Frienemies
Here’s a secret: When I talk about how much weight I’ve lost, I am just guessing. I didn’t even own a scale until about two months ago.
This is because fat people both fear and hate scales. They are a concrete reminder of what a failure we are (and society gives us enough clues as to how unappealing and second class we fatties are without bringing that mocking judgement into our homes).
But I do regret not actually knowing where I started.
Now that I own a scale, I have a love/hate relationship with it which breaks down exactly as you think it would. When I’ve lost weight I love it and when I’ve gained, I feel awful.
When I started taking my diet and weight loss plan seriously, I read a lot of articles about what worked for others and how to be healthy and most of them said to weigh yourself every day.
Well, I am here to say,
DO NOT WEIGH YOURSELF EVERYDAY!!!!!
Your weight fluctuates daily with any number of variables (stress, sleep, water retention, loss or gain of muscle, hormones, alcohol consumption, etc.) and daily weigh ins can actually be more discouraging than helpful.
Here’s a great example. About a month ago, I helped a friend move. I had weighed myself the morning of the move and had gained a half a pound since the previous week. This made sense since I had spent the previous week eating crap and drinking with my friend to drown her sorrows. We spent 12 hours moving her that day carrying load after load up the stairs to her new place.
I weighed myself the next day and had gained SIX POUNDS in 24 hours (likely due to water retention since all we drank was beer). But, damn, six pounds in one day?!? It’s enough to make you give up!
And this is exactly why I didn’t run out and get myself a scale first thing and why I only get on the scale once a week. Even weighing myself weekly, I often find the results vary unpredictably. Lately I’ve found that one week I’ll have gained two pounds and the next, I’ve lost 4.
So, at the beginning, I decided that, for me, it was more important to watch my body for changes and to mark my progress by the fit of my clothes. These are far more concrete to my mind than the digital readout of that devil box we call a scale. This also had the added benefit of forcing me to really look at myself which in turn helped me to become more comfortable with my body. And this peace with myself is my ultimate endgame regardless of what weight I end at.
