tips on weighing
Try not to weigh in more than once a week. The human body (especially females!) fluctuates a great deal and daily weighing can drive you insane as you watch the numbers bounce around. Don't forget about monthly water retention! Cut yourself a little slack with the weigh-in at that time, but keep with your eating routine - you'll feel better!
Go to the bathroom! As indelicate as it sounds, a full bladder or a full bowel can add pounds.
Don�t focus on a set number on the scale so much as an overall loss of size and gaining a healthier way of life. Pregnancy changes much about our bodies (such as where we carry fat, hip bones spreading, larger feet, a residual �baby belly� for some possible examples) and getting back to a pre-pregnancy number may not be accurate anymore. You might be better to judge your losses in general by how your clothing fits. (everyone is different)
No two scales are created equal!! Each scale can weigh differently, so to be consistant, weigh on the same scale each time.
You might find better success if you weigh in later in the week. A US government health committee released a find a couple years ago that dieters who weighed in early in the work-week (Monday, Tuesday) were more likely to give up their diet regimes than those who weighed in at the end of the work week (Thurs or Fri). The reason for this is that on the weekends, even strict dieters tend to snack more, go out to dinner or to parties. Even with eating and drinking healthy options, the body tends to retain the bigger quantities of food or liquid (alcohol especially), and the salt from healthy snacks such as pretzels or low-fat chips can cause water retention. When weighing in on Monday, your body still is very likely to be retaining extra fluids and bulk yet from the weekend. You may have actually lost or remained the same weight since the last weigh-in, but due to the bloat, do not see it, and sometimes get discouraged and give up.
Don't get discouraged if you're not seeing any change at the scale even though you're eating well and exercising. In fact, you may even see a small increase if you've just begun exercising. Muscle weighs more than fat, and that may be what's happening. Try taking measurements occasionally, or cutting lengths of string to fit around waist, hips, wherever. You may see physical loss when you don't see poundage loss, or the other way around. Your body has to readjust as you lose, and it doesn't always do it consistently.
In order to visualize your weight loss, collect items and pile them on the scale until they equal the amount you've lost. Place the items in a bag and carry it around for a while. You won't believe how much you used to lug around! Try this with 5 pound bags of flour too, or sticks of margarine.
Another visualization method is to cut lengths of yarn to fit around your waist, hips and anywhere else you want to keep track of. Use a different color for each. As you lose weight and size, trim the string to fit and keep the snippets in a bowl. Seeing the snippets pile up is very reassuring!
Try graphing your weekly weigh-ins. Plot your weights on a chart, being sure to make note of when you had AF, and you may begin to see a pattern. Not everyone losing in a steady downward motion. Some Lose two, gain one, lose three, gain two, etc. It may seem like you're getting nowhere, but the chart may help you to see that you are indeed losing overall. Or AF may cause a temporary gain each month that you might not recognize until seeing it charted. For an example of such a chart, click here. (link to be active very soon, I promise!)