Waiting for the pounds to plummet is like a spoken southern drawl, elongated by the sound of our feet hitting the scale, the relentless exhale as the ticker lands on a number like a roulette wheel, and the realization of defeat again. Many worldwide awaken to step upon the metal box that adorns the bathroom tiles, praying that a certain number’s appearance commends and rewards efforts. Unfortunately, the lifeless object contains no feelings, friendship, or faithful bond. Without any authority, it has an “all-knowing” power. Allowing this metal, rectangular prism to declare your fate of happiness or tears, smiles or sadness, strength or weakness, is a practice in futility. Is it time to say “good-bye” and “good riddance” to this imbalance in your life?
The scale, housing itself on millions of bathroom floors tortures those who step upon it while giving it the power to decide their emotional state. Giving the scale the heave-ho may be the next step. As a measurement tool, limited in its inability to accurately calculate body fat, size, or muscle mass, its inexact results also do not tally water retention. Furthermore, consistency from one scale to the next differs significantly. Yet its emotional power over the masses has long reigned. Whether you stand upon it multiple times per day, per week, or per year, it may change even when your body has not. Yet it loses its power when you remove it entirely.
Hopping upon the scale never shows us any love, nor does it say, “Good job.” The clunky base adorning bathrooms awaits silently our arrival, yet will never be your friend, nor has it ever been. It bruises egos, shatters confidence, and adds fuel to the pendulum of bad feelings. We want a good relationship with this daily visit, yet the final figure glides upward causing realization, upset, and arousal from a numeric value defining us. When the number hunkers downward, we scream with alliance, yet an upward spin makes us yell with defiance. It seems a no-win proposition to have any relationship with the scale even though breaking up is hard to do.
The scale’s utility as a weight loss, assessment tool is limited. It sets off emotional turmoil, resulting in momentary approval or disappointment. Rarely is satisfaction the resulting emotion, and its effects of overconsumption no matter the direction the dial moves, negates progress. Removing it from the household may be a plausible solution for this negative, influential, inanimate object. After years of this toxic relationship, it is time to give it the boot. Happiness you seek lies within; no number defines you. Recognizing the weight on the scale as simply assessing your gravity in relation to the ground and not your success rate, the healthy lifestyle remains the focal point. Dump the scale; it never loved you anyway!