Well, guess what? This is the perfect opportunity to share with you the partially done draft of a blogpost I began like, 2 years ago, on this very topic. It’s all here for you to review and decide, including feedback from others and what they did. I hope this helps!
I got this email the other day from a fellow hCGer and it made me decide to write a blogpost dedicated solely to that whole deciding whether or not to STAND on that scale thing in your bathroom or not, and if so, how frequently, etc.
I wanted to drop you a note to let you know that you and your website has been a blessing to me this round. Even with a ton of food intolerances, I was able to stabilize in P3. Then the work began “P4”. I was so scared for P4 (maintenance) I went to your website and read everything in the maintenance section. I have always been afraid of the number on the scale. In my mind, the scale would determine my day, my self-worth. That’s why I hated the scale. But reading on your site I came across this fantastic quote by you:
“Why I Weigh Myself Frequently
Some might consider this overkill or an obsession that’s unhealthy. And for some, weighing every day could be that. But for me it’s like a flying instrument- it just helps me find my way- it’s a way for me to find out if what I’m doing day to day is working for me or not and allows me to make adjustments to the ensuing days if need be. As an instrument that tells me in one respect where I’m at I can then decide if I’m going to allow a possible indulgence the following day should the opportunity for something enjoyable come up, or if I am going to be cutthroat and leave anything remotely sweet out for a few days.”
That quote was what I needed to hear, to help me let go of the bondage the scale has kept me in!!
Here is the link to that post.
I now look at the scale as a tool to help me navigate my weight. I am 1# less than LIW at 145# and I’m 5’7″. I used this tool over the weekend when I decided to eat some sugar-free coconut ice cream, only 1/2c. I weighed the next day and I weighed the same as the day before!! I now know that occasionally I can indulge in a treat!! I eat 72% cacao chocolate, one square per day with no weight gain.
Again thank you for your website!
Blessings,
Karen
Weighing Yourself on the hCG Diet – Daily? Weekly? Never?
This is one of those things that’s going to be a personal decision, and you may only know the answer once you’ve tried one or both, but we’ll talk about reasons why you might choose to weigh yourself on the diet, and reasons why you might not. Depending on your personality or where you are at in your hCG journey, you can see which scenario will fit you best, and I’ll give you tips for doing whichever you choose successfully.
No matter what, if you end up weighing at all, any point, no matter when, just do it ONCE, the morning – our weight fluctuates a LOT during the day form our water and food intake among other things – as an example check out this guys weight fluctuation in a single day: http://scoobysworkshop.com/how-to-weigh-yourself-accurately/ – granted that’s a lot and that’s because he a fit, muscular male athlete, but it shows you how much can come and go on our bodies on even a daily basis that has nothing to do with fat.
Choices:
1. Weighing Daily
This might be good if you can detach yourself from the scale emotionally and use it simply as one feedback mechanism among many to gauge your progress and possibly make adjustments here and there.
2. Not weighing at all
This might be good for you if perhaps you are so emotionally attached to the numbers you see on the scale that not seeing what you want will cause you to derail from the diet. (Another way around this is to work on adjusting how you view things on this protocol).
3. Weighing Once a Week
This might be good if you get overly discouraged if the scale doesn’t change drastically every day, but you would still like to be able to have some idea how you are doing overall and possibly do some troubleshooting if need be.
I weighed daily for all 5 of my rounds.
Did I feel ecstatic some days? You bet.
Did I feel really bummed out some days? Even for a week sometimes? You bet.
Patterns of Weight Loss Varies – from Person to Person and from Round to Round
This is because the pattern of weight loss really varies – on most diets actually, and it’s just as true of hCG.
For example, I’ve had a round where I had large loss days, like 1.8 lbs, 2.0 lbs, etc., then nothing for 3 days, then 1.8 lbs, then nothing for 3 days, and so on, for most the round. This was okay for me because I saw how the pattern was going and didn’t worry when I didn’t lose for a few days because I knew most likely a larger loss was coming soon. I had another round where I lost in smaller increments of .4, .2, .6, but it was much more consistent where there were very few days where I had no loss.
While the overall weight loss during a 3 or 6-week round of hCG is usually WAY better than other diets, especially when factoring in losing fat from trouble areas and, in my belief, having a higher fat loss ratio vs. muscle than with some diets, there are going to PLENTY of days when you will see zero weight loss and a whole bunch of .2’s.
The first thought that often comes to your mind when you step on the scale and see a .2 loss and think about how you ate 500 calories yesterday is what???
Course you’re not worried about making sense of things when you lost 2 lbs in one day a few days ago hehe – nevermind that you can’t possibly burn 7,000 calories in one day as a woman unless you’re hiking the Himalayas or something. As long as it’s going good, we’re not asking questions. 😉 The reality is that often times those larger than life losses include some water weight.
Weighing Daily – It’s Possible Pros and Cons
Potential Pros of weighing daily:
– Discover What Might Be Hampering Weight Loss: It can sometimes be a useful tool IF something were indeed hampering your weight loss, you might be able to pinpoint it. Some people discover through this process that they have food intolerances where a certain food, say tomatoes or beef or onion, may cause them to stall or gain, without which foods the losses are better.
– Pinpoint Areas of the Protocol You Are Neglecting: Sometimes we get lax about other things on the diet that we might think aren’t as important like water intake, hours of sleep and the like – if you are weighing daily and seeing a major slow down, and can pinpoint some things you are just totally not doing – like ‘oh man, I’ve totally been going to bed at 2 a.m. the last 5 nights’ or ‘oh man, totally only drank a shot glass worth of water yesterday’ – righting these things CAN indeed help with your weight loss. See my post on why sleep is important on hCG and water intake and hCG. If you were not weighing, you could possibly spend your whole round majorly skimping on some of these items and not realizing it was affecting you badly.
Possible Cons of weighing daily:
– Overthinking and Over Analyzing: Weight loss on hCG ISN’T consistent at times, and if often has nothing to do with you are personally doing or not doing. You may be doing everything right, sleeping enough, drinking enough water, eating the right foods, and still, you’ll experience plenty of slow days and no-days. Sometimes weighing daily where you see all this going on it can be easy to over think things and over analyze – trying to figure out what is wrong when actually nothing is wrong. This can drive you mad. This can make you unhappy with the results you are getting. When in reality, you are simply experiencing a normal ebb and flow of weight loss for you on this diet.
– Having whether or not you lost weight that morning determine how you feel the rest of the day. This has the potential to cause a lot of bad days and can even lead to being de-railed, cheating, or giving up. This is especially true if you are really attached to the scale or feeling motivated on the diet mostly by numbers vs. changing your life to a healthier you. I really believe in the impact that negative energy can have in your life, so I firmly believe it’s something you want to avoid.
Are there ways to overcome the possible cons of weighing daily?
If you choose to weigh daily, do these things to make it a success:
– Just know that .2’s and .4’s are normal – you are doing good. The average woman will end up losing about 20-25 lbs in a 6 week period. That amounts to a 1/2 lb a day, but this doesn’t mean you’re actually losing half a lb every day. Some day you might lose 2 lbs, other days none – it all ends up evening out to an average of 1/2 lb. You can read more about the factors that can affect your average weight loss on a round here.
– If you don’t lose weight for a couple days, it’s certainly fine to think about what you are currently doing – check and see if there are any basics that you might be forgetting or getting lax about, or possibly a different food than normal that may have caused it. But after that, let it go. Let if flow. Seriously – you want to analyze in a balanced way, and once you know you’ve checked the basic things, know that you’re doing your best and your body is just currently doing its thing and you will have a loss soon.
– Your weight will likely vary by several pounds throughout the day- really! You might weigh 3-4 pounds more just a few hours after you woke up. That might also explain why your weight at the doc’s office at 2pm was so much higher than what your scale said. Wish I’d known that years ago! Used to get really bummed out when I had that experience. But the point is, it’s best to weigh yourself only once a day at the same time. Usually, morning, after you pee but before you eat or drink anything, is best for this.
– Keep track of your inch loss as well as your weight – while it takes 3500 calories of burned fat to produce a 1 lb drop on the scale, it actually only takes about 600 calories to lose 1 lb of muscle – this means that if you are doing all kinds of off-protocol things and excited because you’re losing way more weight, you might question where that weight is coming from. Far better to lose lbs on the scale more slowly, where you will see larger inch losses on your body since fat takes up more space on your body than muscle, than to lose 5 extra lbs, but it’s muscle, and thus it won’t change the size of your body nearly as much, as well as most people understand the implication of losing muscle.
Not Weighing At All – It’s Pros and Cons
Possible pros to not weighing:
– You are eliminating a component of the protocol that has a lot of potential to create feelings of frustration, second-guessing of yourself, and frantic google searches for whether or not a single altoid could have caused you to stall for 3 days (highly doubtful! But oh we still wonder don’t we? :)-
– Forcing yourself to make this change to a healthier lifestyle not solely about weight on the scale. Although to be honest, I do think that’s easier said then done when on hCG specifically – you really are eating far less than you would be eating at a maintenance level in regular life and it CAN be hard at times – and the numbers going down on the scale can help with staying motivated- however it swings both ways since we discussed a possible con of weighing daily is that days of slow or no weight loss can cause a major pop in your motivation balloon.
Possible cons to not weighing:
– Being too loose with the protocol and not being impelled to tighten things up because you have no idea what results you are getting with your method.
– That is one measuring tool that you don’t have to make you ask yourself if you are doing all the things that are important that we sometimes forget about – sleep, drinking enough water, etc.
Choosing Not to Weigh: Keep these 2 things in mind to make it successful
– Stay on top of sticking to the protocol you’ve decided on – what I mean is, don’t get lax. That whole Ostrich head in the sand thing. I HAVE thought to myself that maybe if I didn’t weigh, whatever I ate that I shouldn’t have might somehow just disappear and bypass my body…somehow…..
– Be extra conscious of those things like the sleep and water intake etc.- you may forget and you won’t have the scale to remind you that something could be amiss that you’ve forgotten about or started to think doesn’t matter.
Weighing Once a Week: It’s Possible Pros and Cons
Possible Pros of weighing once a week:
– Similar pros as not weighing at all, but an added benefit that….
– Weighing only once a week there is very little chance that you will see the same number on the scale that you saw the previous week. As long as you don’t have a specified number of pounds that you deem as acceptable or unacceptable, you will get to feel elated once a week at however many pounds you lost. Positive feelings = a good thing!
Possible Cons of weighing once a week:
– If there was something you tried, that did indeed affect your pace of weight loss, by the time you actually weigh you might not be able to remember what that was, or which different thing you tried caused a certain lack of results in order to not do it again etc.
–
If You Choose to Weigh Once A Week, Do These 3 Things to Make It Successful:
– Stick to the protocol you have decided on. If you deviate too much and starting experimenting a lot, I feel it may unwise to do that and not track the results, because if the outcome is not working for you, you won’t know it.
– Have realistic expectations about your weight loss. After the first week, you might weight 5-10 lbs less. Week 3 you might step on the scale to see a much smaller 3 lb drop. 3 lbs is still good you guys okay? Keep in mind just how many calories your body has to burn through for every lb of fat you lose – women don’t burn 3500 calories a day in general – be patient and you will reach your goal. If you do this, your feeling when you step on the scale at the end of each week can be one of happiness at your progress instead of frustration at unmet expectations.
– Stay on top of those often forgotten important things that I already mentioned earlier- the water intake (shoot for around 2-3 quarts a day), the sleep (if you’re having trouble with that get help on that here).
Feedback from other hCGers:
For instance, I actually experienced close to a 10 day stall almost right at the beginning of my 4th round of hCG – I had tried something different, which was I attempted to continue crossfitting the first few days of VLCD – my weight loss literally stopped dead for close to a week and a half, at the beginning of the round, something that almost never happens and that has never happened to me on any other round. I can’t be 100% sure that the attempted crossfit during vlcd was the cause, but that’s what I feel is the most likely culprit.
My momma:
Sure!
I did 4 full rounds weighing myself every day. I learned something very valuable through this experience. In every round, the majority of my weight came off in the first half of the round, making the daily weigh-in a pleasure. The last half was greatly discouraging, as I would have 5-6 day stalls that showed on the daily weigh in. I found it extremely difficult to be positive about the protocol during this time. So after 4 rounds of this, I figured out the extra 3 weeks just wasn’t worth it for the measly 5-6 pounds that came off during that time.
My last round was a complete success where I remained very positive and motivated as I decided only 23-day rounds from here on out and only 1 weigh-in per week. By doing this, I was not disappointed, as inevitably, in 7 days there is a loss of some degree. I lost 20 pounds in the 23-day protocol, and maintained it for the 8 weeks before continuing on my journey with a new round. I did weigh everyday for P3 and P4, as I want to make sure I maintain within the 2-pound range. I did this successfully as well, with only 1 correction day in the 8 weeks.
Since you cannot cheat on this protocol without paying for it for 3 days, I have found the short rounds very do-able compared to the 6-week rounds. So much easier to block off 3 weeks of where restaurant/party eating is not on the social calendar than to find a 6-week block. Social situations are difficult on this protocol, and restaurant eating is almost impossible since you really don’t have control of how things are cooked. HCG cannot be fooled by hidden fats by some guy in a chef’s hat!”
I would say for me not weighing has made this round if I can say eeeaaasssy I would.
“Good morning, I do not weigh at all, for when I use to it would control my thinking all day. As a Christian, I am to control my thoughts so when the scale is leading me I may say oh I can taste that I lost 2 lbs or darn it, it really doesn’t matter it I taste that because I didn’t loose anything! So I rest on the finished work getting to my set goal.”
“I weigh in daily. When I see that number drop it gives me more motivation to keep on the plan. Also, when it goes up or stabilizes, I know and can deal with it right away.”
“Hi Rayzel,
I’m so thankful for your posts!!! They’re so helpful!!!!
I honestly weight myself every single day with or without hcg. It’s like a compass that let me know where I am. If I’m losing…..yeahhhh, if I’m not losing…..it encourages me to keep working on my goal and to think/research what’s going on with my body. Thanks to your information I learned that with hcg I’m not going to lose weight every single day. I just calm down and think that even though the scale doesn’t show it that day, if you are doing the right thing, it will!!!!
Hope this help!! Thanks so much for you encouragement!!! As we say here in Miami….. you are the bomb!!! “
“I weigh myself daily.
I find that the daily loss of weight really motivates me to stay on the diet and avoid the
emotional triggers to eat food off plan. I don’t always succeed but I am getting better
at avoiding temptation. Thanks to flavored stevia and lots of tea….”
“Daily for the first week for inspiration and then every 3 days thereafter because of the fluctuation. It seems to average out to a pound a day after 3 days if you are following the vlcd.”
“I personally like to weigh myself daily. It keeps me accountable, and It makes me excited to get up and hopefully see a loss in the morning. Also if I stall, I can do things about it (apple day, re-examine my food choices, etc…)”
“I like to weigh myself daily because it gives me a guideline on what works for me and what does not. I keep a food journal so I can go back and see what was different the day before to cause a gain. Also, it helps with knowing when a stall or plateau is occurring. I see my doctor weekly for a weigh-in and use that as the official weight for the week. I use the daily for evaluating how my body reacts to foods. Thank you for your continuous encouragement!”
“I weigh daily so I know if anything I’m eating is not working out for me. That’s how i realized that cooked cabbage wasn’t working out for me. Every time I ate it I gained. The same with dairy. Every time I added the 1 tbsp of milk to my coffee I gained.”
“Hi, I’ve been weighing daily since I started (4th week now). But I had to make it easy on myself or else I wouldn’t do it consistently. I have an Aria scale that wirelessly transmits my weigh-in to the fitbit.com website. They have cool graphs that chart my weight.”
“I weigh in every single day, at the same time every day. I use the Aria Wi-Fi Smart Scale to make sure that my weight is recorded easily eat morning to the FitBit application. So, there is super convenience all the way around in that respect. “
“I’m currently on my 5th round and was actually forced to go about 10 days without a scale because my current one went dead and I decided to order one that connected with my FitBit. I actually felt it quite liberating to not be tied to the scale and even happier that when I did finally receive the one I ordered that I was down 9 lbs during that timeframe.
Now after I’ve had one back two weeks ago I found getting on the scale was actually discouraging. Discouraging to the point where I wasn’t seeing the losses that I wanted and had a major cheat that resulted in a 3 lb gain that took almost 5 days to get off. I’m now in the home stretch, my last 7 days, and decided 3 days ago to back off from the scale and only weigh maybe every other day. It seems to be helping my psyche as when I saw the loss today after not having been on the scale in two days I was again elated with the number.
I know everyone has their thoughts and this is the first time I’ve ever tried it this way, but I seem to be working and I can’t wait to get back on the scale . . . Just not until Friday :-)”
“I weighed myself daily during my 2 rounds of HCG. I found that it was a real motivator to see the progress. Yes, it can be a bummer when you don’t see a loss (or a gain!), but overall I found it was a good thing for me.
Post HCG, I continue to weigh daily. I’m about 2 months out from the end of my last round, so still trying to ‘trust’ that I can maintain at this new weight!“
“I prefer to weigh myself every morning. It’s great for tracking in real time, but also to know certain if certain veggies/fruits or optional coconut oil put me over the edge. “Did I add too much protein?” “Did I not drink enough water?”
Every round is different so I need to do it this way all the time for the best tracking(data geek). It’s great when used in conjunction with apps like “MyFitnessPal”.”
“I weigh daily…right when I get up after I use the bathroom! I want to know exactly where I am! Yes, it’s discouraging when I’m at a stall, but I need the information!”
“New to the HCG diet – I weigh myself Monday thru Friday. To stay motivated whether I lose or don’t lose. If I don’t see any difference in the scale I try on clothes I am trying to fit into for motivation (my PRE- BABY clothes). I have noticed that if I don’t see loss on the scale I feel it in my clothes.”
“I weigh daily while on hcg. It helps keep me on track with my goals and reminds me daily to follow protocol.”
“Hi Rayzel! I find many of my clients get obsessed with the scale and while it can be a great motivator and accountability tool it also messes with a lot of my clients’ minds. I strongly prefer to encourage my clients not to weigh until they finish phase 2 and pay more attention to how they feel and how clothes are fitting. Then on phase 3, I have them weigh daily knowing the goal is to stay +\- 2 lbs”
“I weigh daily just out of habit, but if I don’t lose anything, it makes me do a quick review of what I may have done the previous day that may or may not have impacted the situation. I don’t get hung up on the scale, just use it as a guide. It’s how I feel, physically and emotionally that are my drivers. On my third round since February 6th and have lost 52 pounds. There is a fallacy that if you lose xx pounds, you’ll drop 10 dress sizes. Not the case, I’ve dropped 4 sizes, but I don’t care about “size” of clothes, it’s if it fits and is flattering!!”
“I weigh daily but wish! i could get to a place where i weight weekly…i think it would be less torturous mentally.”
“I weigh in weekly because my emotions are WAYYYY too tied to the scale. Like my day can begin wonderfully or horrifically based on that one stupid device. Not worth it to me!
I do measure inches throughout the week since that doesn’t have the same “jarring” effect and usually continually progresses.
Thanks for your site and this support. I really appreciate it!”
“I weigh daily and measure weekly; plus log my food daily. Since I am use hcg to lose weight, and since hcg losses/gains are very fast, it makes sense to me to keep a close eye on what is going on with the scale. Seeing losses reinforces sticking to the protocol- and no loss makes me look for what I might be doing wrong and learn about what impacts my weight. If for some reason I am not seeing losses on the scale, I have measurements to keep me from becoming disgusted. I track my food and weight/measurements on myfitnesspal and also use a fitbit flex- so if I hit a spot where I am doing better or worse than usual I can look and see what I might have done differently. “
“I have weighed myself everyday because I am a type A personality. Control, control control! But when I have not lost any weight and I know that I have strictly been following the diet protocol, I am really freaked out and bummed. Over the span of 43 days, my weight loss averaged 1/2 lb a day. But even knowing that, I find myself really stressed out. Thanks for all your advice and your information Best to you, Jan”
“I weigh daily, I personally am motivated by the losses, and I feel like I’m building some mental fortitude by persisting with the diet when the losses are small, not at all, or turn into gains.
Also, for me, there are small switches that I may do in a day and I like to see how my body reacts. For instance, there were about 3 days that I was eating a salad with chicken for lunch with red wine vinegar, an apple(<– all of which are almost always what I eat for lunch and snack, no melba) and at night I would “stir-fry” (no oil, obviously) chicken breast, ginger and fresh tomatoes together. I experienced some of my largest losses those nights during the second half of P2. So I know now (through that and some other experimentation) that my body reacts well to tomatoes in particular.
Likewise, I have learned that for whatever reason my body is a bit more dairy tolerant than some other bloggers and posters who write about their experience with HCG. I can tolerate a bit more than the tablespoon of milk without any significant changes in fat or body weight as compared to days where dairy is completely excluded.
SO, I do enjoy weighing daily on HCG, even though it can at times yield disappointing news. I will not, however, weigh daily during P3 because I will be working out pretty strenuously, so I think I’ll stick to measurements and weighing once every 2 weeks then.”
“I have been weighing daily so that I can see the different affects good have on my body. Usually I would weigh myself weekly or every few days, but with hcg it tends to fluctuate so I like to see if what I did the day before worked better or worse and immediately correct.”
“I weigh daily. If I didn’t I think I would fall of the wagon! This keeps me on top of myself at all times! I have put to much effort I to this to let it all fall threw!
Taking my weight every day let’s me know what I need to do about what to eat and exercise for the day! It works perfect for me! I always weigh at the beginning of each day!”
“Hi! I weighed myself daily while on hcg, but if I found that I was getting frustrated or there was a lot of emotion after seeing my weight, I wouldn’t weigh myself for a few days.
“It absolutely effects my mood, but I do weigh daily ;)”
“On the past 3 rounds, I weighed myself every day and it affected how I
felt that day (my emotional state was connected to the scale) and it
even began affecting my commitment to the round…both positive AND negative.
This round, I hadn’t weighed myself for about 3 months prior to starting.
I decided not to weigh myself when I began and I’m not weighing myself
throughout the round. I can tell it’s working by the way my clothes feel
and by how in control I feel.
I’ve decided to trust the process! I find that my mood is terrific every day.
My commitment to the diet is completely on protocol and I’m not pushing
the envelope trying Greek yogurt or smoothies or anything other than
what Dr. Simeons prescribed. 100% per “Pounds and Inches”!!
I’ll weigh myself on the last injection day so that I’ll know my weight to
monitor while in P3. That’s it! First time EVER to do this on ANY diet and
I’m lovin’ it :-)”
“Hi Rayzel, yes I weigh myself daily. I prefer daily so I know my limit for the day, if ever I was bad the previous day. I used to not do it everyday, & it got me way side track of my weight goal. And that has prompted me to do another round of HCG.”
“I used to weigh daily, but found it way too hard on my mind!
If I gained…or even didn’t lose as much as I thought I should, it literally ruined my day!
Also, if I lost it made me feel as if I could afford a little cheat.
With this round I have decided to weigh just once a week. This way the losses always seem satisfying and I don’t feel so obsessed with every single ounce in either direction.
Thanks so much for all you do!!
Darien
P.S. I am also 5’1″. My top weight was 220, current weight 160. I am thinking about my goal weight…I was 105 in high school…but, now as I head into my 50s, I think that weight might be too low. How did you choose?”
“I have to weigh daily…the reward every morning inspires me to fight through the day but especially when the cravings hit at night time.)“
“I found myself feeling a little less manic & stressed by weighing in every other day. The only exception is when I feel that I’ve eaten a bit off course :/ Thanks for your posts & videos, you are inspirational! I am 57 & weight loss seemed impossible until Hcg. I use hormone free drops. I am on my 3rd round & I am down 30lbs! It was slow but steady (have low blood sugar issues) I followed the program under a Doctors care initially, but I seriously receive the most help & motivation from you! So thank you!! I went from 170 at the end of March to 140 as of this morning, size 14 to almost an 8, 10’s are loose but 8’s are still a bit snug! I am aiming for 135 (5’5″) I may settle at 137 & just work hard to stay below 140. Happy Dancing that I was able to finally lose the menopausal, lack of sleep & stress weight gain!! “
“I weighed weekly (the same day of the week and the same time of day). I prefer to wait to see a much lower number than a couple pounds at a time. It also helped me not to get addicted to weighing myself once I completed the tough part of the program. I know that I get addicted to the scale and want to avoid that if at all possible. :-)”
“
i’ve been on the maintenance for quite about 5 months ( second time in 4 years).
i feel great with MY body weight and shape – which feels my natural body OR what my body want to be.
In the last few months i discovered a few teachings a writing about mindful eating and how to use the body as the only indicator for WHEN and WHAT to it, and STOP weighing yourself and since then i’ve been happy and liberated with anything which as to do with eating.
i no longer am a slave of my WEIGHT. i tune into my body, and develop friendly and loving relationship with it and with food.
If i have days ( and they are “surprisingly” very very rare now) which i eat a bit more than my body wanted, i feel it ( i do not need the scale to tell me….) and then i fast or eat very little the next day – out of love and respect for my body, and not as a punishment, and the next day i feel better.
Last week i even managed ( for the first time in MANY years) to have a piece of cake in a social event, and not having more…. so maybe i’m even breaking the sugar addiction i used to have.
So – the long answer to your question… no, i don’t weigh myself any more and am in the best shape and feel i’ve ever been.
And thank you for your work :)”
“I’m on R1 VLCD20 – and I weigh myself every day, as well as use my Omron handheldevery day.
I, however, try very diligently to not put short term weight loss number goals into my head…. I find that it sets me up for disappointment if I don’t reach those short term weight milestones when I was hoping I would. I just try to get to each meal without cheating – and challenge myself to drink my water every day (not always easy lol). I far, I’ve been successful 🙂
I had 3 false start rounds before my current round – all of which I dropped out of before VLCD14. I was just not in the right frame of mind – and I had several demotivating chests on each prior round. I picked up Robin Woodall’s book, as well as a few other titles you mentioned in your vlogs – and took 8 months to come to terms with my sugar addiction and whatnot.
I also greatly modified the food plan I’m on – one that works for me and I enjoy eating, plus is simple to prepare.
Now, with full knowledge of the nature of stalls and “whooshes” on hCG, I didn’t get freaked out when I stalked for 5 days … I managed to catch up after all. Plus, I leave all your vlogs in playlists, organized by round, and listening to them at work really keeps me motivated as I share (and re-share) in your own wonder it’s discoveries on your personal journey.
Anyway – THATS what works for me- keeping track of pounds and bodyfat, but just trying to make it thru this one day at a time and as long as I stay faithful to my version of the protocol that’s really been working for me, I have faith that the fat will melt away.
I am pleased to report that, at VLCD20, I have lost 10.1 pounds of body weight, with 9.1 pounds of that being body fat – (even with a visit from TOM at VLCD9 – yikes – no one said I was perfect at timing lol).
Wow- that was WAY more info than you asked for…. But I just couldn’t hold back – I’m so proud of myself for really sticking with this – and you have been my #1 inspiration! Sounds a little creepy – lol…. But seriously – thanks for all the work you have done to share this wonderful thing with the world… “
“I like to weigh once a week, for then when the# is bigger it makes me stay on plan. If I weigh myself every day and the #only moves alittle or nothing thats when I look to icecream. Hope that helps.”
“Well I just started my second round and I weigh myself every morning. It keeps me on track. I can see when I follow the plan it works. I also can see if I’m not following the plan I can have no progress. I need the reinforcement of the scale on the daily basis. “
“I weigh myself daily, but don’t get hung up over the numbers 🙂 I’m looking more to the numbers when it comes to inches lost, especially my waist!!! That’s where I sometimes get discouraged :-/”
“Patience is the key regarding the diet and, yes, I do weigh each morning.
I’ve only experienced four or five days where I lost slightly over one pound,
and so appreciate every 2 oz., 4 oz., or 6 oz. loss.
“
“I weigh daily, first thing after voiding, and I record it on the bathroom mirror in dry erase marker. I keep a weeks worth of data all the time. I’m not too hung up on the number, because I know that for the most part things are going in the right direction. When the scale reading is not favourable, it’s usually because of a small slip up, or not enough water or a bad sleep. It’s because I weigh daily that I can attribute it back to these common things from the day or two before. For me, as long as I feel good, and the scale shows favourable readings 5 days out of 7, I know I’m on track. I do it this way no matter what phase I’m in. I didn’t do it this way before, but I suspect that that may have gotten me in to trouble. It’s part of my daily routine and helps me stay on track day after day. “
“I like weighing in daily because it keeps me motivated. I did plateau one time so far but I was emotionally prepared for it. I look forward to weighing in everyday to check on my progress and it also helps me to reassess what I need to do differently then the day before to continue to get the best results.”
“Hi Rayzel,
It is day 10 on the program for me. I have been weighing daily.
This morning the loss was .2 lbs. I am considering weighing every 2 days
to allow the space for the weight loss to possibly slow down without disappointment &
feeling like a failure (which, in the past has sent me into a tailspin.)
Thank you for your support & inspiration.
Elyn”
“I started out weighing myself every morning. Not a good thing because I did HCG medically supervised and weighed in every Wednesday – in the afternoon. It was a week of constant highs and disappointing lows. Highs because weighing myself at 5:30 a.m. showed great results; only to find that every Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., brought me down because it appeared EVEN THOUGH I was losing, as if it wasn’t good enough, fast enough and BOY did it play with my head. That week I was really down and seriously wanted to just STOP and EAT whatever I wanted because I felt I was failing.
The girls in the doctor’s office told me not to weigh myself every morning, just the once a week with them. That, coupled with your encouraging words and wonderful website, totally got me through it.
Thank you again Rayzel for being here for all of us hCGers….love you!”
“Hi Rayzel, I just wanted to comment on a post from the other day w out making it public. I did the last round last hcg day was may 29th. I didn’t weigh myself before during or after the entire 26 days on hcg. I am happy to report I still haven’t hopped on the scale. I used to be a slave to it. Now I eat when I’m hungry & haven’t binged eaten at all. I was definitely ready emotionally for the last round & believe that until a person is really ready for that they will continue to judge themselves by what the scale says. Which really sucks….I know I spent most of my adult life judging myself by it. Anyway, good luck with everything! & again thanks for all your posts & continued information! You’re great!”
“In regards to weighing…
I weigh daily, and for me, it works.
When I weight daily, it keeps me accountable on a daily basis.
It makes this process become the forefront of my thoughts. For me, personally, if I don’t make eating right and drinking enough water my “J-O-B,” then it won’t be a priority for me.
When I am faced with an option to eat that ice cream cone with my family or just order a large iced tea… I think for a moment on how that will end up on the scale for me the next morning or a couple days from then. And 9 times out of 10, the right choice is easy to make because I make daily weighing a priority.
However – there is a danger to this method. One can become overly obsessed about the scale. I found myself weighing at night, as well as the morning. Well, I still do. But it’s more for curiosity’s sake now (I hope). One must try to remain clear-headed and realistic and understand (especially if they are a woman), that our weight WILL vary, and the scale does not define us. But we are so emotionally tied to numbers, aren’t we!
I am thrilled to have lost 33 pounds on my first round, and I am nearing the end of my 6 week break, proudly maintaining a 2 pound loss in that time. I have gone from a size 22 to an 18 in pants. But I know that while I may fit in an 18 in the “women’s sizes,” I would not fit in an 18 in the regular ladies section. Just as I know not all 18’s are created equal… I must remind myself that my weight today does not realistically depict who I really am. It’s more about how I FEEL in those pants than what the number says on the tag, right!!!??? “
“I used to be against diets that required daily weigh ins, however, I find that on this particular protocol it works and is beneficial to staying with the plan. On the maintenance portion, I am less strict about daily weighing and if I feel like I am gaining I will do a steak day before I weigh!
Thanks for all your support and information – you have been a huge part of my success on this plan.”
“I weigh myself daily, morning and night. I consider my morning weight to be my true weight, but am also interested to see what I weigh at night before bedtime. You are right, there is a lot of emotion tied up with the scale results. Happily my HCG experience has always been a positive one!”
“I weigh every morning, without clothes right after I brush my teeth. Then I take my shot. I do this for the motivation it gives me, and also for continuity in my records and food log which I also keep religiously.”
“During P2: Yes, daily. I have found that getting enough sleep makes a BIG difference. I do not know how a pound evaporates while I am sleeping between my 5 am potty break, and my 8 am get up, but it does. “
“I weigh myself daily, or multiple times daily, and find this to be a hideous OCD trap.
Now that digital scales weigh out in “micrograms”, the scale can be very misleading and undermining. Chugging a 16oz water just before getting on the scale can be devastating.
If it weren’t such a good tool for monitor/maintenance I would throw the scale out and just use my overall sense of well-being as my guide–since ultimately, how I feel is a better measure than a number on the scale. Or, I wish that this were true. A pound down on the scale is like a blue ribbon to me. A pound up is epic proportion failure, especially if I have been disciplined.
I am curious to learn how others handle the scale.”
“For years the scales determined my mood every day. If I lost, I felt great! A gain? I was depressed. Too many days without a loss could very well set off a binge.
I finally learned 7 years ago to go by my measurements, pictures in a bathing suit, and body fat.
This way I could see the changes every few weeks. My opinion, I weigh every day to make sure I am moving in the right direction but I still get hung up on the numbers more than I should.”
“I weigh daily. I find it is a must for me. I had tried having onions with my chicken at lunch one day only to find I gained over a pound the next day. I tried it again a few weeks later and again, I gained. Even though onions are on the protocol, I can’t eat them. It would be detrimental not to weigh every day. Hcg is filled with minute tweaks for just me even though on protocol. “
“I find daily weigh ins informative and found them motivational (even with stalls) when in P2.”
“I weigh daily or at least every other as for me, it holds me accountable and gives me the knowledge that I need to act quickly if I need to adjust something. Some days I actually weight several times a day…let me explain. It is not about the number it is about learning more about my body and different fluid fluctuations. Also, it takes any power the scale has over me and reminds me it is just a tool like a stethoscope is to listen to your heart beat for example. We all have quirks lol “
“Hi hazel, I weigh myself daily but see a lot of fluctuation. I think daily keeps me from getting too off track howeveronly track it in my chart weekly. So far I’ve lost 48 lbs in 2 rounds”
“Daily. Keeps me motivated but I still need to have the correct mindset for the days it doesn’t move, or even goes up a little bit. I need to keep in mind it’s the big picture of weight going down, not the individual days that make up the big picture :)”
What does it all MEAN??? If you’re feeling overwhelmed and confused about which is right, you have two options and you can try both at different times:
- Try weighing daily – see how it feels.
- Try not weighing – see how it feels.
It’s okay if you have to experiment with one tactic, or both, for a short period of time, in order to see which method works best for your psyche.
Remember, the main point is that what will be successful and great is individually based on who you are as a person, something only you will know about yourself (and maybe your cat, which bummer, they can’t talk).
