Don't Let the Scale run your life!

Death, Speaking in Public, or The Bathroom Scale?

       Speaking in front of an audience is what experts tell us is people’s number one fear, with fear of dying running a close second. I beg to differ. For all of us fatties, the scale sitting in the corner of our bathrooms is high on our list of fearfuls—we feel it’s critical presence even on days we have no intention of stepping on it—it sits there gathering dust and mocking us.

            Don’t let the scale run your life!

            What we see on the scale in the morning can set our mood to  negative for the rest of the day. A good result and we’re walking on air. It’s senseless. Our body weight fluctuates dramatically from day to day depending on what we eat, our hormones, and the amount of exercise we performed the day before.

            A while back, a friend I worked with joined a popular weight loss system that required the dieter to weigh in with them every day. The ladies room at work had a doctor’s scale for everyone to use. Every afternoon before we left for the day, I’d see her hovering at the scale, stripping off shoes, glasses, jewelry, etc.  And I’m pretty sure she didn’t wear underwear on days she feared a weight gain. Sound crazy? We’ve all been there.

            My significant other weighs himself every morning after he showers. Now, while I’m certain he doesn’t agonize over his weight like I do, he complains of gaining as much as twenty-five pounds from time to time. (Unfortunately we share a passion for recreational eating.) His solution is to go on an all protein diet for a few weeks. And, like most men, he can drop the weight like a hot rock. It isn’t fair.

Today’s most popular weight loss plans require a weekly weigh in. If you are on one of them, let that weekly weigh-in tell the story and don’t weep over the scale every morning leading up to weigh-in day—it’s not worth it. Follow the plan and the pounds will come off when your body is ready to let them go.

Break the daily weigh in habit.

1.    Put the scale in a closet!

2.    Use it once a week at the very most.

3.    Weigh the same day every week and same time of day. And unless you weigh nude, wear the same clothes.

4.    Better yet, if you aren’t on program where you must weigh in weekly, weigh monthly. Your jeans will tell you when you’re overdoing things!

Dear readers,

As you all know, my goal is to drop 22 pounds in 2012. To help me  achieve this goal, I’ve joined TOPS. Counting calories is how I lose weight, and to lose slowly, I limit my calorie intake accordingly. This enables me to fit in the things I can’t give up. My TOPS meetings are weekly, and I’ve learned not to weigh myself in between or even the morning of the meeting. Doing so leads to madness such as taking diuretics, laxatives, starving the day before and, yes, going to a meeting without underwear!

So far, I’m down a pound and a half. Not a lot, but I focus on the long-range goal and will be happy with a loss of 2lbs a month. 

Every journey begins with a small step.

Thanks for following me on my journey,

Marla