The scale: Foe or Swami

If you have battled the bulge as long as I have, then at some point, you have despised, even loathed, your scale. You have pummeled it like its OJ’s reputation, cursed “stupid worthless piece of crap”, body slammed it into the garbage can, and/or 4-wheel driven your SUV over it again and again like it was a lying, cheating, son-of-a-bitch.

Logically we know the scale is merely a tool. It’s just an inanimate object whose job is to just report the facts. The scale doesn’t spew the judgments along with the pounds. Nope. All that reckoning comes from our own unrelenting, nagging ego, the part of ourselves that desperately wants to look like Giselle Bundchen yet still be able to chow down at the buffet like it’s Super Bowl Sunday every day. As foe, the ego berates you for being a failure because the scale needle didn’t go down. The ego is real good at making you feel like the scale is the only benchmark of your value and lovability. I would even gather a bet that someone like Giselle, also gets the same, if not more, brutal brow beating from her ego when she steps on the scale and sees the numbers go higher.

Instead of scrutinizing the scale like it was the wrath of fat evil, what if we looked at it as if it were a Swami of self-love, a wise one who can help us be more caring of ourselves. When we are overweight or gaining un-needed weight, it is a sign that we are using food to medicate ourselves or fill some emotional void. As the Swami of self-love, the moving needle on the scale is actually telling us that we need to be more loving and caring of our needs. We are not failures. We just need to put light on what is hurting or bothering us because it is driving us to overeat, not exercise, and not be more loving and patient toward ourselves.

There have been countless times where I have beaten myself up and plunged head deep into potbellied depression because the scale needle didn’t move down, or it moved up signaling my approach to bigger jeans. I can tell you all the brow beating and crying did nothing to help me drop pounds. In fact, it probably added to the growing waistline because when I’m feeling the fuglies, I either munch incessantly or plant my ass on the couch for days.

When I look at the scale as a Swami of self-love, then I feel empowered and hopeful because I know it’s just telling me to look at my emotions more closely and take action in clearing my heart of the pain and frustration that is driving me to self medicate through food. Eventually, the Swami of self-love will have met it’s ultimately job when I let go of the scale for good in peace.