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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask if anyone else weighs themselves several times a day?

97 replies

whynowblowwind · 06/06/2014 21:05

I can't seem to stop - before a week after a week basically every time I go into the bathroom I HAVE to have a look!

Is it just me?

OP posts:
Chippednailvarnish · 07/06/2014 13:19

I'm not speaking to you like a naughty ten year old.

What you are doing isn't normal, feeling that getting rid of home scales wouldn't work and besides it would make me anxious is an indicator that you clearly don't have a healthy relationship with food or how you feel about your body.

Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.

ShevelKnievel · 07/06/2014 13:20

Doh. Do not own that should be

lljkk · 07/06/2014 13:26

I think how OP feels is very common among many women, the phrases like feeling "safe", for instance. I recognise that from many women I've known. But that doesn't make it a healthy way to be.

aprovinciallady · 07/06/2014 13:29

Honestly OP the only time I have weighed myself multiple times a day was when my eating was disordered. It's not healthy.

Suzannewithaplan · 07/06/2014 13:35

It may be associated with disordered eating, but we can't extrapolate our own experience to everyone else.

JamJimJam · 07/06/2014 13:40

My friends think I have issues because I weigh myself every morning!

I have always done this, no eating disorder.

Several times a day seems a bit strange.

InMyOwnSickWayIllAlwaysBe · 07/06/2014 13:43

I used to. I had a VERY unhealthy obsession about food and my weight, and would sometimes binge and purge.

I had two sets of scales, digital and mechanical.
i would weigh myself on both in the morning before a wee...after a wee...after a shower with wet hair...when my hair had dried...after breakfast...before and after a poo...before and after exercise, (and I would use the scales in the gym too - both sets -) and again before bed.

I now have a much healthier relationship with my body and my food.
I follow a woman called Erin Brown (FitMama) on Facebook, and she is the only person who I think REALLY gets it. She writes so beautifully and sensibly, it's like a lightbulb goes off in my head. I REALLY recommend reading her FB posts/blog.

MrsJoeDolan · 07/06/2014 13:45

Chipped speaks sense OP - you do sound as if you have some underlying issues around weight/food. And I say this as someone who weighed in the loo, Boots, gym, at friends, in the throes of an eating disorder.
I even had a 'safe'range. The use of the word 'safe' is telling as there was nothing inherently unsafe about being a few pounds above my self-imposed range.

Fairylea · 07/06/2014 13:47

I never weigh myself. I have gone from a size 10 to a size 16 in the last 4 years and I don't want to depress myself any further by knowing what I weigh..I'm doing lots of walking and trying to eat well and that's the only thing that matters to me right now..

MoominAndMiniMoom · 07/06/2014 14:44

I do, but I have an unhealthy relationship with my body - not an ED I don't think but unhealthy ways of trying to lose weight - so I'm trying my hardest to stop weighing myself every day, because all it does is make me feel crap :(

whynowblowwind · 07/06/2014 17:00

The thing is, my "eating disorder" won't cure itself through not having scales!

I accept I have disordered eating, I have since I was about thirteen so it's not going to stop suddenly when I'm 32. But part of managing this is weighing myself :)

(Oh, and I'm not in denial at all - I know I am barking mad where food and eating and weight is concerned, hence me once putting 3 stone on in a VERY short space of time. Damage limitation!)

OP posts:
Alisvolatpropiis · 07/06/2014 17:03

whynow

Not having scales doesn't cure anorexia or bulimia either. That isn't what anybody was saying.

whynowblowwind · 07/06/2014 17:23

Of course it doesn't - so I don't really understand why people keep bringing it up?

It can be a symptom of an Ed/DE - I accept this, but removal of the scales won't cure either. :)

OP posts:
shockinglybadteacher · 07/06/2014 17:50

But, whynow, you have to begin by stopping looking. There has to be a start somewhere.

My disorder began when I was 15 and trying to make sense of life. I thought if I was thin everything would be alright. I weighed myself daily, hourly, to make sure I wasn't in the "fat zone". I went to 7 stone. I was so proud when I got there and I awaited my next milestone, which was 6 stone. My goal weight was 5. If I was 5 stone all my problems would stop. I would be beautifully skinny and everyone would love me. (I'd also be dead, but that didn't quite fit into the picture).

To this day I will not diet because I know where it goes. I would rather be fat and here than dead and skinny. If I start dieting I will not stop dieting and I will not stop ever, until I die, which I will. I have tried a couple of times and suddenly found myself in that horrible "Well if you skip a few meals, you'll be a much better person. You'll be a much thinner person if you do this all week. You'll be a much better person if you don't eat at all..." loop.

It's not possible for me to do it because I have an evil thing in the back of my head which tells me if I do not eat I will be good and eating makes me bad. I start doing things like making sure my wrists and ankles are as slim as possible. I start looking at my clothes and if they fit me I hate myself. They should be bags on me, or I've failed again.

The reason I tell you this is because it's easy to be tricked into this disorder. Even now, with writing what I just did, it's been triggering. You take baby steps into the disorder. I did. I never thought it would happen until it took over, and constant weighing was the first sign. Be alert and be careful -you've said you already have an ED so step AWAY from the scales. They aren't our friend.

whynowblowwind · 07/06/2014 17:55

I don't already have an ED :) I've just not got the best relationship with food, to be honest, as I have a real tendency to binge eat then I feel guilty and restrict food for a few days then the cycle starts again.

Believe me I am FAR from dropping dead from being too skinny Grin

I am sorry for your troubles, but I do think the publicity given to anorexia in particular has warped people's minds a bit. No one dies from standing on scales. People DO die due to being overweight, though. And to tell you the truth the latter is far more likely to get me than the former, I am about 10 lbs above a healthy BMI which isn't bad as I had a baby in April and although I am technically overweight I don't really look it so I'm not arsed Wink

I also love knowing what other people weigh. Including the DCs!

OP posts:
shockinglybadteacher · 07/06/2014 18:11

Whynow, I bet you look great right now, where you are, :) 10lbs above BMI is easily lost. Doing excellent for baby weight!

What I am concerned about is repeated standing on scales. It's how I started off - I began to believe that I was huge and disgusting and it translated to "OMG I am so fat and everyone hates me". You will lose the weight so don't rely on scales. Do not even think about it. Don't weigh yourself multiple times! It will vanish before you know.

whynowblowwind · 07/06/2014 18:15

It won't, trust me.

Even being 10lbs above BMI takes a LOT of work. My appetite completely disappeared for about 4 weeks post birth.

Anyway, I know I'm not anorexic , but I DO know I will gain weight very easily if I don't check regularly and I know once a week is sufficient. But it's interesting seeing how much I lose when asleep Wink

OP posts:
Suzannewithaplan · 07/06/2014 18:21

if anything it is slightly irrational to weigh yourself several times per day, it would be more rational to weigh yourself once per day at a similar time when you are in a similar state of hydration, food intake etc.

Not that I'm criticizing...I do lots of irrational things Blush

MoominAndMiniMoom · 07/06/2014 18:23

shockingly just wanted to thank you for your post Thanks it's shown me that I need to put the scales in the cupboard for at least a few days - I weigh myself too frequently.

LividofLondon · 07/06/2014 18:37

Whynow, is how much you weigh (i.e. what the figures on the scales say) more important than how you feel in your clothes (i.e. how tight or loose they are) or how you feel about your reflection in the mirror? I'm curious because I judge my weight by how my clothes fit; when they get a little snug I might weigh myself to see whether it's fat or bloat, but otherwise I rarely do. I certainly don't worry about daily fluctuations.

lljkk · 07/06/2014 18:42

You monitor your weight zealously; you may want to monitor your relationship with food & your body, too, just as closely.

whynowblowwind · 07/06/2014 21:41

I do, lj, but being aware of something doesn't change it, not automatically anyway :)

Livid both really, clothes can be deceptive. I was back in my jeans (size 12) a week after DD but they are skinny jeans and quite a stretchy fabric, and I was a stone heavier then than I am now. So I think clothes can be quite misleading unless you often wear quite tight fitted clothes which I don't, I tend to wear jeans, vest tops and long cardis.

OP posts:
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