(This is cross-posted at BlogHer.)
If there was a scale in my house when I was growing up, I have no recollection of it. If we did own one, it must have been hidden away somewhere — like in a closet, tucked under a stack of towels or bed sheets. Our house only had one bathroom, and for a few years there were seven people who used it regularly (two parents and five kids; my youngest brother was three when my parents separated), so floor space was at a premium. Unfortunately, although I was sheltered from scale-reliance for such a long time, that didn’t stop me from focusing on the numbers when I got older.
My parents never talked about how much their kids weighed, and since I was home-schooled between the ages of 7-15, I didn’t have a chance to adopt a weight-fixation from school kids, either. It wasn’t until I reached my early 20s — having gained a few pounds that I was unhappy with — that I started paying attention to my weight for the first time. I bought a cheap non-digital scale, stepped on, and continued to do so on a regular basis for a number of years.
When I was at my lowest weight, I would use the scale every day, as soon as I woke up. This was before I had anything to eat or drink, and after I took off whatever clothes I’d worn to bed. The daily weigh-ins lasted for at least a year (maybe longer), but as I started letting-up on my food control issues, I started letting-up on the scale reliance as well. Weighing myself once a day went to a few times a week, then once a week, then every few weeks.
There isn’t anything wrong with scales. They can be an excellent way to gauge your progress if you’re trying to lose (or gain) weight. Also, if you’re prone to wearing elastic waistbands, you can check-in occasionally to make sure there haven’t been any changes you weren’t aware of.
It becomes a problem if you let the scale dictate your mood and how you feel about yourself. Does a “good” number on the scale equal a good day, and vice versa? I’ve been there. I remember weighing 120 pounds — this was an extremely unhealthy weight for me, being 5’9″ — and freaking out internally when the scale showed a two-pound weight “gain” from the day before (which, as we all know, could have been due to any number of reasons).
I still own a scale, but it’s stored under the bathroom sink and I only pull it out on random occasions. (However, when I do, old habits die hard: it’s always first thing in the morning, before I’ve had anything to eat or drink, and certainly not when I’m feeling bloated from my period or from eating too much the night before.) It took a while to feel okay with checking-in on a random basis, but as someone who used to be a slave to these numbers, it’s what I need and what works for me.
I haven’t trashed my scale completely, but I honestly feel like I could. I use it so infrequently that it wouldn’t be much of a change. I’ve been able to replace scale-reliance with something that would have seemed impossible a few years ago — I rely on how I feel and how my clothes fit.
Something else I didn’t believe when my weight was too low and I cared about every pound: except in rare instances, nobody but you is going to notice a one-, two-, or five-pound weight difference. There’s no need for stress. That’s not to say you shouldn’t stay at the weight where you’re most comfortable (as long as it’s healthy), but seeing a slightly higher number is no reason to freak out.
How often do you weigh yourself?
Related Reading:
Kori at Train Like a Girl! tracks her progress using measurements instead of scale weight. She says no matter what method you choose, the most important thing is to be consistent.
Bella on the Beach said she was Facing the Scale (Gulp!), stepping back on after a month of being away. Her reason has to do with a renewed accountability to her weight loss efforts.
Lynn C, guest-posting at MizFit Online, disclosed that she’s never owned a scale in her life.
Charlotte from The Great Fitness Experiment was weighing herself multiple times a day before she successfully made a change.
Roni from Roni’s Weigh asked her readers, Do You Weigh Everyday? She said, “This question fascinates me as I’m been on both sides of the discussion. I do believe in weighing everyday but I don’t actually do it anymore. I truly think it depends on where you are in your own personal journey.”
Edmonton Sun: Local fitness guru steers clear of the weigh scale
15 Comments
I used to measure myself with tape until I figured out that I was probably doing it wrong. :p
I weigh myself once a week now, usually on Saturdays. Didn’t own a scale for years until I decided that I’m living at an unhealthy weight and I need to whip my butt into gear.
I have a personal policy not to weigh myself unless a doctor is making me. I tend to just go by how tight my pants are. If they seem to be getting consistently tighter, then that probably means my belly is getting bigger.
I’ve never actually owned a scale, until I bought my Wii Fit. And honestly? The scale part of it is why I hate it. I hate that I try to work out every day, and then if I weigh a pound or two more than I did the day before, the Wii tells me to think about why.
And then I feel bad. I feel bad that I’m doing all this work and things are getting better, when in reality things are and it’s just a momentary blip. But weighing in every day just started making me crazy. So I haven’t used the Wii Fit in about a month, and when I do start using it again, I’m only going to weigh in once a week. Otherwise I’ll just go nuts!
Yeah, I still have a love-hate with my scale. I’m glad you broke your addiction though!
I rarely weigh myself. I don’t own a scale,and the only time I think to do it is at the gym. And since I normally go to the gym in the afternoons, it’s the worst time to weigh-in, not to mention the running shoes, clothes, etc…
I never owned a scale, but that hasn’t stopped me from scale-reliance. I use the one at the gym (the same one, to keep things consistent). I have a love-hate relationship with it, and I’m working on watching for trends instead of looking at the actual number each day. It’s far too easy to let a two pound fluctuation bother me, and I know that’s probably just due to all the water I drink. But I can’t quite let up on it since I am actively trying to lose some weight — relying on my clothes just doesn’t work well for me, but the weight is something solid I can track. For the record, I’m also tracking my fitness gains and using that to feel good about my work and progress.
I do weigh myself once a week, just to keep tabs on how my weight is moving around. I’m actually trying to avoid losing too much weight too fast, so it’s important to note so I can up my food intake if need be.
I think weight monitoring is okay, as long as it’s done as part of a program of monitoring other factors like body fat, cardiovascular health and overall strength.
I don’t own a scale and I never have. I can tell what kind of shape I’m in without one and then decide whether or not to do something about it!
UGH. I hate the scale, I love the scale. It is like the boyfriend who sometimes is a big PITA but most of them time I love him.
In the past I’d weighed myself every morning – same as you. As I was recovering from my ED, I learned that this was not healthy and needed to stop. HowEVER, I have recently gotten into the habit of doing it almost every morning again. It’s almost like an addiction…but I do know everyday it’s not healthy (for me). I wish they had a patch for weighing yourself?
Wow, this is love-hate for everyone! Also, it feels extremely personal. I weigh myself every morning. I’m able to stay fairly consistent, but the introduction of weight lifting can seriously mess with your self-perception AND the scale. As you mentioned with Michelle Obama’s arms post, all of a sudden I have bigger guns and the number on the scale has gone up, and I was so psyched out by it that I stopped lifting! It should be logic, right? I’m getting healthier so who cares, but I was so paranoid of what others would think… Great post, lots of discussion to be had on this topic and others’ comments are reassuring.
I don’t own a scale. I have no idea what I weigh, instead I go by how my clothes fit.
I don’t own one. I’m such a perfectionist that I don’t want it to even look at me.
“When I was at my lowest weight, I would use the scale every day, as soon as I woke up.”
I’m the same way about checking my email…
I had a similar upbringing with my parents never being concerned with dieting or the scale etc. I still don’t own a scale, but because I work at a vet clinic there’s a scale there to weigh the dogs. I hop on it every day that I work (usually 3-4 times a week). And I agree, as long as it doesn’t dictate our mood, it can be a very useful and healthy tool. It’s all about our mindset.
I don’t own a scale and would probably be hopping on it everyday if I did. However, I do use the one at the fitness center, usually every month or so. What I find interesting is just how many people I see use it as well, both young and old.
Quite frankly, I think we’re a nation obsessed with measurements, both literally and metaphorically.