Scales and Justice

This is the thing about scales.

They are a measure of how much mass you have at one particular moment of time. That is all.

And I mean total mass. The water you’ve drunk, or retained, your fat, your muscle, your blood, your bones, your clothes and shoes if you are wearing them.

As a measure of mass they can be useful for providing cheap and easy feedback on your weight loss, particularly if you’re someone with a lot to lose. However, the scales should never be your sole measurements.  Most don’t measure the percentage of fat or muscle in your body. They can’t measure your fitness, or your health, or come anywhere near defining your worth as a person.

This is why, when I'm setting health and fitness goals, I no longer just rely on weight as a measure. Now I'm in fit and February mode, I'll be weighing myself weekly but I'm also bringing out the tape measure and measuring your waist and hips and find an item of a dress that’s feeling a bit tight that hopefully will feel looser by the end of the month. I've also learned to ensure that my goals include some measure of strength or cardio fitness.

I’ve been a slave to the scales before.  On a ‘good’ weigh in day I’d feel on top of the world, but it would only take a 200 or 300gm change for me to feel low again. I let a single, somewhat unreliable, number define me. And I’m never doing it again.