Breaking Up With the Scale!

Pounds. Lbs. Stones. Kilos. 

How often do you weigh yourself? Weekly? Daily? Multiple times a day?

I can happily say that I don't remember the last time I weighed myself. The last time I was weighed was at the doctor's.

I don't think it's completely wrong to weigh yourself. As a matter of fact, it's a very simple and easy metric to gauge your progress toward whatever your goals may be. If you want to gain strength, you may have set the intention to gain weight because muscles weigh a lot. More muscle = more weight = more strength. Of course, that's just one example. 

However, weighing yourself can become an unhealthy ritual, especially if you struggle with an eating disorder or disordered eating behaviors. Warning signs that you have an unhealthy obsession with weighing yourself: weighing yourself multiple times a day, allowing the number to dictate how your day goes, adjusting your diet or exercise regimen based on a daily fluctuation, allowing the number to affect your mood or day. Experts will recommend that you weigh yourself weekly if you are using it as a gauge for progress for your goals. Even then, weekly fluctuations are not clear indicators of your weight. Constipation, hormones, sodium intake, etc. can all affect fluctuations. 

Personally, I felt I was too obsessed with weighing myself and I wanted to break free. I no longer wanted to allow a silly number on a scale to dictate my mood for the day. It's amazing how much of an impact this number had on my mental well being. So how did I break free? It's pretty simple.

Hide, destroy, or remove the scale until you break the habit. 

Living with others who also use the scale meant that I could not destroy the scale (not to mention I find that a bit dramatic, but whatever works for you.) However, I would place the scale in an inconvenient location, perhaps in another family members bedroom. I would have to go out of my way and it would be obvious to other house members what I was doing. I did continue to "sneak" a weigh in every now and then but eventually, it became irrelevant. I broke the habit. This has truly been freeing for me. I remember feeling "light" and weighing myself only to be struck with the "horrible" news that I was, in fact, heavier. I remember questioning the accuracy of the scale and stepping on and off multiple times. I remember stepping on the scale and ending up on the ground crying because of the number. Did I hate myself to the point of tears before I weighed myself? No. So why should those digits on the cheap little scale cause me so much pain.

I am no longer enslaved to the scale. I am no longer enslaved to a weight. When I go to the doctor, they don't hide my weight from me, and they don't need to. I have realized that my value isn't measured in my weight.

I hope this can help some of you to break free from the scale and find the same freedom that I have found.