For the month of September, I decided it was time to give up one of my strongest addictions: the scale. I had become obsessed with the number so much so that I was weighing in multiple times a day. It had even started to determine how the day would go.
Low Weight= Good Day
High Weight = Bad Day
Recognizing that it had become an issue in my life, I decided that on September 1st I would do my monthly weight and measurements, and the scale would be off limits for the rest of the month.
It started off great! September 1st brought a new low weight, and I felt really good going into this challenge.
And…that’s about where the feeling good ended for a while.
The first week was TOUGH. I was tempted, and I just wanted to know how I was doing. The scale sat in your eye line when using the bathroom, so every visit to my master bath meant staring at my biggest temptation. I’m talking a temptation bigger than carbs! It got to the point that I had to ask Mike to hide the scale. It helped.
Out of sight out of mind made week two much easier.
While I still wanted to know how the food I was eating was effecting me, I had no idea where are scale was, so the temptation faded quickly.
I was shocked that by the end of the week I barely thought about it. I wasn’t stressed about it, and I felt mentally stronger with more control over my day. It became apparent that my scale addiction was impacting more than I had thought originally. The relief of the morning fear and stress made me smile. I now looked forward to my morning coffee which always made me happy versus the scale which was a crapshoot sometimes.
The end of the month however brought some nervousness. What had this month done to my body? Mentally, I was more in control everyday, but I didn’t know how on track I was or wasn’t.
The answer came on October 1st. Up 5.4 pound… the first gain I’d seen this year.
I could have cried; I could have punished myself with the treadmill, or I could have forced myself to fast when my body was hungry. I did none of that.
Instead, I reflected on how I could move forward and get back on track. Did I need to weigh myself everyday and stress over every pound (or. 1 pounds some days)? No, I didn’t want to go back to that sort of lack of control, but the month showed me that the motivation of that number did keep me on track.
Balance-what does it look like? I’m still figuring it out. October it looked like weighing in once or twice a week. The month resulted in a loss.
November it’s looking more like once every 10 days or so. Come December 1st, I had lost a little more. More adjustments will be made as I continue on my journey, but I know now that the scale and I can have a healthy relationship with the right balance.
What does your relationship with the scale look like? Do you feel it’s healthy for you?
Keep on keto-ing on-
