Help! I let the scale have control

[Jennmari]

Hi all,

 

I'm feeling some frustration right now.  So far on the program I've been feeling pretty darn good   I like the food and I feel like I'm a more calm and happy person since I've started (I'm 13 days in). 

 

And then I did the worst thing I could have possibly done.  I hopped on the scale.  I've struggled with food and have been chubby/dieting since I was about 8 years old.  And I told myself that I wasn't going to let the number bother me; probably because I FEEL like I have lost weight and expected to see that.  I gained a pound   I've really only been able to lose weight in the past by counting calories and feeling hungry.  I'm looking for a better way! 

 

So now after feeling so good, I feel disappointed, like weight loss will never happen for me...

 

Has anyone else been through this?  Any words of advice?

 

Thank you,

 

J

[JustAMom]

You are a happier, healthier, calmer food satisfied person and that's worth much more than a pound.

(((hugs)))

Just stick it out. What it is now, doesn't mean that's what it will be in another 2 weeks. You aren't doing this for today. You are doing it so you have a better tomorrow.

And if it matters, with my first W30 I didn't lose a ton of weight. I lost inches starting the mid second and third week. I lost more inches with 10 pounds of W30 than I did when I lost 20-25 lbs before I started W30. It's possible you are losing more than pounds.

This time I have not lost anything so far. (day 10 here) but I do feel better overall and it's worth a lot to feel healthy. So I'm sticking it out for that reason alone.

Have you tried going for walks? What do you do when you feel down? Physical activity is a great therapy for me. It sounds stupid, but I really feel so much better afterwards. Even if I can only manage 5-15 minutes before a kid needs my attention.

Hang in there!

[GFChris]

You're not even halfway through your Whole30 yet.  You're not going to reverse a lifetime of eating habits in 13 days. 

Read this article and hide your scale until you're done with your Whole30: http://everydaypaleo.com/attention-scale-addicts-part-2/
 

One day at a time toward a new, better relationship with food and your scale. 

[Vian]

I went paleo + dairy for 2 months at the beginning of this year (basically whole30 with a tiny bit of honey/molasses in certain recipes and dairy) and lost 15 pounds. Before that, I'd lost 40 pounds through eating a healthy "conventional" diet and counting calories and exercising. After the first 40 pounds, I didn't really feel like I looked much thinner, my clothes were a little looser, but my body composition was pretty much the same, I still felt fat. After the 15 pounds lost on paleo, I felt slimmer, I could see the change in the mirror, my stomach wasn't as bloated, and my clothes were a lot looser. There was a MUCH bigger change in body composition with 15 pounds lost eating paleo, than there was from 40 pounds lost eating conventionally.

 

Give it time. Are you working out? Maybe you are losing fat and gaining muscle? See if you are losing inches. Take progress pictures to see if your body composition is changing (looking thinner without necessarily losing weight)

 

Also keep in mind that weight can fluctuate up to 10 pounds in a single day based on how recently you ate, drank, or went to the bathroom. When I weigh myself, I only do it very first thing in the morning before I have eaten or drank anything, before showering, after I've gone to the bathroom, and while naked. That's the best way to get the most accurate weight.

 

That said, I agree with GFChris. Read the article and ditch the scale for good! It's not worth it to have such an unhealthy relationship with an arbitrary number that doesn't take into account all the other healthy changes taking place in your body.

[Physibeth]

You have gotten lots of great advice and I will echo it! I only lost about 3 lbs on my W30 but I also went down almost 4 inches! I had more people ask me at the gym what I had been doing because I was looking so much trimmer in that 30 days then I had in the previous 2 years losing 40+ lbs. Trust the program! Your weight is just a relationship with gravity at a certain instance of time. Take your measurements and keep track of other emotional and physical changes. These are the super wins of the program! BMI is crap. I'd rather be low body fat and high on the BMI scale then the opposite. 

[annabel]

Remember how great you felt before you weighed yourself.  Don't let the scale derail the rest of the W30. 

 

Carry on eating what you have been eating, don't make any drastic adjustments to your meals because the scale isn't telling you what you want to hear.

[Jennmari]

Thank you all so much for the kind, positive and motivating words!!!  I really needed to hear them

 

I feel motivated to hear that body composition changes aren't necessarily reflected on the scale.  I guess I learned a hard lesson today.  The feeling I had after stepping on that scale just made me want to give up and that's surely the reason the programs tells us to stay off it!!  All the good I felt seemed to be negated in an instant.

 

And GFChris, I really like this!

One day at a time toward a new, better relationship with food and your scale. 

I think it needs to be my new motto   

 

Thank you all for sharing!

[jaydee]

Jennmarie, I came to the forum today looking for just this topic! I have resisted weighing myself after jumping on the scale the second (!) day. I'm going on day 6 of my first W30 and just needed a little encouragement not to get on the scale and found just what I needed here. So thanks to you and the other forum members.

[AmyS]

Also, one pound is exactly nothing.  Completely meaningless, unless you're doing weight class athletics and you have to weigh in tonight to be eligible to box at tomorrow night's fights.