Weight (noun): a body's relative mass or the quantity of matter contained by it, giving rise to a downward force.

In scientific terminology, it is essentially the gravitational downward force on an object. So, when we step on a scale, the number portrayed on the screen is our gravitational downward force on the object. Many different factors can affect the force on the scale. If we think about it, the scale is not measuring the amount of muscle versus fat, water weight versus dry weight, or accounting for our life style. Instead, it is a simple number that holds a tremendous amount of weight (pun intended) on some of our daily lives.

But why is it, a number that has so many confounding variables and skewed factors that can affect it, hold so much power over our minds? 

As we’ve grown up, every time we go to the doctor’s office, we most likely are stepping on the scale. When we are younger, it is important for us to see the number on the scale go up, that means we are growing! Yet, we hit a certain point in our growth where we are told we shouldn’t keep “growing” in weight. In fact, many of us hit a certain weight that feels “right” and we hold on to it throughout our lives as what we are supposed to weigh. Even though when envisioning this number, we are not accounting for the multitude of life changes we go through over the years. 

Have you ever had a number in your head that is your “goal” weight? You tell yourself, if I weigh ___, 

1. “I am going to be happy!”
2. “I am healthy!”
3. “I can eat ___, if I finally weight this!”

Once we hit the goal weight, we think our lives are going to miraculously be perfect, but it doesn’t always feel that way. A lot of times, we deprive ourselves, exercise excessively, and isolate ourselves from social situations to be able to obtain a certain weight. So, although we may feel physically healthy, it may not always be mentally healthy. Isolating yourself from social situations or the opportunity to create memories with people you love, is not healthy. Eating 1,200 calories a day to reach your goal weight, is not healthy. Working out 7 days a week or twice a day to lose weight, is not healthy. Being a prisoner to an electronic device, and allowing the device to hold power over your mental health for the day, is not healthy. 

What is healthy is eating enough calories to clear brain fog, support our hormones, fuel our reproductive system, and maintain our cardiovascular system strength to pump blood throughout our body. Healthy is moving our bodies in a way that brings energy to our days, not depletes it. Healthy is enjoying a meal with our friends and creating memories that will last a life time, not isolating ourselves at home to avoid excess calories.

Furthermore, If you have ever found yourself weighing yourself daily (sometimes multiple times), and allowed the number that shows up to dictate how you feel about yourself for the day, you are not alone. But I promise you, the scale does not need to be your best friend. It does not deserve to hold such weight over your head daily. It does not deserve to dictate your self-worth.

What the scale does not see, are the smiles you shared over the ice-cream run you made with your family last night. The tiny human you created with the person you love. The exercise class you took yesterday. Or the big promotion you received in your job. Whatever it is, the scale does not see the life you are living daily. 

Instead of tying yourself to a number on the scale, there are a billion ways to measure your health such as the way our clothes fit, our energy throughout the day, our skin, our digestion, or the number of memories we create with the people we love. 

At the end of the day, the number on the scale should be just that, a number. When you are 80 years old and reminiscing on your life, you’re not going to remember your weight when you were 30 years old as a measure of how well you lived your life. In its place,  you’re going to remember the memories you created with your friends, the relationships you created and ended, and the journey that led you to be unapologetically, you.

Ditch the scale my friends, you are worth more than a number.