Tipping the Scale

I have a confession to make. I do not know exactly how many pounds I weigh. I am happy to say I have not been on a scale in probably about a year. Given my profession, I am definitely an...oddity, shall we say. A lone soldier, maybe.

I am not afraid to step on a scale. I simply do not feel it is necessary to obsess over an obligatory number. When you think about it, if you are healthy (truly healthy), you will weigh less. Whether a healthy weight for you is 90 pounds or 200 pounds, it is all relative. You may be 6'7" and have a small frame and come out weighing about the same as your buddy who is 5'10" with a stocky frame. That's not to say that either one of you is unhealthy. You are just different.

In today's society, we have come to think of our weight as validation for how worthy or unworthy we are as people. Women especially, have fallen into this self-depricating trap. When we see that some actress tips the scales at a whopping 80 pounds, in the back of our minds we punish ourselves for being double that. And this is true no matter how unhealthy this particular person is.

In my experience, people who weigh themselves regularly actually tend to weigh more. I don't know whether it's because they weigh themselves that they weigh more because of the tendency to punish oneself for a an unhealthy weight or unhealthy habits or whether they weigh themselves because they are overweight. Regardless of the cause and effect cycle, one thing's for sure, in the majority of cases I have seen, weighing oneself regularly only serves to make someone feel disempowered, and not the other way around.

So...I would recommend putting the scale away for good and, if you are trying to lose weight, measure your inches instead. Take your weight at the beginning so you know where you are starting from, but do not weight yourself for several weeks, if not a few months, at a time. Just think of the sense of accomplishment that come out of losing 30 pounds versus the 1/2 pound or so you see on the scale daily. (Worse yet, if you get on the scale one day and find you have gained that 1/2 pound!)

Another tip I like to use is to think of your ideal healthy weight, write it on a piece of paper and stick it on the scale where the numbers read. Every time you look down at that scale, you will see your ideal weight. The brain does not know that you are playing a trick on it. It only knows that when you step on the scale, it says you weigh 120 (or whatever it is)!

The more you believe you are your ideal weight, the more the body will follow your brain's lead and take you there. Stop tipping the scale and start on the path to a healthy weight!

Love and Gratitude~
Erin