The SCALE

[Gemini the Younger]

You are so clued in, Little Princess...when you write about the numbers our nemesis, The SCALE, throws in our face to undermine our progress (and how ultimately unimportant those numbers are in our journey to the skinny city.)

Too many of us worship at the altar of the SCALE.  Consider the ceremonial way that most of us weigh in. Usually in the early morning, while the earth still slumbers between moon and sun, we creep into our bathrooms after a night of fasting. We reverently and somewhat fearfully acknowledge the SCALE, ritualistically drop our robes, lighten ourselves further in the great porcelain vessel, then step up and stand just so on the back of the beast.  And then with all the calm of a martyr facing the lions we wait for the verdict that determines how our day will go.

If our weight is down we're up.  If it is up we're down. I had fallen so deeply under the spell of the SCALE that I used two scales--one electronic, the other spring--then averaged their totals!  One morning--my only excuse is that I must have been light headed and drugged from a steaming early morning shower with potent lavender soap--I actually put one foot on the electronic scale and the other on the Health-O-Meter and tried to weigh using them both simultaneously. Unhappily, the floor was damp, the scales slid apart, and I can now tell any LDLer who is interested exactly how a turkey wishbone feels after Thanksiving dinner.    (I will not, however, tell you what I wished for...)

That was it for me. Right then I issued a challenge to myself. Henceforth I would weigh once a week (and on one scale only!) I would focus on listening to my body, letting it tell me whether I was meeting my goals (and following God's plans for me,) by learning to assess my moods and emotions, my sense of inner peace and wellness, my level of energy and focus, my self-satisfaction and spirit of being, the fit of my clothes, even my shoes and rings. In other words, I would learn to rely on the way I felt and not the numbers on a SCALE to measure my progress.  I realized that if I felt great overall then my diet was a success and my weight would drop in its own good time. I finally understood that effecting a life style change (and not just a physical change) required a life time commitment, a commitment that I was now eager and able to make. (Please remind me I wrote this at some future date when I am whining and crying and slinging snot because I am hung up on a big time plateau and I want to drop more pounds NOW!)

Now whenever I am tempted to sneak too frequent peaks at my progress I remind myself that the SCALE is simply a weight loss tool and that like any tool, it is how well it is used that makes it valuable, not how often.  (I am pep talking myself, of course, but it helps me feel a smidge less crazy if I share my thoughts with you.)

[patsyfay]

Amen and amen.

[LittlePrincess]

You are right on track with your thinking!!  My prayer for you and me and ALL of us is that eventually we go....."A scale?  Me weigh?  What for?  I'm just the way God wants me to be!!"

(In Faith)  LP

[totisguy]

Beautifully written Gemini!  :thumbsup: You've got a way with words.  Once upon a time, in a previous weight loss program, I would weigh myself every morning and record it in an Excel spreadsheet that I had set up to see my progress.  I even had it color coded so that when I was losing lbs on schedule I was in the green, when I stalled out I was in the yellow, and when I gained, I was in the red.  Of course this quickly became impossible to keep up with and I never could explain all the ups and downs.  I was spending way too much time "crunching the numbers" (which also included tracking calories and carbs and fat, etc.) when I should have been paying more attention to how I was feeling and how my clothes were fitting.  With that said, I still plan to keep a log of my weight along with a few key measurements at least monthly -- but not be a slave to it.  This time around I want to focus more on making better food choices and keeping some sort of food diary until I get the hang of it.

[Gemini the Younger]

I'm not going to ask!  I'm not going to ask!  I'm not going to ask!  Nuts, Totisguy.  I'm not writing that on the blackboard 100 times; I'm gonna ask.  Do people often mistake you for Bruce Willis?

Loved your post...and I thought I was bad!  No wonder you lost with that other program--you were too busy charting to eat.  You should have been a nurse!  The research shows that for every hour of patient care we provide, we do two hours of paper work!

Glad we found LDL---this is a program we can LB with.  (Boo!  Hiss!    )

Welcome!

[t-rock]

It absolutely amazes me how many of us have gone through EXACTLY the same thing, yet we never meet in real life.  Well said Gemini.  Looking forward to this journey with you and everyone else, and the things we learn about ourselves and one another along the way.

Peace,

Tiss

[Gemini the Younger]

Okay, Mary, so it backfired.  I was trying to be facetious, not to be confused with flatulent, though I've been suffering a bit from that these early days on the LDL WOE, speaking of backfires.  But look, considering that if you cut me in half you'd count 62 growth rings, can't you just be proud that I didn't think the guy was Lionel Barrymore, or Douglas Fairbanks, JR?

As for the being the Clown Princess of Ditz, your title is safe, but imagine the havoc if we joined forces and tag-teamed the site.  Neat idea, huh?  You and me together.  Twin Twinkies!  Dual Ditzes!  (Now doesn't that just sound ever so much friendlier than Dualing Ditzes?)  Think about it.  I'm sure your VBS kids could make us each a crown out of cardboard diet book covers, tin foil, glitter, and sea shells copped from your beach.  Oh, and we'll need a pair of scepters--maybe the kids could improvise with a pair of shepherd's crooks left over from the Nativity Pagent.  What do you say?  PAX?

[bethp]

OK, Gemini! I have had my laugh (even LOL) for this morning and must get busy now. And the mental image of the Gemini wishbone is awesome! It puts the scale in its appropriate place as a tool!
Thanks for sharing! 
Have a great day! Beth

[julie409]

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!    I love reading these posts. They let you know you are not alone in your craziness.

I have been a slave to the scale - weighing in the am and again in the pm to see if I could tell what the am would bring.

I also have excel spreadsheets; filled with predictions and history. If I spent that time walking, I would have been much better off.

Thanks to both of you for sharing. I don't feel so alone now 

I have started to use clothing fit as a new barometer and also how much energy I have in the am and all through the day. Much more sane - not to mention - all the extra time I have on my hands and the memory I have gained on my PC by blowing away the spreadsheets.

Have a great day!    Julie 

[Gemini the Younger]

You have a deal, sis!  Dual Ditzes we can be!   :laughing:

Mary

Fab, Mary...just one little hitch.  I hardly know where to begin, but I can't live with a lie...can't begin my reign under a cloud of deception.  (After all, I'm not a politician, even though my figure looks as if I regularly dine in the Pork Barrel.)  No, don't try to stop me...let me expose my shameful secret while I can still form my lips around the deceitful words.  Mary...Mary...I'm...I'm not really a blond!!!  My hair is WHITE!  There!  I've said it.  I used to have chestnut hair with auburn highlights (it would have been so regal under a crown,) but it started turning white when I was 27.

Does this mean you won't be working on an LDL coronation menu for the Dual Ditzes?  Where's old Rumplestiltskin when I need him?! 

GEM

[Gemini the Younger]

OK, Gemini! I have had my laugh (even LOL) for this morning and must get busy now. And the mental image of the Gemini wishbone is awesome! It puts the scale in its appropriate place as a tool!
Thanks for sharing!   :thumbsup:
Have a great day! Beth

Hey Beth,

But ain't we got fun?  The fortune in the last cookie I ate before starting the LDL WOE stated:  "Laughter shall fuel your spirit's engine."  (And you thought it was beans!  )  I believe that.  Laughter really is the best medicine.  It makes the hard work we're doing here easier when we share a joke, don't you think?  Especially when the laugh's usually on us, and is never mean spirited or disrespectful.  And what can drop our reserves and unite us in friendship faster than giggling and holding our sides together over a haha someone wrote?  The only problem I can see, especially with some of us older women (and perhaps the new moms) is bladder control.  It's gotten to the point that I have to slip into a super XXL Depends before I sit down to read the posts! 


You just crack me up, fellow travelers! 

GEM

[Gemini the Younger]

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!    I love reading these posts. They let you know you are not alone in your craziness.

I have started to use clothing fit as a new barometer and also how much energy I have in the am and all through the day. Much more sane - not to mention - all the extra time I have on my hands and the memory I have gained on my PC by blowing away the spreadsheets.

Have a great day!    Julie   :rose:

Greetings, Julie...

Much more sane, indeed.  Which remiinds me!  Wasn't there a popular diet book named Stop the Insanity?  We'd be crazy not to give that tome a toss, don't you think? 


GEM

[electricj1316]

Gem you crack me up!!!! I laughed so hard when you talked about the wishbone I have gotten my exercise for the day!! lol  My stomach muscles are sore now!! 

Tina

[Gemini the Younger]

Thanks for the absolution, Mary.  My mind just went blank...

GEM