SCALES ARE EVIL
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| Sat, 07-24-2004 - 12:59pm |
I refuse to buy a scale. I know my weight from my last visit to my doctor's office and will compare it when I return in November. So how do I plan on tracking my progress? By how I and my clothing feel - but mostly how I feel.
Here's my rant about scales....
Scales are a useless waste of emotional energy! I've only ever had one once in my life and that was many moons ago and only because the previous tenant in my apartment left behind an innocuous-looking Peter Rabbit bathroom scale which, had slowly taking over my life. I was addicted to it. It was my drug du jour. I was obsessed with finding out what I weighed at various points during the day – in the morning (before showering vs. after showering), when I came home from work vs. just before bed, Friday vs. Monday, the week before my period vs. the week following... honestly, it was getting out of hand. I was starting to worry about myself that I could allow anything adorned with little Peter Rabbits to have so much control over my life and how I felt.
Then I started to notice a few things...the scale hadn’t moved much in the past month even though I'd been exercising regularly and eating sensibly. At first I was thrown into a Bridget Jones fit of despair and began to wonder who exactly was going to discover my half-eaten-by-Alsatian remains when I was living alone in New Zealand?! Huh?! WHO?! But soon enough I began to get suspicious. I was starting to believe that ‘ol Peter-boy was just screwing with my head. Is it really possible to lose 3 kg overnight? or to gain 4 kg in 2 days? I think not. I finally came to an important realisation. The bathroom scale was my enemy! A sneaky, backstabbing enemy that posed as my friend – “oh yes Lisa, I’d be happy to help you keep track of how well you’re doing with your fit new lifestyle. What are friends for?.....ohhh, too bad, looks like you’ve gained 6 kg in the last 8 hours. Whatever did you eat while you were at work? Take 2 cups of plain lettuce and some protein powder and come back before bedtime, we’ll try again then.”
I was letting this cheap piece of cartoon covered metal have control. I was mesmerized by it’s swirling wheel of numbers swishing back and forth on either side of the magic black line, holding my breath like a chronic gambler who’s just put the family’s grocery money on one last bet, waiting with baited breath for this piece of second hand junk to tell me if I was going to feel good about myself today.
Well, no more. I know when I’ve been eating crap, and I know when I’ve skipped a workout. And if I’m eating right and exercising and lifting weights, then I feel good about myself. If I fall into a couple of days of eating crap and having a few sugar filled coctails well then so be it. That’s fine. Just so long as it’s the exception and not the rule. From now on the only person I answer to is me. I don’t give a damn what the enemy says.
**Deep breath**
Sorry about that but I really don't like scales.
Cheers
Lisa

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Evil people! What a scary world we live in.
Lisa
I don't think scales are "evil" at all. Scales are simply useful tools, to let you know where you stand in terms of weight. And used regularly, a scale can help nip weight gain in the bud. I mean, it's easier to lose a sudden 5 lbs that appears on the scale than it is to NOT know about it, and then find an extra 15 lbs has suddenly appeared at the doctor's office. I'd rather know, and be able to take care of it right away.
Personally, I get on the bathroom scale once a day--first thing in the morning, before getting dressed--and then I simply write down that number in my food journal. And all my food journal consists of is listing the foods I've eaten and tallying calories and fat grams for the day. I've done that for about a year now, and been successful in getting my weight back under control by USING my scale as just an arbitrary indicator of weight loss progress. It's just metal, after all. Nothing evil about that, now is there!?
Good morning,
Forte
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