5 Things I Learned by Giving Up the Scale
Feb 11
I’ve been thinking about how to write this post for months. When my husband and I moved into our new house this past summer, I made one rule - no more scale.
I’ve talked about my eating disorder recovery in the past, but I’ve found it a little harder to talk about the parts of it that lasted past “being recovered” + into the rest of my life. It might have felt a little too transparent, or that I wasn’t actually succeeding. But that truth is, I used to weigh myself EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Wake up - get on the scale. Get ready for bed - get on the scale. Getting in the shower - get on the scale. The cycle was vicious + something I kind of thought would be a forever habit.
Did I like it? Absolutely not. My day was made or destroyed by what that scale told me + basically nothing else that happened during the day was going to change that. It decided how I ate, what I wore, how beautiful I felt + honestly how worthy felt I was in my life! So when we packed up our things + moved into our first (non-rented) home together, I decided that the scale was NOT moving in with us. New house, new habits - it’s a thing right?!
So here I am today, almost 9 months later + still no scale! Is it still in my garage in case I need it to work with my clients? Totally. But I haven’t needed it. Not even once. I wanted to share this with you because I think this is a tougher habit to break than we want to admit. I also think that moving out of recovery from an eating disorder, or any disordered eating pattern, we don’t want to think of it as a “disordered habit.” But allowing our thoughts + subsequently our lives to rely on the flashing numbers that show up on the scale is NOT HEALTHY. Do I think taking a look at your weight can help if you’re looking for weight loss or gain? Sure! But when it overruns your day with negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself - it’s time to take a look at why you’re hopping on that scale.
So, if you’re at a point in your l journey (eating disorder or not!) that you think giving up the scale is impossible, that it won’t help you recover, or that it “isn’t a big deal,” I’m sharing with you why it is a big deal + how giving up this simple, unhealthy habit can change your life.
5 THINGS I LEARNED GIVING UP THE SCALE
I FORGOT ABOUT IT
It’s true! Once that daily reminder of the sight of my scale on my bathroom floor was gone - I just forgot that I “needed to know my weight.” Just like pitching that box of cigarettes or case of soda to quit a habit, keeping the scale out of sight, quite literally keeps it out of mind! I don’t think I realized how habitual this was for me until a couple of months after deciding to remove the scale from my life, I thought, “Wow, I haven’t even thought about my weight.” I forgot why it was so important for me to know! I forgot how it felt to step on the scale + tear myself down for whatever it had to say. I forgot why I ever did that to myself. Sometimes it takes stepping back from our routine to realize how “good” it actually was for us. In this case? Stepping back from the scale showed me that I didn’t need it. I literally forgot all about what it meant to me or why I gave it so much control over me for so long.
I STOPPED OBSESSING
This was the biggest thing that has impacted my new life of no-scale-dome. If stepping on the scale every morning decides how you dress, how you eat, how long you workout — you’re obsessing! Society + “diet culture” give HUGE power to the literal number of our weight, rather than how we feel from the way we live. “I want to lose 5 pounds,” “If I could just weigh 125 pounds…” Sound familiar? Putting the power in the number creates a cycle of obsessing over the number, creating more stress + depleting our joy. Once the number is gone, you have to rely on how your body actually feels, how your clothes fit, or how energized you feel during the day to determine how healthy you are.
I FEEL HAPPIER
When I look back over the last 9 months of my life, I think it’s the happiest I’ve ever been. Getting married, launching my business + all the good things that have happened are a factor, definitely — but I also completely attribute a lot of this general happiness to quitting the habit of weighing myself. All it ever did was perk up that nasty voice in the back of my head that told me how worth while, or worthless, I was based on how “heavy” I was that day. Without that negative reel playing in my brain, I am able to focus on + absorb all of the amazing things happening in my life. I’m less distracted from experiencing true joy. If you know that a phone call with a friend from high school is going to bring up how miserable that time of your life was, why would you keep calling?! Quit feeding into the negative thoughts + put a stop to them in one simple (but, admittedly, not easy) step!
I FEEL MORE CONFIDENT
Most notably the greatest benefit — creating more confidence! I think this is a tough one for most women, I know it has been for me. Feeling confident in myself hasn’t come second nature in any aspect of my life, despite all of the wonderful things I’ve got going on! Women are kind of told to be seen + not heard, be small + not loud, and that we will always be a little bit inferior. (Hands up if you know what I mean!) I can’t pinpoint what about ditching the scale did for my confidence level, and maybe it piggybacks off of the happiness factor, but when I say I feel more confident in my abilities + worth, I mean it! Once you stop putting yourself down for “being or not being” a number, you are able to find so many things about yourself that you suddenly realize are totally kick ass + it’s only natural to want to show that off!
I REALIZED IT. DOESN’T. MATTER.
One more time for ya’ll in the back - IT. DOESN’T. MATTER! Our weight alone does not define us. It doesn’t define our health, our worth, or our value in our relationships - especially the relationship we have with ourselves! Once I finally stopped caring about how my fitness routine, diet, sleep habits + everyday lifestyle affected the number on the scale, and instead focused on how I felt physically, mentally + emotionally — I feel healthier + happier than ever! Nobody asks for your lowest weight on your resume or has it etched into their tombstone when their days are done; it just isn’t something anyone but you cares about at the end of the day! Your friends won’t bail on you depending in your weight, your family doesn’t judge you based on the scale + you need to stop judging yourself for it! When you take the power away from the number, you realize how meaningless it is + how much power you have.
Stepping off the scale allowed me to step into the life I always dreamed of. I hope that in sharing this you can trust that you too can give up the scale + welcome a new, happier, more confident life. You are worth it.
xx,
mallory