Health Tip 105 From a Non-Health Fanatic

Buy a scale and if you already own one – use it! How are you supposed to lose weight if you are not able to track your success by some legitimate measurement? How comfortable your pants fit today is NOT an accurate way to determine if you are overweight or on track!

Most of us avoid the scale to avoid the truth – yes you are 10, 20, 30, 40 pounds overweight! The scale can not ease its tone, hold your hand, or tell you things will get better. The scale shows it like it is. Go ahead, step off and step back on – the numbers are the same. Let your toes hang over the edge, maybe it will take off one pound (darn, you have fat toes). Strip – take off those jeans, eliminate the wallet, no shoes of course (everyone knows that rule). Make that scale go down! Typically it doesn’t so people simply ignore it. They hide the scale, throw it away, or even sell it at a garage sale!

If you are going to get serious about losing weight you need to know how much you currently weigh and how much you want to weigh (there is obviously a difference for most of us). The scale is not the enemy, in fact, many of days it is my best friend showing me the results of hard work while also showing me a weekend of poor eating and wine drinking doesn’t amount to a 5 pound gain (Halleluiah)! The scale keeps your butt in line – it is a simple device that says “good” or “bad” by the numbers it displays. If you're up you know to get back on track, work out slightly more. If you are down, kiss the scale and hope that it is not broken! HA, HA just kidding.

The point is simple. You can’t be serious about weight loss unless you know what you weigh as hurtful as that number may appear (think Biggest Loser national TV the whole world knows how fat you are). This is not that bad!

My approach: While trying to actively lose weight I used the scale every single morning (before I had 3 meals)! I knew whether I was up or down and that dictated what I ate and how much I worked out that day. While trying to maintain my weight loss I use the scale twice a week – once in the beginning (Sunday or Monday) and once towards the end. This allows me to quickly catch a mishap and reverse a gain always giving me control of my weight and more importantly my self confidence.