The FastDay Forum

Still can't believe my eyes. I had such a good week and was feeling confident....then I stepped on the scale. No loss??? To my eyes, when I look in the mirror, I look much slimmer thru the middle and my clothes feel loose. What is with the freaking scale? This was week three of 4:3 and I'm down 2 lbs. I did 3 days of boot camp this week. I usually do 3-4 days. Just venting here. I think I'll do 5:2 next week and see what happens. Maybe the scale will be thrown out the window! I'll continue logging my food on MFP to try to figure this out. Sorry for the whine....sigh.

If your clothes feel loose, i wdnt worry..it's a result!
This WOL doesnt work like diets,so dont place all yr faith in the scales
How you feel ( looser clothing) nd what you see ( your slimmer middle!) are proof things are happening for you!
The bootcamp thing may well stop the scales moving downwards coz you tone up and muscles weigh heavier!

Lori, you should read this link from the fasting library!
https://www.fastday.com/fasting/why-the ... the-truth/

https://www.fastday.com/fasting/why-the ... the-truth/

Lori - much empathy, I struggled for a long time with my losses not showing up on the scales because I'm relatively active (tho' my activities are a big less intense than your very impressive 3x bootcamps per week).

Go by your appearance and your clothes, not the scale. I remember seeing photographs of someone who 'lost' 6 lbs in a year but the difference was astonishing. I can't find the photo I usually use but the last set of photographs here is a woman in the same top, at same weight, 2 years apart and it's a striking example of what happens when people have such improvements to their fitness - and with what you say about your clothes, I wonder if this is true of you, too?
http://eatmore2weighless.com/could-this ... -be-right/

ETA: I didn't do this so feel as if I can't hand out the advice - but taking photographs on a weekly/monthly basis is a much better way of tracking your changes than the scale. Aiming for same time of day, clothes, lighting conditions etc. so there's a good comparison. Front, back, and from the sides. (It has to be said that I loathe photographs so we have very few.)

[Tracieknits]

It's called a non-scale victory, and isn't it wonderful to have your clothes fitting more loosely?

Scales are an approximation. A bathroom scale in your house is simply not going to be accurate. They are considered "accurate" if they come within a pound of your actual weight. Also, if your scale is older, it's less likely to be "accurate". Someone once told me modern digital scales are programmed to give you the same weight if you step on, step off and step back on to give the illusion of accuracy, but I've never seen that anywhere else. It does seem to happen though. Also, the more you weigh, the less accurate the scale will be - i.e. it's closer to accurate on a 120 pound person than on a 250 pound person.

The important thing is to not fret too much about the scale. I weigh every day, but I look for trends and monthly averages. Weight on any given day can spike due to all sorts of things like water retention (for me, that's from hormones, too much salt or too much alcohol).

Thanks everyone! I know in my heart that the scale is just an evil liar, but there it sits tempting me to step on each week! I'm going to stay the course and let the pounds fall where they may! I'm all for those non-scale victories! Next week may be a 5:2 week because I have several Holiday dinners to attend. I may just forget about the scale till the first of the year. Why torture myself?

Thanks again and have a lovely weekend!

[Tracieknits]

Well the reason I plan to keep torturing *myself* is because when I don't weigh myself daily, I gain weight. If the numbers are unflattering, I will have 1 glass of champagne, not 4. I will have two cookies, not 12. I *might* choose to not weigh the week from Christmas Eve through New Year's Eve, but only so that on New Year's day I can see a horrid number on the scale and easily recommit to fasting. Well that's what I did last year, and I was really, really well behaved in January. But not weighing the rest of the month? I could easily gain 10 pounds doing that.

I know Tracie.......that's the thing that worries me. Not sure I'll stick to my guns. I'll just have to know what's going on.........whether I like the number or not! Have a great Holiday season!

[carieoates]

Keep plugging away dear, great advice already given......loose clothes a dead giveaway.
I'm also an exerciser 4-5 classes a week. Loss has been slow but I've no saggy bits and toned very nicely. Measurements on day one are a must so if you haven't done it yet.......GO DO IT NOW. Yes?

Well, I know that the weighing decision (how often, etc) is a very personal one, but it seems that my choice to limit weighing to once a month (I have a reminder on my Google calendar and it emails me on my weigh-in day, first Friday of the month) is working for me. I keep the scale hidden the rest of the time. I don't want to obsess about the numbers and know that weight is something that varies daily. I am dedicated to 5:2 being my permanent WOL and to do that, I need to have it all be as "normal" as possible (I hardly weighed at all prior to 5:2; had given up on losing weight, too many failures), which means minimal weigh-ins. Weighing weekly at first made me feel a little obsessive about the numbers and focusing on that, not on integrating this WOL into my lifestyle. For more about this perspective, see my blog. And despite a 2-month plateau (which I just broke through), I've been successful at keeping my light days and 5:2ing as a normal part of my life.

Maybe use a tape measure instead of or in addition to scales? Waist measurement is a better indicator of health anyway.

[janeg]

janeg's mantra "the tape measure is your friend"
I lose very slowly but have lost lots in millimetres. 200g lost since October BUT 30mm off the waist. Now , THAT keeps me going

Just a little patience on my part was needed. The scale finally caught up with what I was seeing in the mirror and the way I was feeling. Weighed this morning(exactly 3 weeks from when I started) and I'm down a total of 4.5 lbs. So.....I'm ahead of the curve, right? I was glad to see it as I had a bit of a rough fast day yesterday and not a great night of sleep(hungry much?)

Thanks for all your supportive comments. You all are awesome!

[wildmissus]

Hi Lori, I have a personal theory. I've been fasting for almost 2 years and the first year I lost lots of weight. This year I haven't lost much weight at all but I have lost body fat. My theory it that our bodies take a long long time to catch up with the weight loss. I wish I had measured and taken photos but I didn't, but I do know that I am fitting into smaller clothes. Unfortunately I don't think I have reduced the number of fat cells I have just that they have reduced in size which means that they are all still there waiting to be filled up if I lapse!

if your scale is older, it's less likely to be "accurate". Someone once told me modern digital scales are programmed to give you the same weight if you step on, step off and step back on to give the illusion of accuracy, but I've never seen that anywhere else .

This is definitely true of my digital scales. I weigh myself twice every morning - first while holding a 2lb weight, then without it. The 2lb difference is enough to 'reset' the scale - otherwise it displays the same weight it gave the previous day. And its not old, and it wasn't dirt-cheap! If your digital scale returns exactly the same weight as when you last used it (a day, a week, or a month previously) try a 2nd weighing, stepping on it while holding the cat or baby / wearing your dressing gown / carrying anything that weighs a couple of pounds or more. Then do a 3rd weighing without cat/baby/etc immediately afterwards. If the first & 3rd weights are different then you have a scale like mine & need to keep a 2lb weight close to the scales and weigh twice each time (the first time with the heavy thing!), to fool it into thinking its got a different person on it and get it to give today's real weight, not yesterday's in an attempt to look accurate!

No, I am not joking!