A weighing issue - poll

[aggie94]

I rarely ever weigh myself, and get annoyed when I go to the doctor's office and they want to weigh me. I would just rather not know the number, because as long as my clothes are fitting fine, I'm happy. But when I do weigh myself or get weighed, I only take my shoes off if it's convenient (i.e. I'm wearing sandals or clogs or something). If I do weigh myself, it's at the gym since I don't own a scale, and I have on running shoes, so I never take them off. At the doctor, it varies. And I can believe that clothes and shoes together could weigh up to three pounds, especially if it's winter and/or you've got on big clunky shoes!

[SandyM]

In the bathroom.
By myself.
Naked.
Before I take my shower.
Dry hair.

Get the idea? It's silly, but to me, every little bit helps. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[hka]

SandyM, I'm right there with ya babe!!! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif I do the same thing. However, I don't weight myself that often either. I'm like a lot of people where I go by how I feel and how my clothes are fitting. But sometimes I do get curious to see what the number is even though I know it's not the most important thing. It IS how your clothes fit and HOW you're feeling.

[comabri]

I third the naked, dry hair thing. I have a huge problem with my scale though. I step on it, step off, step right back on and the numbers are 5 or 10 lbs. different than the first time. I can't stand it. I can never tell if I've lost weight or not. (Or, I'm gaining or losing five pounds just by the mere workout I get by stepping off and back on the darned thing!)

[BeckyM]

Normally, I'm like SandyM. If I'm going to look at a number, I want it to be as low as possible!

I don't think I have ever weighed LESS at the doctor's office -- I always weigh more. But that's usually in the middle of the day, when I have eaten, and I have clothes on, etc.

For a while, I had to wear steel-toed boots to work (I was a manager in a manufacturing plant), and on days I went to the doctor straight from work, I ALWAYS took off those boots to be weighed! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[emilycat]

Sandy, I'm with you too! Naked, in the morning, after I go to the bathroom ( http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif ), making sure to take off the earrings. Have to step on at least three times to make sure it's the same reading. Every day. Now who's anal?

Yes, I know I have some issues.

[phantomcg]

I never weigh myself because I have always weighed 15 to 20 pounds more than I look. I go by how my clothes fit and how I feel. I don't take my shoes off at the Dr's, but I do tell them NOT to tell me what the scale says.

Cheryl

[KValley]

I'm once a month, always the same time of the month so any PMS issues don't interfere, always at the gym (don't own a scale), always after working out (okay, that's cheating, but at least I'm consistent), always in the morning. This is a recent habit- I never used to weigh myself- always relied on my clothing and how I felt to be my guide, but I've got about 6-7 lbs I'd like to leave by the wayside before TCC later this summer.

ALWAYS shoes off at the drs office. I always weigh more there anyway :O

[erinl]

I recently started at a new gym, and when the trainer weighed me at my orientation, he took off 2 pounds for shoes and clothes. Now, I weigh myself once a week at the gym. I swim in the mornings, so I get on the scale in just my swimsuit.

[lindrusso]

Originally posted by emilycat:
Naked, in the morning, after I go to the bathroom ( http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif )

Oh yeah! You gotta pee first! At the gym I weigh myself with shoes on - just more convenient. At home it's in the mornings with as little on as possible (my bedroom has carpeting, so I have to go out into the foyer to weigh in!).

I have found that my shoes add 2 pounds. Clothes account for at least another pound if I'm wearing jeans. I can also vary by two pounds from morning to evening (we have less fluid in the system in the mornings, I guess) - so between the clothes vs. no clothes, shoes vs. no shoes and morning vs. afternoon, I can vary by 5 pounds!!!

[aggie94]

Cheryl: You and me both! I tell people what I weigh and they can't believe it. The truth is usually at least 15-20 pounds more than they think I weigh, and it frustrates me to no end. Maybe that's why I don't like to weigh myself either.

And why is it that we always weigh more at the doctor's office? I can't imagine it's their high-tech fancy-schmancy scale, since it looks no different than the one at the gym.

[Emdg]

Oh too funny! Emilycat stop looking in my window http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif I have to step on and off that darn thing at least twice...just to make sure.
When I go to the doctors, I just check to make sure my scale seems right. It's in the bathroom at Dr. Office so I suppose you could remove whatever you wanted....hmhhh

[Julia1Pin]

Aside from morning, post-pee, dry hair, step on and off twice to make sure......

I put my scale forward 2.5 lbs so I can feel better about my self when I THEN subtract the lbs.

Frightening, isn't it?

[BosunsWife]

Oh man, when I was pregnant I took off everything that they would let me and I still told them I didn't want to know what the scale said!

Now, I generally weigh with my shoes, but since moving to Hawaii my shoes generally consist of different colors of rubber slippers (thongs) which don't weigh very much. My military doc tells me they give you two pounds for clothes and shoes.

[Shirley Panek]

I've been lurking on this board for a while and wanted to say thanks for the inspiration. I've started going to the gym again, and am starting to see and feel progress.

Yesterday I went to my doctor for a physical (I saw that show on Oprah where she did that full body scan, and it got me thinking I hadn't had one in years). Anyway when it came time to get on the scale, I took my shoes off. My doctor laughed and said all the women who get weighed take their shoes off.

So my question is this - Do you take your shoes off when you're being weighed (or weighing yourself)?

I personally try to wear as little as possible. My doctor said your shoes account for 1/4 pound, but I say every little bit helps. (At least I weighed less on the doctor's scale than at home. Maybe that's why I don't weigh myself at home! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif)

Shirley

[SusanD]

YES!!! Especially now that I'm pregnant, I want to attribute every additional pound (or fraction of) to the baby! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

[m4star]

I am not a weigh'er (I try not to put importance on the number but rather how I feel and how my clothes fit), but I've got a question along the same lines. When you go in to the doctors or someplace and get weighed, how much weight is really contributed to clothes and shoes? I know it all depends on what you are wearing, but lets say it's jeans, sneakers, a tee shirt...or something like that. I've heard it can be up to 3 pounds, but that seems a little much to me. Thanks!

[SusieO]

I personally leave my shoes on. Don't know why.

I worked for a while as a receptionist at Weight Watchers, and it is really funny to see what people will take off: shoes, sweaters, jewelry, etc. At one meeting a woman took off her jeans, thinking she had her exercise clothes on underneath. She didn't. What a hoot!

[donleyk]

That was a hoot! Thanks for sharing. I LOL!

I am guilty of removing the shoes.

3lbs is a bit much for clothes but I don't have a calculation....

[McSix]

I wish I wasn't quite so obsessive about the scale, but I am. I do the in the morning after a workout before the shower thing daily. It works for me for psychological reasons. My weight has fluctuated within 3 pounds for over a year now--even though I'd like to lose that last 5! Also, I've "researched" extensively, and my running shoes, shorts, and a t-shirt consistenly add 3 pounds. And, yes, I dress lightly and take off my shoes when being weighed at the doctor's office!

[MrsReber]

Since I know that my dr's scale is off by an amazing 8 pounds (it weighs heavy) I don't bother taking off the shoes. I try to wear lighter clothing, though. I went there once with steel toed boots on (we had some bad weather) and a heavy sweater. They freaked and told me I gained too much weight and had to go back the next week to be weighed again. Wouldn't you know it? I lost 4 pounds by wearing my sneakers and a lighter shirt. I know two other people who go to this dr's office and they say the same thing- that the scale is 8-10 pounds heavy. My scale at home and the one at the gym are usually about the same, give or take a pound, so I go by those. And I am one of those people, too- always weigh first thing in the morning, naked, before you get in the shower and step on and off the scale three or more times to get an "accurate" weight. Of course, the accurate weight would be the lowest weight....

[KValley]

I must confess to a weird thing that I do (well, one of many, I suppose). Is anyone familiar with MyVirtualModel.com? I discovered this on the Land's End site: you create a virtual model of yourself by entering your height, weight, measurements and selecting from the available hairstyles, facial features, coloring. You are then able to try on some outfits.

Since discovering this site in December, which coincided with my concerted effort to work off the pounds I've gained since becoming a home-office telecommuter, I've taken a strange glee in updating my model as I do my monthly weight in and tape measurement check and watching her shrink ever so slightly. I also have fun seeing what I'd look like if I grew 5 inches and lost 25 lbs. I guess that is really morbid curiosity rather than fun....

[sundropdlc]

kvalley-
Neat site!! I had to try on various sizes of me, of course!

As far as weighing, I try not too, too discouraging. If I weigh myself I lose sight of just eating healthy.

[KValley]

Originally posted by sundropdlc:
kvalley-

As far as weighing, I try not too, too discouraging. If I weigh myself I lose sight of just eating healthy.

Well said sundropdlc...

You know, this whole topic has coincided with my monthly weigh in, which was today, and now I know why I used to be so against stepping on that scale! In the past 6 weeks or so, I've increased the amount of weights I've been lifting, so naturally I've increased muscle mass (one would hope, anyway). Yet color me completely discouraged this morning to find that the scale hasn't budged. Out came the tape measure when I got home- 1 inch gone from the bust, 1/2 inch each from waist and thighs. YAY TEAM http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

But, I know I attach so much EMOTIONAL importance to that number on the scale and that I won't be able to resist next month. It's as if that magic number will somehow make everything else right with the world. Egads!

Still had fun updating my little model!



[This message has been edited by KValley (edited 03-29-2001).]

[ebobbitt]

Oh, I am so guilty of the "weighing" rituals. It's so true about removing everything that's removable at Weight Watchers before stepping on those scales. But I do think it's interesting that NONE of the men in my Weight Watchers meeting removes anything. I swear, these guys wear big ole shoes, some even leave on their jackets. How on Earth could they?

Elizabeth

[Julia1Pin]

How do you change the virtual models measurements?

[KValley]

Originally posted by Julia1Pin:
How do you change the virtual models measurements?

Hey julia1Pin:

There *should* be a "Modify" or "Update My Model" button...

Oh my, what have I unleashed http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/redface.gif

[funnybone]

Originally posted by KValley:
Is anyone familiar with MyVirtualModel.com? I discovered this on the Land's End site

I'm familiar with it, but the person they made me out to be was less familiar looking to me. Did you really find it looked like you (body wise - not face and hair)? I found that it didn't look like me - or is it that I don't realize that I look like that??
I never went back to that virtual model after that. LOL. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif

As for the scale, I have a digital scale that weighs in 1/2 lb increments. We also have ceramic tiles on our bathroom floor that are made to look like a stone, thus not smooth. Depending on which tile I place the scale on, I can weigh a lb difference. Needless to say, I have a favorite tile. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by funnybone (edited 03-30-2001).]

[KValley]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by funnybone:
I'm familiar with it, but the person they made me out to be was less familiar looking to me. Did you really find it looked like you (body wise - not face and hair)? I found that it didn't look like me - or is it that I don't realize that I look like that??
I never went back to that virtual model after that. LOL. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif


I showed my My DH my Virtual Model. After a few moments of pregnant silence he said "Honey, I really don't think that looks like you- your arms are much more muscular" God love him. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[food girl]

I like to weigh with everything on, then I can grossly overestimate what my shoes, beeper, belt and courderoy pants weigh!

I have read this with interest because a part of my job is weighing people. I have some patients who WILL NOT let me write down what the office scales weigh them, they make me write down what their $4-from-the-Dollar-Store-uncalibrated-God-only-knows-how-old scale at home says! Of course I do what they say and then write in the REAL weight when they aren't looking!
Lisa

PS I have found that my home scale weighs me a few pounds lighter if it is pointing due East. Har har