Are you a slave to the scale??

Hi, My name is Angi and I was a scale -a-hlolic!

I weighed myself as much as 8 times a day or more!  Naturally, I hid this nasty little addiction from my husband and friends. After all, why did they need to know that a 5 to 7 pound flux on the scale was driving me insane and making me mental nut case?!

The first weigh in of the day was always in the morning.  It was the first thing I thought about when I woke up and I acted on it immediately.  I also weighed after a workout, after a shower or bath, before I went out, when I came back home, before and after meals!  I was living life on the scale and by the scale.   Three little numbers  would appear at the end of the red arrow and those three numbers dictated my entire mood!  I would obsess about THE NUMBER.

I had a number in my head, and I just knew that if I could achieve this number I would be happy and skinny and satisfied.  I was WRONG!!!

I was already happy and I was already skinny.  However, if that scale was two pounds above what I thought it should be…I would take a trip to Looney Toon Land.  I didn’t outwardly show my frustration.  It was more of a mental state of beating myself up.   Looking back now, it makes me sick to think that I lost so much joy just because I wasn’t satisfied with the number!  It was ridiculous!!!  I allowed the the scale to rob me of a completely great day for too many years!!  

When I began weight training on a regular basis, I remember my trainer telling me I was skinny fat.  I was skinny but FAT!  Slowly I began lifting weights and I began to see muscle tone form and I was hooked.   I loved the results of what I could see and feel however when I stepped on the scale, I was FREAKING out!!   I was gaining weight!  How could this be??   I was working out BUT gaining weight?   My trainer kept telling me to get off the scale and get out of my head.  You can’t tell a scale junkie to go cold turkey.  I was literally watching the red arrow move UP!  YIKES.  The truth is muscle weighs more than fat!  As I started to develop lean muscle, the scale was moving  up even though I was losing inches!

To weigh or not to weigh?  For me, it is still a no no.  Instead of hopping on the scale I have a fab pair of jeans that I try on!   I mean we all have that dress or those jeans that we know we look good in!  You know, the ones that fit you like a glove and make you feel awesome!  Yeah, so I go to my closet and try those bad boys on.  If they feel snug, I just know that I need to lay off the blue bell and get back to work.  If I put them on and they feel perfect, I’m just as happy as if they are a tiny bit loose!  Clothes tell the truth so why not measure yourself by what you wear?  Because unless you regularly attend nudist events,  I doubt it matters!

I have been scale free for over 6 years.  Naturally, I have weighed myself in six years but it is usually at the doctor’s office.  I physically chucked the scale in the garbage and I never looked back.  Liberating!

So weigh if you want to but be cautious of the hard right turn a the bottom of the hill.   It will take you right to Looney Toon Ville and I have been there and it is no fun!  My advice is to weigh your nuts and produce but waive goodbye to the scale.