A brand-spankin'-new Fry's Electronics opened up in town last weekend so we decided to stuff the kids into the car and go check it out. While there we wandered the small home appliance aisle where we discovered the digital scales. Something clicked as I remembered the Drs Heller recommending a digital scale that measures within the half-pound in their book, so we put the cheapest one in our basket (although cheap is relative -- the bugger still cost nearly $30!).

After we got home and got the kids settled in for lunch I decided to pull it out of the box and see how it worked.

Apparently, our old standard scale has been lying to me for the past few months. Not only did the new digital one say that I was *over* what my starting weight on the old scale was (after supposedly having lost a few pounds when doing the Atkins induction a few weeks ago), but the darn thing keeps the weight on the read-out for a full thirty seconds after stepping off, which means being more sneaky when hubby's in the bathroom with me

I know I have lost weight because regardless of what the new one says, the old one did register a loss. But still, finding out that I'm *above* what I thought I was three weeks ago is almost painful! Argh!

(Happily, however, I weighed myself first thing this morning and have lost 1.5 lbs since Saturday, so I'm feeling a *little* better! )

Also, in the book it says to weigh yourself daily and then average it out at the end of the week. Hubby thinks I should weigh myself only once a week -- preferably every other week. Do you follow the book or do you have your own weigh schedule?

Congrats on the loss so far, and don't worry about the new scales being different... I bet if you brought 10 different ones into your home they would all say something different.


When I first started CAD, I was dubious about the daily weighing/averaging thing. I was worried that it would make me feel obsessed about the numbers on the scale. But, as I read over what the Hellers said about it a couple of times, it did make sense, so I decided to try it. And it has worked out beautifully. I totally believe in it now. Far from being obsessed, it has worked the other way for me. Now I weigh in first thing, write it down, and forget about it. If I was weighing once a week, there would be a major buildup to that day... and imagine my disappointment if weigh-in day happened to be the day I was retaining 2 lbs of water from having salt the day before, or from TOM... no thanks.

Now that I am used to averaging, I don't get upset about the little ups and downs from day to day. I know that so long as I keep on doing this WOE, the scales will go in a downward trend.

seeya around the forums,
Tracy

I agree with Tracy. Since your weight will fluctuate by a pound or two or three depending on your salt consumption or TOM or any number of things, weighing only once a week makes no sense. It's like looking at one frame of a movie and trying to decipher the whole thing. Averaging works really well for me too.

Skywind

It's always tough to switch scales, but you are already doing the two things you MUST do to keep from pulling your hair out over this: accept the new weight and focus on the change from day to day.

And do average.....you can keep both the absolute change and the average change in your records if it makes you feel better about it, but averaging is much more useful in the long run.

And this IS a Long Run!

Thanks so much for your input, ladies! I've drawn up my chart (from the book) and am going to weigh myself every morning. It does make more sense -- now I just need to explain it to hubby!