Why Your Scale is Helping you Pack on the Pounds

The walk from your bedroom to the bathroom in the morning can feel like a death march. Not because you need to navigate the shoes strewn across your floor or avoid ramming your calf on the corner of your coffee table in a dark sleepy haze, but at the end of the perilous path, your biggest critic awaits to determine your sense of self-worth for the day – your scale.

As a bride, I know you want to lose weight for your wedding. It’s almost an unavoidable expectation these days that so many of us feel obligated to fulfill. And weighing yourself feels like a necessary evil, a sick obsession to make sure you are on track. But the process can seriously weigh you down…

As you stand in the bathroom, you start removing every article of clothing. You peel off your camisole and shorts, your underwear, even your rings and earrings. Oddly, this is probably the only time of day when you are truly naked. It’s just you and your body. And instead of feeling strong, beautiful and empowered, you feel vulnerable and judged.

But there is something very wrong with this picture, because the scale really doesn’t reveal anything of value.

First, the scale lies. The number can fluctuate a lot in a 24-hour period. Things like what you ate the night before, how much water you drank, where you are in your cycle, if you worked out or not, all effect the number, but have nothing to do with your health. Not even to mention that muscle weighs a lot more than fat (and it’s fit and strong we’re going for here, not an arbitrary number on a scale).

Second, the best judge of how healthy you are is how you feel. Think about it: your scale can’t tell you how you slept last night, how you felt after Chinese take-out, or how clear your skin is. These are all true signs of health. Tune into how you feel while you are eating, working out and living your life- your body will communicate health by your energy, ability to sleep, skin quality, and mood.

Here’s the reality: Have you ever actually been happy with the number on the scale? If you gained weight, you’re a fat loser. If you stayed the same you are lazy. If you lost weight, you could’ve lost more and aren’t trying hard enough.

Getting your daily dose of self-esteem bashing from your scale causes stress, poor body image and really crappy moods. And what happens when women get moody? We eat. Weighing your self is actually making you fat, not thin.

And the reality is, we all know when we lose weight. Our jeans feel looser, our skin is tighter, our face is less puffy. It’s not some big mystery. A scale can’t tell you how toned your arms are getting from doing a million triceps curls, or how radiant your eyes look from taking care of yourself.

My advice to you? Take steps to wean yourself off of the scale. The number on it means nothing. It is not an indicator of how you feel or how you look. It tells you nothing of importance. If you weigh yourself everyday - stop. Try instead to weigh yourself just once a week. If you weigh yourself every week, try cutting back to once a month. And if you really want to cultivate health in your life and develop a positive, trusting relationship with your body- just throw it away.

I promise – you will be far better off without it.

In the morning, go through this routine instead: undress, stand in front of your mirror and tell yourself you look beautiful (even if you don’t believe it at first). Admire and adore your body. Picture how you want to look in your wedding dress. Now hop into the shower feeling empowered, sexy and healthy.