My bathroom scale never fails me. It's steadfast, true, and dependable. No matter what, the number I see causes me sadness.
It doesn't matter if I've gained, stayed the same, or lost weight; I'm unhappy. And here's why.
In the past, when I was trying to lose weight (and failing), I would weigh myself every day. I couldn't get out of the habit. Sometimes, I would get off and back on again a second later, just to see if the number would be 0.2lbs lower than what it just was. Or I would weigh myself multiple times a day; clinging to the hope of seeing a low number that would bring me some joy in life.
I knew that if only that number was lower that I would find happiness and pride. But in hindsight, I see that I was setting myself up for sadness, defeat, shame, guilt, hopelessness, and self-sabotage.
-If I was up on the scale, I would be discouraged and say “forget it!” and I would eat whatever I wanted because I would be upset that I gained weight despite my efforts. Defeat, shame, self-sabotage, sadness.
-If I was down on the scale, I would be fleetingly happy and then go eat something I shouldn’t to “celebrate,” which would quickly make me unhappy, because I wouldn’t feel good about myself after eating whatever I ate. Guilt, shame, self-sabotage, sadness.
-If I was the same on the scale, I would feel trapped and start googling "how to break a plateau" on my computer creating even more despair wondering if I should do something drastic or not at all. Hopelessness, sadness.
It took years to break my scale habit and the concept of not using it is hard to teach to others who struggle with it.
There was never an exact moment when I realized that the scale only hurt me. I never got so mad I threw it away.
As I truly started changing my life and ate well to eat well and exercised to exercise, I gradually learned to find my happiness and pride within the everyday choices I was making. I began to forget about the scale because I wasn't looking for a number to tell me, "good job!" or "way to go!" or "I'm proud of you" anymore. I was giving myself accolades for working hard, setting my mind to something, and accomplishing my goals minute by minute, day by day.
I didn't let the scale tell me how to feel about myself. I told myself how to feel about me.
My advice to you is don't set weight goals. Set nutrition goals, and/or strength goals, or power goals. If you follow your nutrition plan and your exercise plan, and set your mind to completing those plans every day, you will never have anything telling you not to do them.
And, okay, what if you do step on that scale after a month, and it's not the number you're expecting? Are you really going to stop eating right and exercising hard? No! You do those things for you, for your health, for your well-being, to be a better you, a happier person, and someone full of pride.
Try the no scale way. You will eventually learn that the scale doesn't have a voice. It's just a tool and a not-so-accurate one at that. You will be able to let the number roll off of you with no emotions attached. You will again learn, another way to take control of your own life.
