Is Your Scale a Success Meter?

Alisa Daglio  Body Makeover Jump Start Expert

The first thing you lose on a diet is your sense of humor.  ~Author Unknown

     When you wake up in the morning and step on the scale and it hasn’t moved, how do you feel?  My guess is not very good.  To decrease the odds of an unhappy mindset and self destructive behavior, the solution is simple:  Be happy now and only weigh once per week. If you weigh yourself every day you will make yourself crazy. Yet, we rationalize this behavior in many ways.  Perhaps you want to take an early peek at how you are doing on a new weight loss program.  You may have cheated the day before and you want to see what the results are.  Maybe you were weighed at the doctor and found that your scale at home reads differently.  Before you know it, you are weighing yourself constantly. Soon you will be allowing the number on the scale to dictate your daily mood.  Two pounds less and you may be happy.  Three pounds more and you curse yourself. Considering the fact that your body can retain 5-7 lbs of water or more on any given day this behavior is absolute insanity.  It is proactive to chart your progress but not to the point of obsession. 

     There are many reasons that you can weigh more or less on any given day. Hormones fluctuate and muscle weighs more than fat.  I have seen many people drop 20 inches or more and only lose a pound.  Their clothes are literally falling off!  If the scale doesn’t move the way you want it to and you drop three sizes your program is working. 

    
     However, many people still view the number on the scale as a meter of their success or failure.  Conversely, I have seen people break down and cry after an astonishing weekly weight loss.  They were not crying out of joy, they were crying because they still had so far to go. The scale served as a reminder of how bad they had let things get.  Many individuals delay happiness when they say to themselves “I’ll be happy when I lose 10, 50, or 150 pounds.”  The time is to be happy is not “when” the time to be happy is right now!

     After my experience helping people on the ABC television show Extreme Makeover I can say with confidence that weight loss and exterior improvements are not “life cures.”  Once you reach your ideal weight the other issues at home, work, and elsewhere will still be there.  Some of the reasons that you initially gained your weight may still be lurking around.  You need to deal with whatever these issues are so that the weight you have worked so hard to lose does not return.  The time for a delightful heart is in the present moment.  Do not let the scale boss you around.  Remember, if you micromanage and obsess, you will move further away from your desired outcome. 

     Take control of your own happiness and you will find yourself moving at light speed toward your goals.