That stupid square thing you step on and a number appears on the screen. That number seems to pop up from the floor and hit you in the face. My scale(s) and I have had a very long difficult relationship.
My background is numbers. Being an accountant I LOVE numbers. I love measuring things in numbers. Numbers to me are absolutes. Numbers can prove many things. For a company, it tells the story of where the company is and how far they have come.
I prepare monthly, quarterly, and annual financial statements for a few companies. Give me the data and I can validate or disprove your theory. I love that about numbers. I love absolute facts!
That's part of my problem with my relationship with the scale. I look at that number and see that number, that number only. When I dig deeper into financials statements, I may see why a company's cash is lower than expected. Maybe they purchased a fixed asset and that investment in their company, will reap big rewards.
When I hop on the scale, there are no reports that give me more information. There might be one of the following reasons that number is what it is:
1. I've gained muscle and lost fat, but the number stayed the same.
2. I'm bloated by 8# because I've started my period.
3. My dinner last night was a very large meal, that doesn't reflect my true weight.
4. There's a hormonal imbalance or something going on that's causing this number to not reflect my efforts.
5. As you lose fat, your body may fill your fat stores with water for awhile and make sure you don't need to keep those spaces to fill with more fat. Once, your body figures out you don't need those fat cells, you get a big fat whoosh, it releases the water, and the scale drops several pounds.
Listen friends, THAT NUMBER DOES NOT ALWAYS REFLECT YOUR EFFORTS, YOUR TRUE WEIGHT, OR YOUR WORTH!!!
I tied my worth to that number on the scale for a very long time. That number defined me. You might as well have written my weight with a Sharpie on my forehead. That's what I thought anyone in my presence saw. I thought they saw #250 or #225 or #175. I thought they saw, I'm not good enough because of that number. I really thought I wasn't good enough because of my weight.
Please give people compassion. You have no idea what's going on in their head. You have no idea what they've been told or what stories they are telling themselves in their head. Maybe, if we all continuously lift each other up, we call all find more happiness in our lives!
How did I finally stop letting the scale define me?
1. This...."I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psalm 139:14 or this “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9 or this “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10
The Bible tells us over and over that we are enough. We are good. We are wonderfully made! Just as I am. Just as you are! The scale cannot and will not change that!
2. Continuous reminder of #1. I follow positive people in my Facebook feed, listen to positive speakers, read my Bible, pray, go to church, and continuously search out the positive.
3. Moved my scale across the house away from my bathroom.
I still have my scale and use it for long term weigh-ins. I know that 225 is not a number my body should carry for the long term. I want to gain muscle and lose fat. I will not remain 225 through this process, that number will drop.
The other day, I asked my husband to come with me to the scale. I closed my eyes and stepped on. He knows the number and wrote it down for me somewhere unknown to me. I will not look at that number for at least a month.
I typically have a pretty good idea of what I weigh, because of my past scale obsession. So I have an idea what that number is, but I do not need confirmation to taunt me and tell me that's too much. I don't need the temptation of knowing that number and letting Satan use it to tell me I'm not good enough.
I am good enough by God's grace and that's all I need. Friends, hide your scale. Destroy your scale. DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get on your scale daily. Do not let it define you!
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