The Scale.

 

It is truly incredible the power a small metal box, with a little screen containing a few changing numbers, has. Not only can it build people up but it can cause their inner most self to be completely torn down. One small change in the numbers can turn a good day bad, it can be the difference between motivating someone to keep going and an excuse for them to give up.

 

The scale: an instrument used to measure one’s weight. A tool we often let depict how we see ourselves in the mirror, something I refuse to use.

 

But why is our society so obsessed with weight? People constantly talking about how they “need” to lose 10 pounds or asking each other how much they weigh. We have scales in doctors’ offices and in almost every gym. But what is the value? Perhaps there are some uses to scales and worth in knowing an individual’s weight but there are surely other ways to find similar answers – why do we fixate on the scale?

 

I reject to believe that our health – better yet our worth, can be defined by a single number. We should instead focus on other things like eating habits, or physical activity patterns and most importantly the way we feel. Because a scale doesn’t see the progress you’ve made recently in the gym, it doesn’t understand the struggles you have gone through to get to where you are today. The scale doesn’t know the difference between muscle and fat, it cannot differentiate between a healthy/unhealthy 120 pounds nor can it determine an unhealthy weight lose strategy. There are no numbers that will bring joy but instead infinite values that will result in dissatisfaction.

 

Instead of tracking progress by numbers on a scale let us track it by fitness diaries or exercise milestones, better yet let us look in the mirror and see the progress we have made and judge our accomplishments or monitor our setbacks by what our body is telling us. Instead of constantly striving for an unattainable, ever-changing, numbers; hide the scales or ditch them completely and focus on what is important: you and your health – no number can define that.

 

 

With love,

S.