is it ok not weigh myself if...

[makoto]

it makes me very very upset and possibly triggers very negative self talk?

Hi,

I'm a Canadian student and I had joined ww in early november 2005 (for the second time) mainly because of the core program. I later had to stop because of emotional and financial issues.

I cannot count calories or points or carbs or fat grams without becoming totally obsessive. After my freshman year, I had come to a point where I had gained lots of weight and didn't know how to eat `normally`anymore.
Luckily I discovered hunger scales, which tell you to eat when hungry and stop when satisfied and felt much better by the end of the summer.


To make a long story short, I'm prone to emotional eating especially when I have no routine. The last month has been especially challenging as I've had to travel back and forth between my university town and my hometown for intership interviews (I haven't been in one place longer than 48 hrs at a time). Needless to say my emotional eating has flared up and I'm now ready to get a handle on things.

So I am going back to my university town tomorrow and want to start core tomorrow again. I'm familiar with the program and at the moment I want to do it on my own (mainly because I really cannot weigh myself). I just want to refrain from weighing myself for the next month as I know I've gained a lot of weight in the last month of - let's not hide it - constant overeating and bingeing. I do not think weighing myself at this point would help me, I think it would depress me and hinder my initiave to return to healthy habits.

Right now, weighing myself is not an option. I do not feel ready. I need to first get a handle on things and then do the weighing. Maybe in a month, when I return home (school ends at the end of April).

I also know that my eating patterns are greatly influenced by my exercise habits. The more I exercise the less overeating-emotional eating I do. I'm therefore trying to start running as of tomorrow.

I'm sorry about the long post!!! I just thought I'd share. I hope I do ok, wish me luck. I'm scared

[kally]

Hey fellow Canadian.
Do what you need to do to stay with the program. Just go on eating right and exercising and in time you will be ready to weigh. I know what it feels like.

[katelight]

Hi Makoto, Thanks for sharing and being so honest. That's a hard thing to do and you deserve congratulations and respect for that. Weight Watchers uses the scale because it is the most visable method of tracking one's progress. The scale is only one way of knowing you are losing or gaining weight. How your clothes fit, how you feel in general, what you see in the mirror, and other ways too. Each one of us on these boards use different ways to know if we are on track, some weight once a week at meetings, or at home, some weigh every day, some several times a day, some not at all. You have do to what works for you. If the scale is not something you can face, then by all means don't face it. It 's only a number and really a pretty unimportant number at that if you get right down to it. You will know in how you feel that you are on track. The bottom line for most of us, by following Core, we want to get healthy. Healthy is NOT a number.
Good luck and I hope you will check in here often and share
Take care
Katie

[xoxohart]

Makoto,

Do what feels right to you. The most important part of all this is your health, both physical and emotional. When you know you are taking good care of yourself, everything else will fall into place. Keep us posted, okay?

[makoto]

Thank you both for being so nice. I was a bit scared of people telling me to just go to a meeting and weigh in and get over myself.

your supportive messages really made me feel good. Thank you so much. I've started core today and I'm trying to incorporate exercise too.

I was planning on running for an hour a day, 6 days a week but that is so unrealistic that it made me feel defeated before even starting.

I've now reassed my goal and decided to run for 15 minutes but to do so everyday (or get 1 day off) that way it becomes part of my routine. Like brushing my teeth. In time I can increase the amount slowly.

well I'm going to run off to the library. After all, it's the only reason I left my hometown this morning so I shouldn't procrastinate.

Thanks

[HippoMommy]

Makoto, don't misunderstand me -- I'm not telling you to get over yourself. But I wanted to give you an option in case you want the support of a meeting. You can go and not look at the number on the scale. You can step up at an angle so you can't see the number, you can tell them not to say what it is, and you can have them fold up your book so you don't look. You can even leave your WI book at the center so you CAN'T peek. Also, WW gives members the No Weigh In Pass, so that you don't have to get on the scale more than once a month (and when you do, you can do what I've described above). In other words, if the scale is not something you want to use, you don't have to know what it says in order to go to meetings. Meetings offer so much more than a weigh in -- group support, information, the accountability of seeing your Leader each week, etc. This is valuable way beyond the scale.

I wanted to offer you this information, in case you didn't know. I'm a real believer in meetings, but I do understand the problems the scale can elicit in our minds.

You can use your measurements, clothing fit/size, etc. as another objective "check" on your progress. In fact, I usually recommend that to everyone!

Good luck and welcome to the board.

[makoto]

thanks for all the support,
I didn't see your message before xoxohart, so thanks to you too

HippoMommy, I had no idea it was possible to ask to be weighed only once a month. And I didn't know I could leave my card at the center. How do I go about doing that? because I would like to go to meetings... I just don't want to get know my weight just yet. Also, last time I went I only needed to lose 5 lbs to be at an acceptable weight for WW but they kept pressuring me not to chose my goal just yet even though I kept saying I wanted to learn to maintain... at the end, I was able to make the lady put on my goal on my booklet and sign it.

In any case, how should I go about asking to be weighed once a month or without me looking (like my doctor did it backwards once)?

Do I just say it?

[CoreIsCool]

Just a quick note about beginning running. If this is something you have not done before, even 15 minutes a day may not be realistic yet. I encourage you to try the Couch to 5K running program (you can find it at http://www.coolrunning.com). It's a 9-week program that brings you from not being able to run much at all to being able to run a 5K. That's what I did almost a year ago. When I started, I could only run 60 seconds at a time, then I walked for 5 minutes, ran another 60 seconds, and so on. I repeated a few weeks of the program because it took longer for this sedentary body to do it. I gradually worked up to where I am now - running 45 minutes 3 days a week. (I've been at this level for a few months now - it's about all I can handle with my schedule)

Don't be discouraged if it takes a while to reach your exercise goal. If you want to do something daily without having to work up to it, the Walk Away the Pounds videos by Leslie Sansone are great. She has a variety of distance-equivalence videos - 1-mile up to 5-miles. It's a great way to get some low-impact exercise in on a daily basis and build up the cardio and leg muscles to be able to begin a program like Couch to 5K.

Good luck and happy running!

[HippoMommy]

Makoto, Yes, just go early (at the beginning of the WI time) and ask to speak privately to the Leader for a moment. Explain that the scale messes with your motivation and confidence (or however you want to say it). Ask for what you want (don't tell me the number but only tell me if I'm up or down, or don't tell me anything at all -- no comment like "good!" or anything). Ask them to write it down, fold up your booklet, and put everything away before you turn around. Ask them if you can leave your WI booklet at the center (I can't imagine them saying no, although if you leave it at the center, you won't have it with you if you need to WI at a different center for any reason). If they refuse to hold it for you, then put it directly into your car's trunk (or a pocket in your purse that you'll NEVER open except to remove it and bring it to the scale). You could even ask a friend or household member to hold it for you through the week, so you're not tempted to peek at it.

You just need to speak up and explain what you want.

Congratulations on your commitment to do this for your health and wellbeing. Let us know how it goes!

[katelight]

Hippo, you give such great advise. I know at my meeting all of those things are possible, I just never would have thought of the suggestion.

[HippoMommy]

Thank you, Kate.

[makoto]

Core is cool, thanks for the advice! I was actually running about a year and a half ago and recently ran a few times for about 20 minutes and was ok. (I used to run between 30 and 60 minutes back then). I'm actually going to take it easy this week and not fix an activity goal yet. I just joined back WW and I'm still extremely busy with catching up with school (was basically out of town for a month)

update: I went back to WW on Sunday. I wanted to pick 142 for a goal (is the higher limit) but the lady said I could pick a goal later (she didn't want to put it down for some reason). Anyways, I asked her about weighing me backwards and she was nice and did it. However as she was filling my new member documents, I saw my weight.

It was high, but not as high as I had feared. I could live with it. It actually gave me motivation and didn't trigger negative self talk.

I'm planning to stay a member longer this time than my previous times (5 weeks many years ago, and 2 weeks in October... I know I know.. not exactly great).

So far, I'm doing well on the program. Got out of the overeating circle I was stuck in (well at least so far). Maybe I'll be able to reach the lower end of weight spectrum?

I'm working on integrating the plan into my daily life right now, so sports are on hold (especially because I still haven't done real groceries since I've come back nor cleaned my apartment... I had to give in school work today)...

Hippomommy: I like your last post because it shows assertiveness!!! assertiveness rocks

Anyways, thanks a huge ton for all the support
Makoto

[HippoMommy]

Good job, Makoto! Now keep posting. Many of us find that just posting here and sharing the ups and downs helps us stay positive and focussed.

You can do it!

[sulee]

Brava to you, Makoto, for seeking advice, hearing what people said and then using the advice to help you to work your plan in a way that will help you. I think it takes such bravery to acknowledge our needs. I'm so glad that having seen your weight by accident that it didn't set you off on a negative path, as well.

I've been inspired by your sharing and that of the repliers as well.

Thanks! and GOOD LUCK!!

sulee

[makoto]

thanks everyone

your support has been of real help. I'll try to post often!!