Are You Friends With Your Scale? How Often Do You Visit?

The best fat indicator is neither a scale nor any electronic device. A mirror will accurately show you the amount of fat and where it'
s located.

Generally true. However, a mirror will not accurately tell you how much of the fat around your middle is visceral fat (the hard, dangerous kind).
 

I get along fine with my scale. It lets me know when I have eaten too many goodies
and when I need to get back to walking and exercising. I only step on the scale every couple
of weeks and then I know if I have been overdoing the sweet treats. :)
 
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I'm not exactly friends with my scale but I'm glad I have one. I weigh myself every morning and I still need to lose weight but if I didn't have it, I would probably be a lot heavier!!
 
The scales and I are bitter enemies-as a matter of fact we hate each other and I've hidden the scales from myself!
(Now where is that last slice of the Marzipan cake?)
:coffeelaugh:
 
I'm friends with my scale and weigh myself weekly. I find if I don't both weigh myself regularly and count calories, I don't maintain, I gain and I'm already far too heavy. This cannot be blamed on my scale but on my sweet tooth and lack of will power. So yes, it is a useful tool and I appreciate its honesty. I lost 30 pounds this summer that no one thought I could.

Guess I'm a bit compulsive about this. Try to weigh every morning, but it has to be under the exact same conditions. Drink a couple of cups of coffee first, or get fully dressed---too late. Trying to get a handle on how many calories it takes to maintain, not gain. Trial and error. The errors are more fun.

If you track calories, this is quite easy to figure out and you might be surprised at how much you can eat. (I am. I expected my maintenance to be some 500 calories a day less than it is, at least.) Basically, each pound equals 3500 calories. So weigh yourself and start counting those calories. I go one week then weigh myself again. If you lost weight, add 3500 calories for every pound lost and divide by 7 or however many days you used and you have your maintenance allotment. If you gained (shudder), subtract the 3500 per pound and likewise divide by 7. If you did neither, well, you hit your ideal so just divide by 7. I would use at least a week to measure this. It cannot be done accurately day by day as there are things like water weight fluctuations, etc.

It's important to know that the heavier you are the more calories it takes to do something like walk, especially uphill or upstairs. You're fighting gravity to exercise. So as I lose weight, the maintenance allotment will go down and it has actually dropped a little after losing the 30 pounds this summer. Keep keeping track until you've been on maintenance enough to know what it is for you. I've been doing this so long with unerring accuracy that I plan to keep the habit when I do reach my weight goals. I have degenerative bone disease for one thing and am expected to eventually wind up in a wheelchair so there will always be things that can change it.
 

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