The SCALES

How often do you get on the scales? The quickest way to torment yourself is to weigh every day! I weigh in once a week which

is enough torture for me. The only reason I am weighing in once a week is because of our 12 week GREAT WEIGHT OFF Community Challenge, which ironically is publishing only our weight as a measurement of progress. Fortunately, we can write about it in the accompanying article, here on our blog and talk about it on our podcast to put it perspective.

The scales have been given way too much power as the primary progress measuring device, when in fact, it's way down the list as the most reliable measuring tool. What's more reliable? Lots of things! A BLOOD TEST to measure what is going on inside your body, a SKIN CALIPER to measure fat % - it's fat we want to lose not weight. Weight includes muscle and that is what we want to strengthen and grow, which at first will distort the number on the scale. I have seen my weight go up or remain the same while my BMI (fat %) went down. CLOTHES - Are you clothes getting looser? BODY MEASUREMENTS - Measuring the inches on your chest, waist, hips, thighs, arms, and legs are a great way to see progress. You can keep track of these measurements on a paper log, spreadsheet, or with Apps such as MyFitnessPal so you can see progress over time too. There are SO many ways to measure progress besides the scales. Check out this list from Whole30.  What other ways to measure your wellness progress can you think of?

THE IDEAL SCALE - I think there should be digital scales with words (and maybe a talking voice) instead of numbers for when you weigh in. If you get on the scales, once a week at the same time, it will give you the number, but if you weigh in more than that, it will tell you other things such as affirmations (I love you unconditionally, you are beautiful) or exercise suggestions (walk 15 minutes, stretch 10 minute, meditate 5 minutes, plank for 1 minute...), or tell you other ways to measure your progress such as (take a picture, try on your skinny jeans, stretch test, etc). Sounds like the perfect scale to me. Maybe someone will invent it and I'll see it on Shark Tank!

Kathy