This Is Why You Should Ditch The Scale For Good

Pexels

The majority of us have a clear, love-hate relationship with the bathroom scale. It lifts us up when it reads the right number and tears us apart when it doesn’t. But honestly, unless you have major weight loss goals you’re tending to with professional help, you’re better off ditching the device altogether, and here are several reasons why.

It can make you unhealthily obsessive.

Does seeing how much you weigh in the morning then dictate the rest of your dietary decisions for the day? If you’re not mindful of this connection, constant check-ins on your weight can easily lead to disordered eating behaviors as a means to achieve the number you wish to see.

The scale can be a major trigger for anyone who suffers (or has suffered in the past) from body dysmorphia, eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia, orthorexia, anxiety, depression and more. So if you know that watching the scale is going to encourage you to go to a place you know you shouldn’t (and don’t want to) go, just don’t do it in the first place and grant yourself a little peace of mind.

It’s not giving you the full picture when it comes to your health and fitness.

No matter how important you think it is, weight doesn’t tell you nearly as much about your health as you need to know. It doesn’t factor in how hydrated you are in that moment or (sorry to be gross) whether you’ve gone to the bathroom recently. It also gives you zero insight about your resting heart rate, blood pressure and muscle-to-fat ratio, which are all important numerical indicators of overall physical fitness. If you’re going to pick a number to watch consistently, weight shouldn’t be it because it’s really not that informative.

Pexels

 It could be crushing your self-worth.

When you constantly equate your personal success with that single number that pops up in front of you each day, you downplay all of the other amazing accomplishments you’ve been working hard on and ultimately snuff out your sense of self-worth. What about that promotion you just locked down at work? Or the fact that you can now do 15 consecutive real push-ups without hesitation? Or that amazing meal you made for your girlfriends last night that was super delicious and healthy?

Your weight has nothing to do with so many incredible things that make you who you are. So if you want to boost your self-love and self-confidence and ultimately take better care of yourself, you’ll leave this solitary, irrelevant number behind.

You don’t actually need it at all.

Does a number tell you how you feel when you first roll out of bed in the morning? No. Does a number tell you how well you fit into your favorite pair of jeans today? Definitely not. You don’t need a scale at all to internalize how you look and, most importantly, how you feel. You just need a little mind-body connection and self-awareness. From there, you can decide how to adjust any goals you’ve set for yourself or which outfit might make you most comfortable that day. Or better yet, you can give yourself a little more credit for putting effort into taking good care of yourself in the first place.

No matter what, you will always have better things to focus on than that number. So go ahead and ditch it entirely so you can get on with your life.