Vindication and Goals: Some Really Good Reasons to Break Up With Your Scale

When I started noticing weight gain, I started refusing to get on a scale.

Not that I was ever fond of them. Up three pounds, down two, up one, down two, up three, down one... Is there really a point to doing it more often than monthly?

At first, I justified this with a flippant, "I refuse to tie my self-worth to an arbitrary number." And then I started really thinking about that stance. I decided, as stances go, it's really not a bad one. Is 74 better than 79? My [skinny] kids brag about how much they weigh, as it's a mark of how much they've grown. Is 223 better than 212? It is if you're a weight-lifter. This obsession with numbers is dumb.

Even so, someone pointed out that BMI is a good tool for measuring how fat you are. Which is a good thing to know if you're trying to be less fat. And that number is found... on my scale. Right after my weight is displayed. I was seriously considering a quick peek at my BMI; my sureness in my stance was shaken. After all, I am trying to be less fat. And measuring how much fat I am would be a good way to mark progress. But I was dragging my heels. It was just another number, right?

Then I saw a blog which someone pinned on Pinterest, in which the author gives Ten Rules For Fat Girls. Besides talking generally about not hating your body, she makes several comments about scales and numbers, even going so far as to renounce focusing on BMIs.

It got me to thinking about goals. I use them at work, I use them in other parts of my life. Shouldn't I set myself some SMART goals for my health plan?

• S - Weight loss. Be stronger, with a toned body. Be a non-smoker. Have a healthy, active lifestyle. Be able to wear the clothes in my closet and wear them well.
• M - Goal is reached when I fit into my clothes again. When I've gone a year without smoking. When I see pictures taken of me and don't hate them all.
• A - We're talking dropping a dress size or so. It won't be immediate, but I know I can do this. I was a non-smoker before, and I know I can be again. I'm not trying to be a movie-star - just a healthier version of me.
• R - This is going to require three days a week in the gym OR doing something really exercisey. Like soccer for an hour or more. And since this is a lifestyle change, that's going to mean, pretty much forever. Ooof.
• T - Hmm. Well, forever for the smoking, obviously. For the other bits, I'm thinking, by the holidays.