Here's a link to an article published today in The Kansas City Star. This may not be available very long for free. It talks about the pros and cons of daily weigh-ins. But the real kicker is the second paragraph: they admit Atkins works!

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...g/13370442.htm

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

This is an interesting issue, Alida. Since I started this way of eating, I've been a daily weigher. I don't know if this is right for everyone. I'm able to view the variations without freaking out and look to the "trend", as one of the folks interviewed suggested.

Good thing, too, since it took me just about 2 years to arrive at my current 110 (+/- a couple of pounds). On the other hand, I normalized my blood sugars pretty fast and once I got down to 145 I had already passed my extremely modest goal. So everything after that was a nice surprise to me.

On the other note, it is really refreshing to see an article simply mention in passing that the evidence is that the Atkins nutritional approach works.

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I liked the point made that the frequent weigh-ins was a reminder of your diet mission. Seems like when I started creeping up from where I was 6 months ago, when I started avoiding the scale. I used to be a daily weigher and was successful at the time. I will have to reinstate it. Seems like the multiple weigh-ins per day might even be helpful for me. Since portion control is my issue, that would directly show me how much dinner I've packed away.

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To think is to create!
So What? Now What?
Tom
Restart LC 7/05/08

I,too, am a daily weigher. I find that it keeps me focused...just knowing that I will be getting on the scale in the morning keeps me away from the late night snacks and has significantly reduced any 'cheats' that come my way.

Thanks for posting this link, Alida. I caught this article in the KCSTAR, and laughed outloud when I read that acknowledgment of Atkins success in the second paragraph. Hah!

As for daily weighing, I've actually started doing that. From my own history, I know that avoiding the scales is one of my significant symptoms of denial. If I don't see it on the scale, it isn't happening??

So now, at goal +/-, I step on that monster every morning. I remind myself that I'm not really "at goal," I'm still on a journey. A journey for life. And I am so worth it.

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

I have weighed myself daily since this WOL began. I am with Maggie, being up a pound or so I don't panic.... I know it is normal fluctuations. However, the reason I gained 60 pounds in 2 years was because I had hidden the scale.... in denial for me. If I didn't see the numbers on the scale, I couldn't be overweight. Now, I know this WOL is a journey..... a non-ending one, so weighing daily keeps me in check with my food choices and amounts. While it may not be for everyone, it works for me.

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196/135-135

I was like you, Rhonda. I tossed my scale somewhere along the line ... on the way up, that is. I'm not sure it would have made a difference, at that time of my life, since I had already resigned myself to being "matronly." LOL! It wasn't until they weighed me at the hospital to see how much gamma globulin I needed for a bat bite that I was confronted with the reality of the situation.

There I was going up sizes over the years and raising denial to an art form. It took the undeniable evidence of being nearly 170 lbs plus a seriously abnormal glucose tolerance test to get my attention.

Now, I guess, I'm permanently paying attention. Yet I don't really spend much time consciously thinking about it. My decisions are sort of habitual at this point, but the scale and glucometer reinforce those choices.

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I started Atkins 5 years ago and I was a maniacal daily weigher. I started and stopped it several times because of frustration which led to giving up. A friend suggested that I throw out my scale, buy a dressmaker's tape measure and weigh myself at her house weekly. I measured myself and kept a weekly log of those numbers. I weighed myself weekly at her house and also kept a log of those numbers. What I found was that I was completely unaffected by the normal daily weight fluctuations that we all know we have. For the first time in my life, every time I stepped on the scale I saw progress.

I can definitely agree that daily or at least frequent weighing can be a big help in maintenance, but for me..during the losing phase, weekly weighing made the difference I had never seen before. Every trip to the scale was encouragement and affirmation that I was on the right track. Even if it was only a 3 pound loss, it was always a loss.

(As an aside, after 5 years, I have fallen so far off the wagon that I can't see the darn wagon anymore. I'm chasing it back down at this very moment...before I go up two sizes instead of only one.)

ilspeth, you've come to a good place for wagon chasing.

Sometimes the process can feel a lot like running as fast as you can to stay in one place, whether the goal is loss or maintenance. But...that's better than giving up.

Best wishes.

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Barb L.
Atkins since Jan 2003
Maintenance as of 4/05


My Fitday Journal

I was a daily weigher, sometimes more than once a day, for the first 5 months on Atkins. It really helped me drop that 65 pounds! Then I stopped, and now I am paying for it.

After reading this article, I realized that I was so successful because first of all, I could see the scale dropping, and even on the days it didnt, I would know that it was just a fluctuation in my system.

I am reaffirming to start weighing in daily again. Starting with tomorrow morning. I am also am going back to Induction tomorrow morning! I need that "cleansing" for 2 weeks to get me through Christmas!

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Karen





Yankee Doodle Challenge: 171/169.5/156

I do weigh every day, although during a summer challenge, I stayed off of it for several weeks to "Focus on the Journey". I found it difficult to stay off the scale, but I did.
I just regret that the numbers can still influence my day.....I'm bummed if I gain, and I may tend to "reward" myself if I lose. So, it can be a dangerous thing if you are prone to those things. But for the most part, it is feedbck to me about how I'm doing in general. Do I need to increase my water....my fiber....my exercise.....did that one extra chicken leg put me over the limit? See, not working out has me on a holding pattern.....
And when I went totally dairy-free in November, the scale provided proof to me that dairy is indeed a problem for me and had kept me hostage in the 220's for months.

Everyone has to decide this for themselves.....a well-fitting pair of jeans is also a good indicator of weight gain.....or loss.

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I was a daily weigher during OWL and the first part of maintenance. I fell off the wagon a tad, but I am now back to daily weigh-ins. They help keep me focused on the task and aware that their IS a task. During OWL, I found that the daily fluctuations did not bother me. I knew they would happen and just kept plugging away. We all have to find the best way to use the scale tool. All part of our life's journey!

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Alida
5'1" ~ 59 years old
Highest weight: 165
Atkins 7/10/2004
160/126/125
RE-DO, January 2008:
167/162/135

I weigh daily. It is something I have done since highschool (waaayyyy back then)

When I first did LC I weighed in the morning and evening. I remember about the 3rd or 4th day I weighted LESS at night than I did in the morning.

I do understand that when I weigh daily there will fluctuations. BUT it really helps me to see if the weight is creeping up on me or not. I can nip it in the bud before it turns to 5 or more lbs

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Rachel

Alida - That is a really good way to put it! I am very task oriented, and this is exactly how I look at it too, just never really realized it!

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Karen





Yankee Doodle Challenge: 171/169.5/156

Excellent article. I can relate....I weigh every morning...and yes - sometimes the fact that my scale goes up doesn't make me feel so hot....but I know where I am at on a daily basis...which is worth more than being a little let down because my scale was up a pound or two.

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Started: 261
Currently: 182