The body scale: Stop objectifying yourself and start listening to your body

Lindsay Adler, LMFT, CEDS, E-RYT 200 

You walk into the bathroom and snuggled on the floor next to your cabinets or sink sits a square shaped fortune teller…the bathroom scale. You take a deep breath as you look down at it. You begin chanting to yourself, “Okay, please say I didn’t gain weight” or “I better have lost a pound”. Then, you take the dreaded step on and hope for the best. You anxiously await the answer to all of your problems for the day (or week), almost like the young Tom Hanks in the movie Big when he awaits his fortune from that creepy Zoltar Speaks machine….

Then, you see the number, and it tells you how you are going to think, feel and act for the remainder of the day or week or even year! If the number is higher than you would like, you tell yourself how BAD or STUPID you are for messing up. You might decide you are going on a diet, watching your food intake, eating only salad today, working out more, eating no desserts— you get the idea. Or, you firmly believe that the number MUST be wrong, so you take a few clothes off or go use the restroom and hop back on hoping for a different result. You might go to work or school stressed out, depressed and anxious. 

If the number is lower than expected, you do a little dance in the bathroom, congratulate yourself, and give yourself more encouragement to “keep up the good work”. You make some judgment about your food intake (whether you can “splurge” or need to keep eating those salads and continue to cut back on the carbs), and you go into work or school feeling on top of the world! After all, you just got the biggest streak of confidence, from a $20 machine from Target, telling you that now you are worth everything in this world. 

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Does this sound familiar?

The body scale is both a loved and hated device by males and females in America. Our society believes in the power of this magical device to cure all of our problems: physical, emotional and even spiritual. The scale has become a false idol, or golden calf, for the American people. So, how did we get to this place of giving so much of our power to a machine? First, let’s look at the history of the scale. 
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Historians have records of people using scales as early as 2400 BC. Scales have mainly been used as a way to measure goods for bartering or payment. A merchant might use a scale to make sure they aren’t getting a bad deal on some goods they are exchanging or to make sure there is a just deal on payment. Over time, scales have also been used as a way to increase accuracy in scientific pursuits. In the recent past, doctors primarily used the scale as a means to measure weight, and this was because of changes in diet and living styles due to industrialization. Also, weight is helpful for various treatment that might require medications dependent on a set formula. 

Many doctors began to overly (and sometimes mistakenly) use weight as a proxy for health and began to set the stage for the personal use of a scale in the home. This was reinforced by the billion dollar dieting industry that was just waiting for a way to make more money off of people’s insecurities and fear. Now, bathroom scales are a regular purchase, and it is a common find in the American’s bathroom. So, instead of scales being used to help with economic trade or scientific methods, we use the scale to measure our worth. We have turned our body (and our mind and spirit) into a good--we have been objectifying ourselves. 

There are many problems with our use of the scale, and I will do my best to highlight the most prominent points. Overall, the scale is completely inaccurate in regard to our health and fitness, which is often the reason people use the scale (INCLUDING DOCTORS!).

The body is composed of more than just “fat”. Our weight is the result of substances like water, muscle tissue, fatty tissue, bones, organs, bodily waste, etc. Our body is also constantly shifting composition; thus, shifting weight. For instance, we have water fluctuations regularly (especially, if you are a women with hormonal changes), and we have digestive changes that greatly influence our weight.

Physical health is not a magical number—meaning you MUST be a certain number or range of numbers to be healthy. Studies have shown that sometimes people who are slightly above a normal weight range can actually be healthier in the long run than those considered underweight. (Note: weight ranges are part of a medical guideline for doctors to use…and a topic for another blog.)

Physical health has more to do with other factors such as blood pressure, cholesterol, being free of disease or injury and having a balanced life (such as with diet, exercise, stress and sleep). Thus, someone’s weight on the scale does not mean they are more or less physically healthy. A good example of how weight can display inaccuracies is with athletes. They will often appear to be in the “overweight” range, according to medical standards. However, they have developed more muscle mass to increase strength and performance, which might be displayed at a higher weight. And while some athletes might still be unhealthy (i.e., overexercising, use of substances, unbalanced diet, etc.) on average our society would consider athletes to be “healthy”. This misconception is not just for athletes, this is for anyone. You could be considered “overweight” but still be healthy. 

Most importantly, the scale does not tell the story of who you are, including all of your values and beliefs. By using the scale, we are saying, “I am a product which needs to be of a certain amount to get the best price and be worth the MOST”. You are not a PRODUCT; you are a HUMAN BEING with a beautiful sense of uniqueness. By using the scale, we are giving it so much POWER over our worth. We allow the number to dictate our thoughts, feelings and actions. Nothing should have that much power in our lives. 

Here is what to do:

THROW AWAY (or in some cases BREAK) your scale!!! It is very freeing! You will feel much more empowered in your life. If it helps you take your focus off the number when you go to the doctor, ask them to weigh yourself backward and not tell you your weight. Encourage others to stop weighing themselves. If you want to get proactive you can even talk to others about not using the scale as a means to better understand their level of health.

Most importantly, if you want to focus on your physical (and emotional health) pay attention to how you feel in your body, not the number or the size. As scary as it might be and as much as we are often told not to, look inward and listen to your body. Allow your body to guide the way. If you listen, you might find a world of wisdom, which sometimes can vary from day to day. Paying attention to your body will likely bring you more peace…and better fortune than any machine bought from Target.

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