Tuesday, December 11, 2012

The Scale: Friend? or Foe?

"Weigh yourself every day!" "Only weigh yourself once a week!" "Don't ever weigh yourself!" "It is incredibly important to know exactly what you weigh!" "Only weigh once a month!"


Does anybody else ever get tired of all this? The constant battle of people arguing about whether weighing yourself is a good thing or a bad thing? For a very long time, I was of the mindset that I had to know exactly how much I weighed to be "healthy/happy". The scale became an idol in my life. I didn't weigh myself every day, but I lived in constant dread/anticipation of that certain day of the week when I would step on the scale.

The day before I would weigh (I usually weighed mid-week) I tried to be so "good". To not eat as much, to get in a good workout, etc. And let me tell you, when I stepped on that scale, my heart was beating pretty fast. I let that chunk of metal decide whether my day (and sometimes week!) was going to be good, bad, or ugly. And I let it define me. 

Let me just say, that I am not going all "you're-beautiful-no-matter-how-you-look-so-you-can-eat-anything-you-want". I believe with all of my heart that God gave us our bodies to take care of. And that means (in my opinion) eating healthy, and being fit. But I don't think it means that you have to be a slave to the scale. What if I told you that you actually don't even need a scale? You would probably look at my like I lost my left eyeball.

Wanna know a secret? I haven't weighed for 2 months. I have found that my clothes tell me everything I need to know. If my pants aren't fitting right, I know I should cut back on my carb intake. And not only do my clothes tell me, but just the way I feel tells me what I need to know. And can I just say how freeing it is to not be prisoner of the scale? I'm not saying that you shouldn't weigh yourself. I am just saying what I have found to be the most helpful in my life.

What's you're opinion of the scale? Have you thrown it out? Or is weighing something that you do religiously?

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