What To Do When the Scale Won't Budge

I'm getting a bit frustrated. My weigh-in this week saw me gaining 1.4 pounds. I weigh in every week over at our company's Wellness offices, and they have one of those body fat analysis scales. And, just like last week, my fat percentage, hydration percentage, and fat free mass to fat mass ratio all improved. In fact, they've all now surpassed the previous best numbers I'd had back in May. All that's left is the weight.

I can attribute some of this to wearing heavier clothes during the weigh-in because of the colder weather. I've been a little sick for the past week or so, so maybe that plays a role as well. The holiday break is very difficult for me to manage because of all the changes in routine. We had family here, so we ate out a lot. But those are all just excuses.

Maybe I shouldn't get too wrapped up in the actual pounds. I'm happy the other numbers are getting better, but seeing the weight stay the same or go up slightly is very discouraging. I usually try to read Ashley's posts before I write mine every week, because it seems like we struggle with similar things.

One thing she said this week really rang true for me. I'm not giving my best to this; not giving my full 100 percent. I know that I can't be "on" all the time, that I can't be perfect. I'm going to have a bad meal here and there. I'm going to miss a workout from time to time. But I have to work on minimizing those bad times, and being mindful about the causes of those slip-ups.

I've noticed that I've let my food logging slide. Whenever I've been successful losing weight, it's been when I've consistently logged my food. It's the one thing I tell people who are trying to lose weight: "Write it down." Don't worry about calories or fat or whatever right now, just get into the habit of writing it down. There are tons of websites that are free and easy to use that will help you with logging your food. You'd think I'd get my own message, right? But, for whatever reason, I've not been doing it. And that 1.4 pound gain is probably the result.

So, I committed myself this week to a renewed effort to write down what I eat. That's one of my goals this week - write it all down.

I logged into my Weight Watchers Online for Men account Monday morning and saw all the new points system changes. I'd heard they were changing things up, I'd even participated in a conference call with one of the Weight Watchers leaders about it, but I didn't expect such a dramatic change!

The website stepped me through the initial setup again, and I quickly found that my daily points allowance had drastically increased. I'm talking by almost half! When I first went through a Weight Watchers session many years ago, I got the maximum points allowance they had, about 32 I think. Then when I started Weight Watchers Online for Men, I got 41 points. Now with the new PointsPlus system, I've got 57 points!

They've changed the way the points are calculated, so now that 2-point snack cake isn't equal to the 2-point banana. The banana is now 0 points, and I don't even know what the cake would be, but I've noticed that other things I would normally eat have increased in point value.

So, while I was initially disturbed by having all these extra points, I think I'm going to end up using them all every day. I've got to get my head and my past experiences out of the way, and try to let the program work the way it is designed. I'm not eating the activity points I earn, and I'm also trying not to use the extra weekly points they give me - just to give myself an extra boost.

So my goals this week are to log everything I eat with the Weight Watchers Online for Men system. I also want to lose three pounds this week. I still have my 10 pounds a month goal, but I'm going short term for now and going week to week. During the Thanksgiving break, I let my exercising slide too, so I'm going to start that up again this week. I've also started weighing myself every morning at home hoping to see some trends or hints as to why I'm not losing weight like I think I should. Maybe knowing that I've got to step on that scale in the morning will give me some incentive to eat better and exercise during the day.

More on Tipping the Scales:
Eating Healthy Is Harder Than I Thought
Begging for Pizza
My Wii Told Me I'm Fat

After decades of dieting only to gain it back, two That's Fit readers have decided to finally rethink their relationship with food and exercise over the next year to move toward a lifetime of fulfilling, healthy living. Come by every week as Ashley and Lee share their successes and challenges as they tip the scale.

Weight Watchers provided Lee with a free trial membership for a limited time. All thoughts are his own.