Dear Scale, It’s Not Me, It’s You

If you’ve got an unhealthy relationship with the scale, the only way to get back to a good place is to ditch it altogether. Donate it to Goodwill, recycle it or take it out back and give it a proper beat-down, Because the sooner you ditch the idea that the scale is your ultimate measure of success, the healthier and happier you’ll be.

Scale weigh fluctuates 
It’s good to measure things and to track progress.  If you would weigh once a month, that would help you to spot a trend in your body weight (gaining, losing or maintaining). But over the course of a day your weight can fluctuate by as many as five pounds – sometimes more. The food and drink you intake, time of day, dietary choices and activity levels all factor into that number on the dial. And we won't count clothes. You can lose two pounds just by going to the bathroom – and gain it right back by eating a big meal.

Doesn't say anything about your health

The number on the scale doesn't say anything about whether you are moving in the right direction of getting healthy.  If you eat clean and count your calories, and exercise, that will help you to lose weight.  Don't let your willpower run out!  It will mess up you metabolism, and then you gain all the weight back and then some.   

Blinds your real results

By giving your attention on that number in the scale, you effectively miss out on observing the other, more significant, results of your efforts. You’re sleeping better, have more energy, are less moody or depressed. Your cravings have dissipated, you recover faster from exercise, your symptoms or medical condition have greatly improved. And yet, your program is a “failure,” because the number on the scale hasn't moved enough for your liking?

Keeps us stuck on Food

You associate that number on the scale with one major factor – food.  Maybe exercise factors in too – after all, if you ate less (or differently) and exercised more (or differently), that number would start to move. Wouldn't it? Not so fast. There are other health factors at play here – sleep, recovery from activity, psychological stress and health history – all of which play a major role in body composition. But no one looks at the scale and thinks, “Darn it – I need to get more sleep.”

The scale controls our self-esteem

This is perhaps the most important reason of all to break up with your scale. It’s psychologically unhealthy to allow a number – any number – to determine your worth, your value or your self-image. And yet, that’s exactly what happens to people who are overly invested in their scale. It’s tragic that your daily weigh-in determines whether you have a good day or  bad day, or whether or not you feel good about yourself. The scale results can take you from confident to self-loathing in under 5 seconds, but what the scale is telling you is not real.