How often do you weigh yourself?

When I was in my early 20s, I lost a lot of weight for the first time. I weighed myself every morning when I got up, after my shower, whenever I went into the bathroom... Truly, I was obsessive. If I was at a friend's house and they had a scale in their bathroom, I'd even check there.

Then, while I gained the weight back, I never stepped on the scale at all.

The next time I lost a lot of weight, I did it on weight watchers. So, I had the official weigh in once a week, but again, I'd weigh myself repeatedly in between. If my weight went up, it stressed me out and disheartened me. If my weight was down, I got cocky and thought I could get away with a little treat here or there. I'd still check my weight after the little treat though, and I'd check the next morning, at the gym, etc.

Then, while I gained the weight back, I never stepped on the scale at all.

The thing is, I think there's more to the yo-yo of weight loss/gain then the actual numbers on the scale. A big part of it is the mindset. And, when you adopt an extreme mindset, it isn't something that can be maintained in the long term. Hence yo-yoing to the other extreme of the mindset. For me, one area that this manifested was in my relationship with the scale.

This time, losing weight is not my only goal. My bigger goal is to figure out what I need to do to stay healthy and keep it off. I think one of the answers to that is moderation.

Since I'm doing weight watchers again, I have my once a week weigh in. That's it. In fact, that first week, I asked my husband to hide the bathroom scale.

Within a few days, I asked him if I could check. Just to have an idea what the numbers were like. He said no. Before the first week was over, I started looking for it. Not an all out complete search, but I peeked in the cabinets, and moved towels around in the linen closet. I didn't find it.

So, I only see my weight once a week. You know what? That's okay. At times, I find it really frustrating. But, I'm not dwelling on it.

The scale is not our only measure of success, and it isn't even the most important one.
The numbers on the scale are one thing in this journey that we really don't have control over. There will be times that you do everything right, but still don't lose weight. Other times, you'll spend the week eating chocolate cake and still lose. In the long run, it will even out and your efforts will effect the numbers in the way you want, but in the short run, those numbers sometimes fluctuate in ways that seem unrelated to what you do.

I'm learning to define my success by the choices I made. A good day (foodwise) is becoming a day where I ate lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and got a great work out in. A day to improve upon is one where I eat a bag of smarties.

So, how often do you weigh yourself? Does it work for you now, and do you see it working for you in the long term?