Should You Ditch the Scale?
Thursday June 18, 2009
"Fat!" That's the shout I heard from the bedroom as my college roommate stepped on the scale. When I went in the room, she was pointing at different parts of her body and shouting, "Fat! Fat! Fat!" I remember that moment because it was funny (she was laughing, too) and because it made me realize how traumatic stepping on a scale can be.
In a previous blog, I asked readers how often they weigh themselves and the majority said once a day. Some readers even mentioned experiencing scale-trauma because, as one person put it, "The more I weigh myself, the up and down from day to day drives me crazy."
There's no question the scale can be a useful tool for weigh loss management, but it can also drive you crazy in certain situations. I talk about this in my latest article, Reasons to Ditch the Scale and would love to hear about your scale experiences. Does the scale motivate you or make you crazy?
Comments
I personally think the scale is useless, body composition which it doesn’t measure is what is important.
I ditched the scale years ago. My mind lingers on the number too much, and my day depends on it. I watch my weight with my clothes and a tape measure once a month (which can still get me obsessive with numbers!).
i don’t think it should be ditched completely. it is a good guide to weight. butttt is like your doctor only listening to your heartbeat and not your blood pressure. the importance of the scale has been given too much weight(pun intended). the layperson doesn’t understand that there is so much more to just plain old weight. muscle weighing more that fat, women bloating on their menstrual cylce, etc. a scale is just a part of the equation.
I was a daily user of the scale…. now I don’t… I don’t even look when the doctors weigh me. It sends you on an emotional rollercoaster that ends up with you eating more!!!
So, I go by how well my cloths are fitting. How I feel. It’s so much better!