The Unfortunate Demise of the Scale

Well….

I have a confession to make

Somewhere around last month

When I was looking to hit

That 200 Pounds Lost mark

But hadn’t quite gotten there yet

 

Before I came to the conclusion

That God is in control

And it was OK that I hadn’t reached my goal yet

 

Before I had a revelation

That the scale did not have it out for me

And that maybe I just needed some patience

And before I realized that there might be a lesson to learn in waiting

Instead of needing instant gratification from the scale

 

Well….

Before all THAT happened

Something else happened

 

It was back on that day when I woke up

Stepped on the scale

And it told me I had gained 2 pounds

And that’s when it happened

 

I know….I know…

It was totally immature

Not at all the kind of thing

I’m all that proud of

But here it is…

 

I got mad

Angry

IRATE

And I kicked the scale across the room

Straight into the wall

 

And then

Without hesitation

I scooped it up in my arms

Strolled right out the front door

In my nightgown and everything

Without even taking time to put on my slippers

Barefoot and my hair unbrushed

And walked it all the way out the street

Because it was trash day

And my trash can had already been rolled out to the mailbox

 

With boiling rage

I shoved it into the garbage

And stomped back into the house

Where I promptly was faced

With Charlotte

Standing in the living room

With a stunned look on her face

 

She’s my early riser

She had heard it all

So I stood there

Barefoot

In my nightgown

With my unbrushed hair

Suddenly aware

Woken up out of a trance

 

And then she spoke

“Mama”

“Yes?”

“What are you doing?”

“Well Charlotte…..You see….”

Blank stare….

“I was just throwing away the scale”

“It didn’t tell you what you wanted to hear…huh?”

“Nope”

“Can I have some oatmeal?”

Phew….

And just like that the scale conversation was over

Or so I thought

 

Because an hour later, her siblings were awake

And as she greeted them good morning

She added

“Mama threw out the scale”

To which Annabelle replied

“She threw out a whale??”

 

“NO!!”, Charlotte yelled back

“Not a whale! The scale!”

 

“ooooooo....” CJ said from across the room

“You called mama a whale!!…You’re going to be in trouubbbllleee!!!!”

 

Charlotte was exasperated now with their lack of understanding

“I did NOT call Mama a whale!!! I SAID she threw out the SCALE!”

 

And now they were on board

 

“OH the scale!!!”

“Why’d you do that Mama?” CJ asked

But before I could reply

Charlotte interjected…..

 

“What do you think?

“She finally got sick of its attitude”

 

 

HA!

How’s THAT for the perfect reply?

That’s EXACTLY how I feel

On numerous occasions

The scale has attitude!!

SERIOUS attitude

And I’m just about sick and tired of it

 

Because for 17 months

I’ve been stepping on and off this scale

And in all this time

There is one thing I’ve learned about it

And it’s this

The scale is moody

It’s sometimes unreliable

And it doesn’t always tell the truth

 

You see, there are times

Where you do all the right things

And the scale doesn’t move

It’s as if the scale refuses

To tell the whole story

 

But there are other times too

Where I KNOW

I have NOT done what I was supposed to do

I know I’ve been pushing it

Slacking off

And then the scale shows a loss of 2 pounds

How can THAT be??

 

The scale is a crazy beast

It really is

It’s like a bad friend

Sometimes there for you

Sometimes not

Sometimes kind

Sometimes rude

What do you do with this ridiculous relationship?

 

Well if you’re me

You toss it

Throw it away

And then 3 days later

You have to go buy a new one

 

Because here’s the reality

The scale isn’t your friend

Not really

But it’s also not your enemy

 

The scale doesn’t tell the whole story

Because it was never supposed to

We are the ones that decided to promote it

To judge and jury

 

And the scale never applied for that job

In fact the scale

Is probably the one with the inferiority complex

Because here we are

Expecting it to know all things

To reflect all things

And to ALWAYS

Tell us what we want to hear

Or risk getting whacked!

 

The scale probably thinks to itself

Who are these crazy people??

Why do they put so much pressure on me?

Why do they expect me to know everything??

 

The scale was never meant to be the judge

It doesn’t have that kind of knowledge

It can only tell you one thing

A Number

And that number doesn’t always reflect

The day you just had

 

Sometimes the work you do on Monday

Won’t turn up on the scale until Friday

Or sometimes

The Friday after that

 

I’m not a scientist

I don’t know the details

I just know this

If you do what you’re supposed to do

If you follow your food plan

If you exercise

Then you WILL lose weight

You just will

 

Maybe not when you want

Maybe not immediately

Maybe not even consistently

But it will happen

 

And here’s the thing

The scale

Isn’t the liar

It’s just limited in what it can do

 

If I get mad at the scale

For not reflecting my hard work

Then I am overestimating the power of the scale

Because the scale is useful

It is important

And it does have it’s place

But it is NOT the Wizard of Oz

It is not behind some curtain

Pulling the strings

WE ARE

 

We are the ones in charge

We are the ones in control

We are the ones with the power

NOT THE SCALE

 

If you log your food

And log your exercise

And you know you’re on track

Then the scale won’t need to tell you that

Because you’ll already know

 

My scale is off at the dump right about now

Where it can meet those who came before it

Because sadly I must admit

That this isn’t the first time I’ve thrown out a scale

 

I’ve had a love/hate relationship with that thing for years

And I believe

This is the third time I’ve thrown one out

 

But sometimes

You just have to break up with your scale

And when you’re ready

When you can handle it

You get a new one

 

Maybe you’ll find

Like I did

That the new one

TALKS

 

So far it only says “Hello”

But I have a feeling

That  it will learn one more word

Before we’re finished

And it will probably be

GOODBYE

 

Because there’s little doubt in my mind

That this scale

Will meet the same demise

One day

 

When you embark on a serious weight loss journey

You’re going to have your ups and downs

You may scream and cry

And find yourself

Acting like a fool one early morning

Kicking the darn thing across the room

And stomping outside in your nightgown

To chuck it in the trash

 

But know this

You’re probably not alone

Rumor has it

Quite a few people

Have taken issue with the scale

 

It’s just part of the process

But we’ll get there one day

And the scale will be there

To give us the good news

 

We just have to remember

That regardless of what it says

It will never define our hearts

It will never define our journey

And it will never

Own us

 

Because there is One whose opinion of me

Far exceeds that of the scale

And He says

 

“Well done”  (Matthew 25:23)