Secret Eaters irresponsible advice?

[UtterlyButterly]

I am channel hopping and noticed this programme.

The presenter said if you are a binge eater weigh yourself daily.

Promoting a crash diet and not dealing with why she is a binge eater.

I feel so sad for the woman they are 'advising'
As a fellow binge eater I can tell her now that the advice she has been given is a load of tosh!

Actually, I've read a couple of studies which have found that people who weigh themselves every day are more likely to keep off the weight they have lost.

I think in this case, the idea is to track weight gain and react if you are gaining.

I lost 61/2 stones more than 5 years ago (I am a binge/comfort eater too) - and have kept almost all of it off - I do weigh myself every day (and am quite aware of the monthly gain/loss due to menstrual cycle). I need to do that - I think a lot of people do - we need the early warning that pounds are creeping back on. so no, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that!

I weigh myself several days a week as I struggle with my weight and find it creeps on really easily these days. It helps me to think about what I'm eating that day IYSWIM.

The only way I can be in control of my weight is to weigh myself daily. It's about staying in control, not crash dieting.

Now I'm confused, I've been told to throw away the scales and stop worrying about how much I weigh

no wonder nothing has worked

I lost 3 stone 2 years ago and have kept it off by weighing myself every day. The minute it creeps past a certain point I know to rein myself in. It's just something I have to do. I could not bear to put it on again.

If I weigh, I binge. I don't think it's a 'one size fits all' solution, sadly.

Daily weighing doesn't give an accurate picture though.

Your weight can vary by quite a few pounds even across one day, and from day to day.

Some people would see the gain, be discouraged and give up.

DH is a fitness professional and he's probably more of the don't worry about the scales mindset, eat healthily, exercise hard, check your body fat percentage and measurements, and you will be healthier ( you can be skinny and unhealthy too)

When I was dieting, I weighed myself daily on the wii-fit. It worked fine for me. I steadily lost 2-3lbs a week and kept in control.

Weighing at the same time every day is quite important if you are going to do it daily. I always did first thing in the morning.

It depends on the person whether it's helpful advice or not.

For me weighing myself daily led me to an eating disorder, I just couldn't resist aiming for ever increasing losses. :(

Your weight will vary considerably every day - most people find their weight fluctuates like a sine wave over some period - and how long differs in different people. So you'll see rises and falls for all sorts of reasons, I weigh my self daily, out of an interest in numbers, I'm not overweight and don't diet.

In reality though, weighing yourself every day is not really about actually tracking your weight, it's just an idea to make you think - like most "diets" it's just a method to make you think more about eating. Like any advice for some people it can lead to them going too far, or go on the complete wrong end of the stick. However it's not too bad advice.

Certainly if you do it every day, and aren't aware by how much your weight will fluctuate (I'm 77kg today but am regularly over 1kg either side of that, and if I did a hard evening workout and then drank a few beers without eating I could easily be 2kg less) then you can excessively worry about what is a normal weight gain. However even weighing yourself once a week you can see similar if your cycle is say 10days it would show fluctuations that can be confusing.

I don't think it's great advice (and the few minutes of the show I saw thought it was pretty poor) as whilst it is right for some, it can be bad for others, it all depends on your personality.

In general though, exercise is a way better route to weight loss than simply diet change, the health improvements are worth way more.

I dont' have scales, but I can tell if I'm getting a bit bigger than I'd like by the extra wobbly bits (I'd like to be slimmer, but I don't think I'm over weight, I'm a size 14/16 but I'm 5'10").

However, I'd seriously suggest making sure the scales work. I've been cutting right back on pointless snacks (my meals are healthy anyway, I'm veggie and eat quite well, but I like biscuits and coke a bit much). I've also been doing a lot of walking and have definitely noticed that I'm carrying less around my mid section.

I weighed myself at my Mums the other day and I've put on half a stone apparently!! I know they say muscle is heavier, but that can't be right. I KNOW I'm smaller around my stomach etc.

i thought the best advise was once a week, same clothes and same time of the day.

Studies have shown that yes, weighing yourself daily rather than weekly correlates with greater weight loss. It also correlates with a significantly higher incidence of eating disorders.

A bit off topic but this programme is horrible. Lets just watch the fat people eat and watch them cry. I really dislike Anna Richardson, she is a patronising, holier than thou nothing that exploits fat people and actively encourages people to hate their own bodies. This doesn't help people its just voyeurism.

How damaging it is depends on how disordered a person's eating is to start with. Someone who could do with shedding a bit and tends to head for the pie shop on an hourly basis without thinking about it could perhaps be helped by this and any other 'diet' method which concentrates on remembering to be careful about what you eat. Someone who's already got issues around food and eating could well be pushed into major eating disorder territory.

I go to an eating disorders clinic every week because of eating chaos (binging till sick, starving to passing out etc). The first thing they did was get me to throw the scales out. Best thing I ever did. Now I can use the bathroom without weighing myself 100 times a day.

Scale issue aside I thought it was completely pointless programming. Look how fat these people are because they don't even notice what they are putting in their mouths, what idiots. Let's all point and stare at all they have consumed.

It seemed to take all the worst bits of all the other shit 'weight loss' tv crap and just rehash them. Though I suppose we were at least spared them pooing in a box.

Ive been dieting since Feb and have lost just over a stone. This does not sound like much but ive had NO CAKE CHOCOLATE OR JUNK FOOD OF ANY DESCRIPTION SINCE Feb. The NHS nurse weighs me once a fortnight and she says i shouldnt be weighed more often than that. Ive had people say to me that a stone and 3 pounds is not a lot for three months. But their minds have been filled with the fad diets and bitchiness that features in Grazia/Closer et al so i dont take any notice.
There was an interesting article about obsessive eating in Red last month. They interviwed a specialist in the field and he said to wweigh yourself more than once a week is excessive. They have given this the name of semirexia.

Thats no crisps or chips or nothing. Ive taken their advice and increased my fruit/veg intake. Today i had a small gain which might have something to do with the fact that im peeing every 10 mins. The nurse told me not to worry and that everyone is different and loses weight at different rates. She said that sometimes there is nothing you can do about it,it will come off at the rate it comes off. Much better than my Slimming World consultant, who said "are you sure there isnt anything creeping in there" the week when all that had crept in there was more veg. Its nice to be believed for a change and treated like an adult.

At my SW class there was a woman who was same height as me 5"5 and was 9 and half stone. (shed come down from 18 stone) she was crying one week cos shed gained 2 pounds. The following week she had lost 7 pounds in a week. Slimming World sell this stuff at class called Scan Bran and it "makes you go" I refuse to do that to myself and at that weight and that height i thought it was ridiculous that she felt driven to that. And it was actively encouraged. So i walked basically for my own sanity and now i get weighed by an NHS weight management nurse.

I loved the theory that wearing an oven glove to the cinema on your dominant hand would make you snack less. I know that eating with my left hand wouldn't have any affect on me, but maybe trying to eat popcorn with an oven glove on would!