Compulsive weighing

(Michel Labelle) #41

For the compulsive Weighers… I have a suggestion. Weigh all your food.

I helped a friend lately. They (sticking with gender-neutral for this post) where a compulsive weigher. They did it upto 2-3 times per day (seriously, they snuck into our medical room and used the scale there). So I challenged them to weigh ALL the food they were eating. Nothing special with that idea, but they had to put it in MyFitnessPal or some other tracker and sum the total weight of food per day.

They came back about a week later, confused… on days when they ate 1-2 lbs of food, they could be up or down by 2-3+/- lbs the next day with no correlation to the food they seemingly ate. The scale was broken for them, it no longer reflected what they thought it meant. It was only after they had this realization that they got the point that what you are weighing on a daily basis is the WATER we are consuming not the food and that most of our Keto food, is VERY heavy with water.

You can’t put on or lose 3-4 lbs of fat one day to the next, but you can easily injest/excrete that much water.

They were totally broken of their weighing habit within 3 weeks, except, to understand how certain foods got them to retain, or excrete water. It was no longer about body fat, as the math didn’t work. From that point, the scale represented a view as to how much water they were consuming and no longer represented the food, or their relative health.

Hope that helps anyone that finds their scale is driving them. Remember that scale weight is just another form of CI/CO, and we all know that method is broken. As you lose water weight, you will probably/hopefully be putting on more protein/muscle and bone density thus, ask yourself is your target weight or body composition? The scale just doesn’t tell us anything about body composition, but measuring, before/after photos and our clothes will, but only with an element of time > 1 day/week.

#42

I frequently weigh myself both before and after doing outdoor exercise on a warm/hot day. I’ve recently gone out for several hours on evenings where the starting temp is 102 F. If I manage to keep my post-workout weight close to my pre-workout weight, then I know that my hydration efforts were successful.

Another water weight related consideration is salt intake. I’ve found that on days when my salt intake is pretty high, my weight also goes up due to water retention.

(Ron) #43

@KevinB
I hear that temps are going to hit teen highs so just wanted to wish you safe travels in your hikes in this heat.:worried::wink:

#44

When I first started 8 weeks ago, I was checking the scale every 4 or 5 days, just to see what was happening. But after I reached a month, I started just weighing every Sunday Morning.

@KevinB This is what I was thinking too. I wasn’t sure if all the salt I’m not using would cause this? … I actually stopped using salt & pepper 10 years ago? Just would rather taste the food. But now I’m making an effort to put it back in since it’s needed for this WOE.

#45

In the course of reading this book…

https://www.amazon.com/Salt-Fix-Experts-Wrong-Eating-ebook/dp/B01GBAJR9C

…I increased my salt intake to DiNicolantonio’s recommendations. My weight went up by several pounds. I kept an eye on my blood pressure as well - it may have gone up slightly, but it wasn’t enough to worry about.

When I get back from my hot weather hikes, I see that I’ve sweated out a lot of salt and other electrolytes. There are visible salt stains on my clothing. It’s definitely worth it to make sure you get adequate electrolytes in your diet; there have been a few times (a good while ago) when I’ve experienced cramping which was probably due to low electrolytes.

#46

Honestly, I never thought about any of this stuff, until I learned about this WOE and starting reading up on all of it. But I’ve always drank a lot of fluids, especially when working all day and sweating profusely. Before all this, my simple thinking was water in, water out.

(Lonnie Hedley) #47

If I think I’m about to drop a monster, I’ll do this too. If I remember correctly, the biggest ever was 1 lb. It was a beautiful brown baby boy. :poop:

#48

I think that works when your diet includes a lot of processed foods. Prior to keto, I know I was getting more than adequate salt without worrying about it. A handful (or two or three…) of pretzels, chips, or crackers, and I was set.

Iodine is something else to look at, especially if you use a less refined (and non-iodized) salt. Himalayan pink salt or Redmond Real Salt - both of which I use - do contain some iodine, but only in trace amounts. It might not be enough to meet your iodine needs.

#49

You’re probably right there.

And yes, I presently use iodized salt, and have Sea Salt as well. Have heard a lot of mention of the Himalayan Pink Salt, but never tried it before. … But I’m quickly learning.

(Empress of the Unexpected) #50

Good reminder. I’ve used sea salt for four years, and when I try regular iodized salt, the taste and texture is just not the same. But I do think part of my salt intake should be iodized just as insurance.

#51

I second (or third?) the suggestion to use a measuring tape instead of a scale. It’s less “loaded” with baggage. The numbers don’t have as much of an effect. I’ve also heard the suggestion to only record new lows and ignore the rest, but of course this won’t help if you’re trying to maintain or reverse an upward trend.

Another idea: mentally rounding the number to the nearest 5-pound mark. Then there’s less attention on tiny fluctuations and more of an eye to the long-term picture. For kg, maybe every 2 or 3?

(Trudy) #52

Thank you all for your suggestions. I have made my scales less accessible and will weigh weekly. When I posted my question I had been three weeks with no weight loss, this week (no daily weighing) I have dropped 2.2kg. A watched kettle never boils my grandma used to say. I agree that the increase in cortisol from stressing about the scale numbers may have been an issues as well.

Love this forum and the support!