Battle of the Bathroom Scale

How often do you use a scale? Daily, weekly, monthly or never? For some of us we just can’t stay away no matter how hard we try and avoid it. Do you dread the scale? Step on it obsessively? Do you get on, get off, and get on again just to see if your weight changed? What if you move the scale a little forward or a little to the left only to stop once you get to an inaccurate but pleasing weight! I am sure there are many of you that will be able to relate to the love and hate relationship of the scale.

I find it amazing that those little numbers representing your weight can determine what sort of day you are going to have. The biggest problem I have is I let the results dictate my mood, diet and self esteem. What is this obsession we have with the scale? I guess for some it can be a measurement of success. It will give you a compliment when you have been busting your ass at the gym all week. For others though, when not used in moderation, it can be such a evil device, so why are we so drawn to it? In the morning, at the gym, before I go to bed, whenever I see it I step on it! I am addicted to weighing myself and am glad to be able to face it before it controls my outcome of this journey and sabotages my self-esteem.

If I step on the scale and it's getting lower, or was much lower than I anticipated, I feel like I have room to cheat, to indulge and to eat empty calories whether I enjoy them or not. Yet if it is higher than the last time I stepped on, I eat with a 'who cares' attitude and eat anything and everything in sight. Either that or I only eat a partial days worth of food to try and make up for the gain. I set myself up for failure either way and neither situation is healthy for your body or your mind.

The scale can instantly crush you and take away every second of self gratitude you were just feeling prior, yet ironically we get right back on there the very next day….WHY? Our weight can fluctuate daily for many different reasons but yet we never take that in to account (or we use it as an excuse!). The bottom line is there must be some guidelines when it comes to weighing yourself or else you will just be totally irrational with normal daily fluctuations. I think for some of us, weighing in daily may work but for others it can really mess with your head. For those of you (including myself) who let the scale determine how you will feel or what you will eat,we should really evaluate how often we should be jumping on it. We should use the losses for motivation rather than destruction and the gains for reinforcement rather than self sabotage.

I don’t mean to disregard the scale completely as it can be a very useful tool, but we can obsess and overdo it. When we do that we can completely lose sight of what eating right and living healthy is all about. Today I am going to put a stop to this once and for all! I am going to put the scale away, out of sight out of mind. I will remind myself that when I do need to step on it that it will not determine who I am or how I am going to feel. It will be used in moderation and no matter what happens I will continuously remind myself it is just a number!

So for everyone who obsesses, lets all make a promise to resist the urge of stepping on the scale uncontrollably. Once and for all we will let our true thoughts and emotions reflect our mood rather than an electronic device!

♥ Amanda ♥