The Scale Is Your Best Friend
Author: Jonathan Edwards - Olympian

I recently went to Cape Cod, Massachusetts to visit my parents summer cottage. It was just after Christmas and the house was awfully cold. So the first thing we did was turn up the thermostat to a comfy seventy degrees in the house. Then we left to go grab some lunch and stay warm until the house heated up.

But what happened to the house while we were gone?

First thing: The heater kicked in and cranked up the heat until it reached the temperature we had set. Once it reached the new temperature the heat shut off
and didn’t kick in until the temperature dropped below the set temperature.

Now what does this have to do with your bathroom scale?

Everything actually. I’ve heard experts say that you shouldn’t care about your weight and that you should throw out your scale. Surely they’re joking. Would you drive around without a gas gauge on your car? Should we eliminate all the clocks from our lives? How would we know when we needed to do anything?

I have a scale in my bathroom and it tells me, every morning, what I weigh. And remarkably, I tend to stay right around 180 pounds. But last year when I didn’t have a scale my weight slowly climbed to 196 and my body fat went right with it.

I tend to have fun with my scale. I always hop on it first thing in the morning right when I get out of bed, but I’ll also hop on it multiple times during the day just to see how things change.

It’s interesting to know that the meal you just ate put a half-pound on you. If you really pig out maybe it’s a whole pound. But three hours later you might actually lose a half-pound.

It’s interesting to see that you actually lose weight while you sleep. I’ll hop on the scale before bedtime and then see that I’m actually lighter when I wake up! How cool is that.

But just like the thermostat in the house we tend to hover around the weight that we set for ourselves.

If you are overweight and trying to lose weight, hop on the scale. I know it can be scary, and it’s easy to say, “I know I’ve got pounds to lose. I’ll hop on that thing when I’ve lost a couple.” Ok, when is that going to be?

Without knowing where you are exactly you’ll never know just how far you need to go.
The scale also measures your progress. After I realized I was 196 last year I decided to shed a few pounds. 180 was my goal and it was so rewarding to see progress as my weight slowly came down to my desired outcome.

By measuring where you are and how far you need to go you can make very easy decisions about your diet during the day. Everything you put in your body is put to the test of the scale before you put it in the mouth. You start asking questions, “Will those fries help me get to my goal or should I have the salad instead?”

The scale is simply a gauge. It is NOT a gauge of self-worth. It is a gauge of self-discovery. It’s a positive, not a negative.

So go out today to Linens and Things, or Bed and Bath, or Wal-Mart and get yourself a scale you will enjoy stepping on. I’ve got a nice glass one with big digital numbers that are easy to read. Here’s your easy-step guide to success with your scale:

1) Go buy a fun one! If you hate the look and feel of the thing you’re not going to want to step on it that much. Get something you’re happy to stand on.
2) See where it is you are right now and then decide where you want to go. Are you heavy? Was it not as bad as you thought? Maybe it just WAS that bad but at least you know and can decide just how far you need to go.
3) Start hopping on the scale a couple times a day. In the morning. After every meal. Before you go to bed and then first thing in the morning. See how much your weight fluctuates in a single day. Sometimes it can be upwards of three pounds!
4) Don’t measure your self-worth by your scale measure your self-improvement. The scale is your unbiased friend. All it is doing is telling you how close you are to your goal and how you’re doing. That’s it.
Don’t be afraid of what it has to tell you.

Remarkably once you are at your goal weight you will probably stay there. If you keep using the scale you will fluctuate only a pound or two around your goal weight. Just like the thermostat in the house when it’s hotter than your goal weight you will shut down. When it is colder than the goal weight it’s time to crank up the heat.

If you don’t use your scale your weight will just creep up without you’re noticing it. Again, you wouldn’t drive your car without a gas gauge would you? How would you know when you’re close to being out of gas?

So step on your scale today and have some fun with it. See how just how much your body fluctuates in a day. The day I learned my bodyweight could fluctuate almost two to three pounds in a day, I was never discouraged if I hopped on the scale in the morning and saw I was a pound heavy. You’ll be relieved too.

Jonathan Edwards is an Olympian and a strength and fitness expert. You can find him at www.HurricaneTraining.com . If you would like to listen to audio interviews of the worlds leading experts in the field of self-improvement you can check out www.TheHighPerformanceNetwork.com . Jonathan looks forward to your feedback on this article. Please send him a note at Jone@thehighperformancenetwork.com








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Jonathan Edwards is an Olympian and an expert in the field of strength and conditioning and motivation. To work with an Olympian and to reach your greatest fitness goals please go to www.HurricaneTraining.com . To join his monthly audio tape series with the world top experts in the field of self improvement please go to www.TheHighPerformanceNetwork.com

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