Waiting for the pounds to plummet is a process that people worldwide experience daily. They awaken to step upon the metal box that adorns the bathroom tiles, praying that a certain number’s appearance commends and rewards efforts. Unfortunately the lifeless object contains no feelings, friendship, or faithful bond. A scale will never give you the validation you seek. It has no authority, only the “all-knowing” power given to it. Allowing this metal, rectangular prism to declare your fate of happiness or tears, smiles or sadness, strength or weakness, is a practice in futility. Is it time to say “good-bye” and “good riddance” to your scale?

The scale, housing itself on bathroom floors in millions of homes, lives a scandalous life of torturing souls who step upon it. Giving the scale the heave ho may be the next step. As a measurement tool, it is limited in its inability to accurately calculate body fat, size, or muscle mass. Even the number is flawed, as it does not assess a body’s water retention. Additionally its consistency from one scale to the next differs significantly. Yet its emotional power over the masses has long reigned. Whether you stand upon it multiple times per day, per week, or per year, it may change even if your body hasn’t. Yet it loses its power when you remove it entirely.

Hopping upon the scale never shows us any love, nor does it say, “good job.” The clanky base upon the floor awaits silently our arrival, yet will never be your friend, nor has it ever been. It bruises egos, shatters confidence and adds fuel to the pendulum of bad feelings. We want a good relationship with this daily visit, but the foolish number glides upward processing painful realization, upset, and awakening of a number defining us is less than satisfying. When it hunkers downward, we scream with alliance, but its upward spin makes us yell with defiance. It seems a no-win proposition to have any relationship with the scale even though breaking up is hard to do.

The scale’s utility as a weight loss assessment tool is limited.  It sets off emotional turmoil, resulting in momentary approval or disappointment. Rarely is satisfaction the resulting emotion, and its effects of overconsumption no matter the direction the dial moved, negates progress. Removing it from the household may be a plausible solution for this negative, influential, inanimate object. After years of this toxic relationship, it is time to give it the boot. Happiness you seek lies within; no number defines you. Recognizing the weight on the scale as simply assessing your gravity in relation to the ground and not your success rate, the healthy lifestyle remains the focal point. Dump the scale; it never loved you anyway!