Your Bathroom Scale: End the Love-Hate Now!

• June 10, 2015

Here is a piece of poignant advice. I realize that this may be controversial, and may feel counter-intuitive to you, but I feel very strongly about this. Get rid of your bathroom scale! It is more dangerous to you than it is worth!

Research has shown that self-weighing is a poor motivator for people wanting to lose weight. More than this, it can actually be dangerous. There are several reasons for this.

1. Self-weighing averts your attention to the wrong end of the problem. Your weight is not the problem; it’s what you’re eating that is. Focus your attention on your plate, that’s where the solution is, not the scale!
2. Each time you focus on your weight, you reinforce the problem and the pain. If you look at the scale, it tells you that you’re overweight. So, you believe it. In fact, each time you hear it, you believe it even more. Belief is a powerful force. What you believe becomes true, and you become locked into a seemingly inescapable prison. And it’s a painful prison. It makes you feel bad, and sad, and then your discipline and resolve is eroded and you make bad eating decisions. This reverberating cycle of gloom is hard to escape.
3. With a scale, you focus on a number, not a destination. The destination you want is to look good, and feel good. Keep that in your mind.
4. The habit of standing on the scale triggers old mindset and habits. Getting back onto the scale will suck you back into the gloomy past. You want to be part of an inspiring future instead.
5. Your weight is a fluctuating number, and a poor predictor of health anyway. The timing of your last meal, and bowel movement, and fluid intake, and fluid retention from hormonal fluctuations all shift the number with no change in your body fat. This can trick and depress you; it’s a faulty measure of your WHealth.
6. More important than your weight is your body fat, especially your belly fat. Your bathroom mirror and the fit of your clothes will tell you far more about this than your bathroom scale.
7. Finally, you want to be in control of your destiny. When you enslave yourself to your bathroom scale, you give it the power. Don’t do it.

I suggest that you weigh yourself very occasionally in your doctor’s office or a pharmacy on a good quality scale. You need to have a vague sense of where you’re at, and what your target is. But that’s all. The healthiest way is for you to find a happy path to weight loss, and the bathroom scale, even if hidden by your bathrobe hanging in the corner, is not your friend!

Research has demonstrated that counting calories is a powerful way to focus on your plate, ensuring the correct calorie intake to match your desired outcome. Hold an image in your mind of the person you want to be, and BELIEVE. That’s the road to BodyWHealth!

Have fun,

Roddy