mindful of everything I put in my mouth and feel that with a bit of an effort, I can get back down to under 150 fairly easily.   I just have to get in the right frame of mind to star****ching it again, but I don't want to go over 157! For the record, I'm almost 5'8" and wear 6's and 8's and have lost 100 lbs.

Well, I probably weigh myself every couple of days or so.  I used to weigh every day but found I was driving myself crazy.  I do take measurements every so often as well and I also try on my snuggest jeans every week.  All of these things combined have kept me on track for a good while now.  I'm 2 years and 4 months out now. I am and always have been an avid exerciser for many many years and I think this also makes things easier.   I've not seen any regain yet, just daily fluctuations of a pound up and down.  But if I did start seeing a regain (more than 2 lbs), you can bet your bippy I'd be all over it in a heartbeat.  So far so good...

Laura

There's a saying (not sure if I'm quoting right) "if you always do what you've always done then you'll always get what you always got"

I spent many an obese year not being a "get on the scale to see how much I weigh" type of gal and low and behold those FEW times when I did BAM somehow I "found" 20 extra pounds.

Not to say it can't happen if you weigh daily becasue recently I got on the scale and saw myself gain 5, 10 then 20lbs BEFORE I decided enough was enough.

Getting on the scale KEEPS me in control.

I think you'll find we're all over the place on this one...so you have to figure out what works for YOU! I am a daily weigher because, like Ms. Shell, if I don't weigh, I lose my focus and pounds do creep back on. But I don't freak out if I see the scale go up a pound or two, as long as they come back off in the next week or so. Whatever works and helps you keep your head in the game!

Lizanne

I'm on the same page as Lizanne and Ms. Shell... Daily weigh-ins. I don't beat myself up but adjust accordingly.

I did not weigh myself for years before surgery.  Since surgery I hop on the scale every single morning no matter what else is going on in my life.  It keeps me honest with myself and I know that if I am overdoing the food, I will have to get on the scale tomorrow morning and face the music.  I will also post it on the weigh in thread.  I do this in order to avoid being an ostrich.  I keep myself in the between 103-105 lbs. and if the scale goes higher than this, I am on it in a heartbeat.  I find it much easier to lose one to two pounds in a week rather than deal with a five to ten pound regain.  This works for me.

We are all in the process of finding the maintenance routine that works for each of us. And believe me it is a process. One size does not fit all.

I still weigh every day i am home (once in awhile forget) and record it in my food journal along with all my food. just a little notebook with messy notes. The only difference from weight loss phase is about 600 more calories a day and carbs of 60 instead of 30. Frankly, I am afraid to stop doing this as i fear I will just slide into old habits. And this has become second nature to me and is not a burden in any way. Before wls I used to close my eyes at the doctor to be weighed and told them not to tell me. too depressing. So i feel like i have to stay on top of this.

I have also set maintenance goals such as being below 125 at 6 months after reaching goal and again one year after reaching goal. Having these milestones is a feelgood thing like getting below 200 lbs or fitting into a non X size. For me I think it helps to have some goals and keeps me paying attention to this. I have a slow metabolic rate so i probably will always have to eat really carefully but I feel like I can do it with a little help from my friend the sleeve. Spent nearly my entire life overweight to one degree or another and really am motivated to keep it off.

So keep reading this forum and find the different maintenance tactics we all use. My sugeon gave me a 50 page manual on weight loss phase but there was very little on maintenance other than increase calories by 100 every couple of weeks and see how it goes.

I do get kind of weired out when i am up a pound or two and know i have not eaten an extra 3500 calories. So ihave learned its water and whatever and just to not get too excited about it so long as i observe my new eating habits. Make sense?

Congrats on reaching your goal and share with us what you learn on maintenance.

Diane

during weight loss whenever I hit a stall I stopped weighing, that seemed to be a good idea. as I result I have no idea how many stalls I had or how long they lasted.

once I got to goal I actually weighted more regularly - afraid of regain - but have recently decided I wasn't best served by this and have stopped weighing for Cindy's 30 day challenge. I think my weight stayed at goal for a long period where my measurements were changing and not for the better.

on the whole, I think avoid elastic waist pants and go by your jeans. after the challenge I may weight about once a week.

I weigh every morning. It's dangerous for me to not weigh every single day. I feel like I need to know
exactly what I weigh so I can make whatever adjustments I need to make.

During the time between my birthday at the end of Oct. and until the New Year, I weighed myself
every day but still managed to gain 8 lbs in 8 weeks. I just could not seem to find any willpower.
It took 4 months to take it off, so now I am really trying to get sugar completely out of my life,
no matter what I weigh that morning.