The Power of the Mighty SCALE!

Get off the scale! I have yet to see a scale that can tell you how enchanting your eyes are. I have yet to see a scale that can show you how wonderful your hair looks when the sun shines its glorious rays on it. I have yet to see a scale that can thank you for your compassion, sense of humor, and contagious smile. Get off the scale because I have yet to see one that can admire you for your perseverance when challenged in life. ― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free

When I think of my relationship to the bathroom scale it casts a shadow over my heart.  No matter how I approach it, the scale has always been my nemesis.  It has the power to change my entire attitude about myself, and forecast my mood for the day.  Oh sure, there have been times when I was dieting and losing weight that I loved the scale.  But there have been many more times that I have been dieting and feeling good - feeling lighter and I stepped on it and the number wasn’t agreeing.  There is nothing worse than strictly adhering to a diet, doing the weekly workouts, knowing I was doing everything right, then getting on the scale and gaining half a pound!  That is a killer.

What's also a killer is the elusive “goal weight”.  Everyone who has ever dieted knows about that.  The magic number on the scale that if and when you ever make it - you will have reached your goal and found the holy grail - THIN.  The point that makes this crazy - it is never about how the body feels, it's about the number.  I remember when I lost all that weight years ago and my Doc said I didn’t need to lose anymore.  He told me my BMI was perfect, my weight was well in the normal range and I was in excellent health.  I looked at him like he was crazy.  I needed to lose 8 more pounds to be at my “goal weight”.  I had completely disconnected from my body and was chasing a number on the scale that I arbitrarily thought would mean I was thin.  I honestly never felt or ever thought of myself as being thin. I could not accept that.  And I never did lose those last eight pounds - I never made it to THIN. 

It’s also a sad state when I can remember every major event of my life by how much I weighed at the time.  When I was married the first time I weighed 162 pounds.  The day I delivered my daughter, nine months pregnant, I weighed 211, in 6th grade, when we had our yearly weight and height taken I weighed 123 (I can remember that day clearly, like it was yesterday).  Never do I round these numbers up or down.  I know exactly what I weighed.  I’ve got dozens of memories attached to my body weight.  What’s that about?  Plus, I know I am not alone in this, I’ve heard many other women tell similar weight memory stories. What kind of misguided self-identification is that?  Our lives are so much more than a number on a scale. There should be some more meaningful marker of those times in our lives.

That is why giving up the scale is part of the first phase of Body Belief.  What would happen if we all just stopped weighing ourselves?  This obsession with the scale is part of the Fat Operating System that holds us in the never ending cycle of self-disapproval, disconnection from our bodies and the merry-go-round of dieting.  

It is time to stop weighing and start paying attention to how our bodies feel.  We need to stop setting a number goal to determine how we feel.  We need to start paying attention to things like how we can move our body, how our clothes fit, and  if our bodies feel light or heavy from inside our skin - not from looking at a dial on a piece of metal.  It might feel like breaking up with a good friend, but it’s not.  It’s more like letting go of a dysfunction, co-dependent relationship.  Give it a try!