You wake up,trudge to the bathroom in search of your scale.Will today be a good day or a bad day?Only one way to find out.You shrug off your clothes, remove all your jewelry,say a prayer,and hold your breath as you tentatively step onto the scale.A few seconds pass and a number registers.You hop off and get back on the scale again.You repeat this morning ritual any number of times before you are convinced you have gotten an accurate reading.Perhaps this will be the last time you weigh yourself today or perhaps you will be drawn to the scale several more times before tomorrow.Perhaps you will weigh yourself before and after you eat or drink anything,every time you pee,every time you pass by the bathroom.Perhaps you will also weigh yourself at the gym,at the supermarket,at your friend's house.You must know at all times how much you weigh and be assured that things have not suddenly spiraled out of control.You can't imagine going a day without stepping on a scale and can't fathom how people can actually live without one in their home.You've even taken your precious scale with you on vacation.

The number that registers each time you step on the scale is never quite good enough,is it?Yes there is that rush of joy when the number goes down.That feeling of exhilaration,sense of accomplishment,and touch of disbelief that sweeps over you assuring you a good day.But that joy is fleeting.No number is ever good enough to stay at.Tomorrow the bar will have been raised and the number will need to be less than today's.And god forbid the number on the scale rises.The day will definitely be a bad one for you are in a most foul mood and can swear that you can feel every fat cell in your body multiplying at the speed of light.You silently berate yourself throughout the day swearing to eat less, exercise more,and get things moving in the right direction.Nothing can possibly go well today.Your fate has been sealed in the few seconds it took to step on the bathroom scale.

That's a LOT OF POWER to give to an INANIMATE OBJECT that was bought at Walmart and LIVING ON THE BATHROOM FLOOR.

Your weight will fluctuate day-to-day,hour-to-hour depending upon the clothes you are wearing,the weight of the food and drink you have consumed,your menstrual cycle,your sodium intake,and even the weather.(The higher the humidity,the higher your weight.)Also,if you are exercising to increase muscle mass in addition to losing body fat,the number on the scale may not change by as much as you would like,but you will still appear thinner.Muscle is denser than fat thereby taking up less space but weighing more.The scale cannot take any of this information into consideration; it simply spits back a relatively meaningless number.

Scales are also not always the most accurate pieces of machinery.Step on 10 different scales and you will get 10 different numbers.Step on the same scale 10 different times in a row and chances are you won't get the same number either.But yet that fraction of a pound variation can mean the difference between a good day and a bad day for you.That can be maddening and will most likely cause far more tears than happiness.

The only way to break the obsession with the scale is to stop weighing yourself.Much easier said than done,I know.Not knowing what you weigh can be extremely hard at first but simultaneously relieving. Not having to face the scale each morning (and however many times subsequently throughout the day) and allowing the day to unfold without the prejudicial decree of the scale to decide can be an enlightening experience.You'll find that there are far more important factors that contribute to what kind of day you will have than what your weight is at any given moment.

If you have been getting on the scale routinely for some time now,simply not stepping on it may be near impossible.If you are not yet ready to chuck it in the trash,give it to someone else to hold for you or at least put it away somewhere that is out of sight.Make the commitment to yourself to not go in search of the scale or to buy a new one for a given period of time.Don't swear off it forever right away because this can be too overwhelming.Set a reasonable amount of time to try going scale-free and focus on how you are feeling physically and emotionally rather than relying on a mindless object to determine that for you.The longer you are able to avoid the scale,the more you will realize that the world will not come to an end if you don't know how much you weigh and that there are more important things in life than a number on the scale.

p.s.: This is the scale you should you rely on.Who's got one of those? YOUR DOCTOR. So, be weighed at your doctor's and no where else...



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