I feel like screaming!

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I feel like screaming!

Postby grannylut » Thu Apr 30, 2015 1:04 pm

I began back on MWL last Thursday I was in my daughters house and weighed myself on her digital scale. I have a terrible habit of weighing myself constantly at home so decided I would only weigh in here once a week. I have felt really good about my program and was sure I saw a difference in my clothes. I couldn't wait to get here. I got on the scale and discovered I GAINED 2 lbs!!!!!!

My first instinct was to go eat some bagels. That is my usual way of handling things. Then I started playing the mind game of whether to go back on low carb. I am happy to report I did neither. Has this happened to others?
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Mike » Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:34 pm

Yes, it has happened to me - some days up and some days down, but overall down. I just stuck with it faithfully, and so far it's working. Good luck!
Mike

Start: 13 Dec 2014, 126.9 kg
Target: XX XXX 2015/6, 73.1 kg (BMI = 21.75)
Current: 104.8 kg
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Gweithgar » Fri May 01, 2015 7:04 am

Oh, yeah! Congratulations on not going for the bagels! What kind of scale does your daughter have? Because scales are funny things and can vary quite a lot. I have a pretty good electronic scale and it said I lost 11 pounds over the past couple of months. When I got to my doctor's office last week, her scale said I had actually lost 13 pounds! I like having a number to think about, but I tend to go more by how my face looks, how my clothes fit, and how I feel. Those two pounds you noticed is probably water retention, and they will be gone next week, and will probably take another pound or so with them. :-D
Cet animal est tres mechant; quand on l'attaque, il se defend
(This animal is very wicked; if attacked it defends itself)
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby frozenveg » Fri May 01, 2015 8:06 am

Scales can throw anyone for a loop! And weighing in at someone else's house means a slight variation in time of day, routine, clothing choice (unless you stripped down for both weigh-ins at your DD's house! :lol: ), and "intake so far today," all of which can make a .5 to 6-pound difference!

Even at home, I only "count" my morning weigh-ins that take place between 4:15 am and 5:15 am--my normal routine on weekdays. Anything after that, I note but do not pay attention to for good or for ill. (I tend to weigh less in the am if I sleep in till 6 or 7--and then I'm disappointed on Monday at 4:20 am when I've "gained"--but I know better.) I wear the same weight of nightgown, or my workout clothes, all of which weigh almost exactly a pound.

I don't know if this idea appeals to you, but I view weighing myself as a part of scientific observation (which is why I can tell you all the facts in my paragraphs above!), and I have managed to detach the emotion from the weight number. I sometimes record my weight daily, and then I go back to recording it once a week on the same day. I don't really even trust myself to draw any conclusions from the number that shows up (such as, "Ooh, I lost a half a pound! I guess that glass of wine yesterday didn't do any harm!"--or, "Up 2.2 pounds! It must have been that I ate too much rice yesterday."). Those kinds of inner conversations just serve to lie to myself! What really indicates success--or mistakes--is the long term.

I have been recording my weight since I started McDougalling about 5 1/2 years ago, and sometimes it was a daily weight, and most times it was weekly on the same day. It is great data to have, and interesting to look back on. It also keeps under control the urge to despair at small losses or gains of any kind. You can weigh yourself as many times a day as you want, but only the first one counts! Give yourself something to DO with the weight number, and write it down and then forget until the next time to record. Even if you do weigh yourself more often, look at it as gathering data, rather than as a judgement upon your performance!

And then in another thread I saw this morning, someone gave the idea of "not breaking the chain". They suggested that you get a calendar with a whole year on it, and mark each fully-compliant day with an "X"--and then after lots of fully compliant days, you have a nice chain to look at, and you'll be motivated not to break the chain! That sounds like fun.

And don't let the bagels call to you! Stay with MWL--it is your friend! And we are, too. We are all rooting for you!!! :nod:
5'3", 74 YO. Started Jan. 11, 2010
Starting weight: 222.6
Current weight: 148.2.0


Success Story:
https://www.drmcdougall.com/articles/st ... -rockwell/
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Katydid » Fri May 01, 2015 8:16 am

I agree with frozenveg that a weighing routine is important. Particularly if you allow a single data point on a scale effect your mood. I weigh myself naked every morning after voiding on the same scale I've used for years. The information is just data. If my weight is up consistently, I know I have to cut back on processed foods like pasta and rice cakes until it goes down again. In the winter it might also mean getting off my butt and hitting the treadmill. :D I'm one of those person's with a very slow metabolism and I will gain weight even on MWL if I allow myself to sit around. The scale isn't your enemy any more than your body is. It's just data. It doesn't make you good or bad.
Kate
This diet can save your life - it saved mine! Read my story at:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/stars/cathy_stewart.htm
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby roundcoconut » Fri May 01, 2015 11:02 am

OMG, doesn't every American female know that you don't *ever* weigh yourself except:

- at home
- first thing in the morning
- on any empty stomach
- after peeing
- completely naked
- without your watch, without any bobbypins or hair ties in your hair, and without your glasses

Isn't this how we all were taught? :)

I'm slightly joking, because it's obvious I was raised around people with massively screwed up notions about the number on the scale! The "ritualistic weighing" of the modern American female!
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Mayflowers » Fri May 01, 2015 12:29 pm

I know how you feel. I had to give up grains due to a grass allergy. I see bagels at work constantly. So big and soft... :(
If I cheat and eat wheat one day, I'll gain a pound that week. If I exercise a LOT, I will stay the same that week. Of course being 58 soon to be 59 this month, is not helping. I'll eat some things I make from almond flour but you know how fattening that can be so i have to limit it a lot. I'm trying to find a balance of eating and exercise..
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Trish » Sat May 02, 2015 6:51 am

Oh, grannyhit, I GET it, boy do I get it... that was my mode of operation.. having a PLAN for how weight loss was going to go, having a history of unhealthy restriction that would allow me to lost 5lbs in a week (ha.. not really.. just a fasted state, and not healthy) and weighing compulsively. Nothing happened overall, nothing... and now it is coming pretty regularly, the loss.

frozenveg makes a really important point, select a weighing schedule and place and time. Mine has been at the gym, IN my gym shoes, consistently. Same clothing.. same place. *I* too, like roundcoconut, was raised in a family incubator for eating disorders, and developed one, which is today, resolved as far as medical danger/anorexia, BUT I never learned quile "how" to eat, just how to overeat and not eat. So the journey continues.

So choose a time and place to weigh. Use the weight loss tracker we use here to keep a record, weekly might be best for a frequency. It's fun, and visual, and keeps a chart and record along the tracker you create, and posts on the bottom of the posts here http://www.tickerfactory.com/weight-loss

Keep track of days you have kept to your plans and the program, MORE than your weight' -- that adds up to keeping track of what you DO have control over -- how your choose to eat -- instead of what you don't have control over -- how quickly or if you lose. It really makes a difference, and the way of eating does work.

Ask for help, if you want help looking over your eating habits as of right now, ask.. we are all here with similar learning going on.

Let the weight loss come as a SIDE effect, keep your attention on habits and develop reliable habits for eating this way under many different conditions. Habits work. For life... make this the last time you need to really lose and plan on the satisfaction of staying in the weight range you choose to.

Thanks for posting.. hang in there.. congrats on the non-bagel eating.. boy have I been there, and I have been QUITE successful at maintaining or gaining, by eating AT my weight and getting mad all over again when it keeps going up. :duh: !!
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby Trish » Sat May 02, 2015 6:55 am

Oh, and one more idea... :!: :idea: Be sure that your plate has proportions, they need to be at least half veggies, and half starch. I lost more, when I eat more veggies rather than just the half plate of starch. You can take it to 2/3 veggies and 1/3 starch but McDougall in his book, MWL (do you have that book??) says that this is a rapid approach and so risks hunger rather than satisfaction, which comes from the starches.
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby grannylut » Sat May 02, 2015 9:53 am

I just posted a reoply but it didn't post. I wanted to thank everyone for their help. I realize (thanks Trisha) that I have not been eating vegetables - only starches. I know better but I need to retread the book and not depend on my memory.

I should also mention that I went for an MRI this week and I have a torn meniscus and bad arthritis in my knee. I am going to the doctor on Thursday to find out my options. Lack of exercise is not helping.

Thanks again to everyone.
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby judyb108 » Wed Jun 03, 2015 8:09 am

I feel your pain. I am from the old school where you don't eat 'BREAD". Bread makes you fat. People I know, who are still meat eaters, cut out bread and lose weight. Now I am told to eat bread, and potatoes. :duh:
I won't let them weigh me a Curves, because it is after breakfast, and I know I will weigh more. I am going to try to cut weighing back to once a week. But I just feel if I keep up with it, I might eat better. I jump up and down about 3 pounds. Drives me nuts. :eek:
I am going to try to ignore all my past learning. (I am 74) and do what the book says and see just what happens. BTW, I usually weigh in the AM after I go to the bathroom and before I swallow ANYthing.
Take care, Good luck.

We will scream together.
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby skane9041 » Sat Jun 06, 2015 2:57 pm

frozenveg wrote:I don't know if this idea appeals to you, but I view weighing myself as a part of scientific observation


I have very recently started looking at weighing myself with this mindset. I find it very liberating, separating my feelings about if I have been "good" or "bad" and changing it more to a cause/effect.......I have been eating in a certain way and this is what the scale does.

Katydid wrote:I The scale isn't your enemy any more than your body is. It's just data. It doesn't make you good or bad.
Kate


So true.
Sandi
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"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."...Leo Tolstoy
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Re: I feel like screaming!

Postby ccooke86 » Tue Jun 09, 2015 1:53 pm

I have been feeling like screaming too!! I have done this before and lost all my weight. I gradually went back to the sad diet and have gained weight. Now I'm doing this again and I'm still gaining. Trying to figure out what I did before that I'm doing wrong this time. I'm rereading the books to refresh my mind. Hopefully the weight starts dropping off.
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