If you really want to achieve a healthy body and mind, it may be time to break up with your scales! There are so many reasons why many people need to ditch the scales. In most cases, the scales are definitely not your friend when it comes to achieving and maintaining a healthy body – and there is a better way.
We’ve all been there, standing naked with empty stomachs, post a visit to the bathroom, fingers crossed as we gingerly step on to the scale, praying for a particular number to appear. This number may come from an outdated height and weight chart, a number impressed on us by the media or significant members of our family, or simply a number we have chosen that appeals to us.
The thing is, our weight is affected by a myriad of things – our hormones, how quickly food transits through our guts, how hydrated we are, our bodies’ muscle to fat ratio, and even how well we sleep. Even getting weighed at the same time every day doesn’t help. And while some may find the scales helpful if they have a large amount of weight to lose, it’s still much kinder – and I would argue more accurate – to measure yourself.
Please note: If you are finding the scales helpful when it comes to achieving or maintaining a healthy weight and the number you see does not affect your self esteem in a negative way, then you must continue to do what works for you. Some people find weighing themselves daily genuinely helps them. This article is aimed at those people, like myself, who find weighing themselves daily, or at all, is a detriment to their self esteem and/or has caused disordered eating. This article is for information purposes only and should not be treated as medical advice. I am not responsible for anything that results whether you weigh yourself or not. Always consult a doctor or other qualified health practitioner if you have health issues or concerns.
Ditch The Scales – Why It May Be A Good Idea
1. It Is Possible To Become Slim And Fit Even If You Ditch The Scales
Ditch the scales because measuring is a far more accurate way to track your journey to a healthy body. My personal trainer weighed me at the start of my healthy eating journey but did not tell me the number. We tracked my measurements on a regular basis, and before long the fact I was getting smaller, stronger and healthier was quite simply visible. I lost 4 dress sizes without getting weighed once. In short, I became slim and fit without ever weighing myself.
The only point at which I got weighed was when people asked “but how much weight have you lost”? I then asked my PT the original number, got weighed and made the calculation. That is the only reason I know I lost over 30 pounds (over 2 stone) .
If you are willing to ditch the scales, the measurement method could work for you too.
2. You Can Wear a Smaller Dress Size But Still Weigh More
We are conditioned to think about size in terms of weight but it’s time we ditch the scales and stop it! My Movement Coach, Debbie Wyer, shared a story that changed how I thought about weight forever.
Before Debs started her journey as a movement coach, she wanted to improve her eating habits and reduce her dress size. She weighed and measured herself at the start of her healthy eating and exercise journey, but just measured herself throughout.
In the end, Debbie lost lots of inches and 2 whole dress sizes. However, when she stepped on the scale, she had lost hardly any weight at at all. Could there be a more convincing argument for why it may be a good idea to ditch the scales?
In Debbie’s words,
“You can have a lower number on the scale and be a size 12, or have a higher number on the scale and be a size 8. It’s up to you.”
3. It May Be Counterproductive to Weigh Yourself Every Day
If you see a number you like on the scales when you weigh yourself, you feel great. However if you are like me, if you see a number you don’t like, and you beat yourself up about it for hours, if not all day. When you feel bad about yourself, it’s harder to make healthy choices. You risk the ‘oh well, it’s not worth it anyway’ despair that leads to eating or drinking far too much. Next day, the number on the scale looks worse, and the cycle of self sabotage continues.
Measurements are kinder. You don’t see a pound fluctuation here and there, you just see your actual size. You can feel empowered and happy throughout your journey to a healthier body or you can be an emotional yo-yo. I know which I prefer, and it’s a powerful reason why it may be a good idea to ditch the scales once and for all.
4. Weighing Ourselves May Distract Us and Take Away Our Power
If I start my day off by getting weighed, I find myself judging myself before I have even had a cup of coffee. Like many other people, the positive or negative feeling I get from stepping on the scale stays with me for most, if not all, of the day. It is great if the feelings are positive feelings, but I find negative feelings distract me and make it difficult for me to concentrate. This makes me slower to reach my goals and become my best self. How can we be creative and effective if we walk around in a fog of unhappy self-judgement?
5. Weighing Yourself Daily Can Be A Waste of Happiness
In an interview with Stylist magazine, British actress and activist Jameela Jamil said that weighing herself every day for 21 years was a “horrifying waste of happiness”. I definitely know where she is coming from. I lost so many hours of my childhood obsessing over my weight.
My parents encouraged a daily weigh in. They loved me dearly, genuinely believed that they were doing the right thing for me, and honestly thought that people were happier if the number on the scale was lower.
In this case, they were right. On days when I saw the right kind of number I was on top of the world, but on days I didn’t, I felt bad about myself. I thought of little else all day, and channelled my disappointment in myself into a soul-destroying obsession with perfection when it came to my studies.
Eventually this led me to a teenage journey through anorexia, IBS, and to a distorted body image that stays with me to this day. It was the last thing my parents wanted, and brought us all a lot of unhappiness. Once I realised I had to ditch the scales, everything got better.
Your happiness truly can affect your journey to a healthier body. It’s not simply about a healthy diet, or exercise, or any one thing at all. Your state of mind, the amount of rest you get, and how you treat yourself on a daily basis truly can affect how quickly you reach your goals.
One More Reason to Ditch the Scales
The long and short of it is there are more effective, kinder, more supportive ways of measuring your progress to a healthier you than using the scales.
For more on this subject, check out this piece by my PT, Debbie Wyer – What are you really trying to lose?
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only and should not be treated as medical advice. I am not responsible for anything that happens if you ditch the scales. Always consult a doctor or other qualified health practitioner if you have health issues or concerns.
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Comments & Reviews
April, this is soooo true! I used to work with a woman (who was quite trim) who thought that in her 40s she should still weigh the same as when she was 18. She got on the scale every morning at work (a doctor’s office with a reliable scale) after using the bathroom and removing her eyeglasses, earrings, necklace, watch, shoes, etc. (What a colossal waste of time, and on her employer’s dime!) I just figure if my clothes fit the same as they did last week, I’m the same size. Of course, that method only works if you wear fitted clothes rather than stretchy clothes that can just keep expanding.
It’s sad how obsessed we can get with the numbers on the scale. I go by my clothes now too, Jean. Most of them are quite fitted. Although I love my comfy yoga pants and athleisure gear, I only wear them for working out (or yoga!) for that very reason 🙂
It’s a waste of happiness. I like that one. laurensparks.net
Thank you, Lauren!
Yes, I have experienced the happiness-draining scale routine. Thanks for sharing your wise thoughts.
I’m sorry that you have, Michele, but I’m so pleased the article resonated with you. I hope it helps 🙂
April, this has been an issue for most of my life. My husband even took my scales and hid them from me for a very long time. I wrote a post last year about how the scales had become my golden calf. Thank you so much for sharing this. I am sharing and pinning.
I never thought of it that way, Angela, but yes, it is easy to make the scales into a golden calf without meaning to. I’m sorry it has been as issue for you too, but I’m glad my words resonated with you. Thank you so much for sharing and pinning. I appreciate it!
Oh so true! I loved when I was going to a local women’s gym and they would use measurements to track our weight loss/ fitness because it really did not fluctuate any near as much as the scale!
Thank you for this affirmation, Joanne! It really is so much more helpful and uplifting to use measurements!
Thanks for sharing. I know it can be counter productive for me!
I’m really glad the post resonated with you, Donna!
“You see a number you like on the scales, you feel great. You see a number you don’t like, and you beat yourself up about it for hours, if not all day.” Yep. That’s me exactly. 🙁 I’m trying to weigh myself less frequently. I like to know a number in general just so I won’t have weight creep up on me unaware, but I don’t need to do it everyday. It’s counterproductive. Thanks, April!
I’m sorry that is your experience too, Lisa, but I’m really glad the article helped! It’s interesting how most women I know were taught to weigh themselves every day – including myself. It has made such a difference to my mood and fitness levels since I stopped.
I’m sure this resonates with soooo many people! Your message mirrors many of those in the book Why Weight by fitness instructor Heidi Strickland-Clark:
Thank you, Nikki – and thank you for the link to the book as well. I had not come across it before and it sounds really interesting.
The scale is a tool that gives you data in the form of numbers about an individual’s body weight. When this tool is used correctly it can help you see trends patterns and behaviours we often don’t like or are afraid of addressing when it comes to weight loss.
Throwing it away, doesn’t deal with it nor address the issue, it masks it. This notion is very similar to ‘carbs are the enemy’ or they’re bad foods, they’re neither, it’s often, how we use food (aside from energy to sustain us) that doesn’t get addressed. It’s messy, sticky, who wants to deal with issues all the time? Not everyone, but when we look at it from this perspective it literally changes us, and this is how we transform mentally first.
The scale is an innate object so it most definitely isn’t your friend, it doesn’t define you, but it’s also not the problem.
The problem or issue is, more times than not how WE see ourselves.
Of course if the scale causes someone to be anxious over it don’t use the scale, but also ADDRESS the root cause of that anxiety.
The scale gives you data about your body weight we might not like what we see on the scale, but that’s where the journey to changing your mindset begins.
The scales when used in the right mindset can help tremendously
Thank you for your well thought out comment, Verona. I agree, scales can absolutely be a useful tool that should be used by anyone who wants to. I also agree that root causes of anxiety should be addressed.
Of course the number on the scale shouldn’t define us, but sadly for some people, no amount or type of therapy changes the fact that it does affect them. As you can see from the previous comments, there are a fair few of us out there. The purpose of this article is to encourage those of us in that particular boat to consider using measurements instead, especially if their weight is an issue and they need to see results.
I would reference point 2 above, that you can lose fat and inches without actually losing weight. Also, there is the issue of muscle weighing heavier than fat. I have a friend who participates in triathlons, wears a UK size 8 (US 6) and has a 26 inch waist, but the number on the scale is considered overweight – which of course she is not.
I am proof positive that you can lose weight and keep it off without the scales, as are many of my friends and colleagues. However anyone who needs or wants to use scales or finds them helpful should, of course, carry on.
Absolutely! The scale is not for everybody and for those who just can’t use the scales, I too have mentioned using other methods.
It is also important to point out the issue isn’t the scale. It’s the deeper issue that needs addressing, and whilst that person may never use the scale again as they prefer measurements, progress photos (all things I advise my clients who struggle with the scales)
The issue is how the number makes them feel (I too was one of those women) it wasn’t until I addressed WHY I automatically thought negative about myself if the scale increased
instead of believing the truth that muscle is more dense than fat it weighs the same but takes up more space OR that I was constipated (which will result in an increase) OR ate too many carbs and the scales had gone up because of water retention (which is mostly the case!) OR that I’d actually GAINED fat – not what we want to hear, but sometimes it’s the reality
☝🏾 Are all reasons (and others) for weight increase on scales. It wasn’t until I addressed the relationship I had with food and myself that this began to shift!
And I encourage other women to be free from this too & choose the scale or not, but they know that the scale isn’t the problem, rather a thought pattern or wrong belief that needs to need broken which is definitely possible)
You’ve got a great community here, keep doing what you do.
This is such a good article, April! It’s so true and something I’ve been learning over the last few years. The scales don’t tell us about our overall health or progress.
I’m so glad the article resonated with you, Clare. Thank you for the compliment and for commenting!