Tipping the Scale
The scale that sits in the corner of your bathroom and strikes fear and loathing (and most importantly has control over your emotions), is without a doubt the biggest obstacle you've got in attaining your goal to be a lean, mean, running machine.
For some mysterious reason (doctors, media, etc...) people think that the scale actually represents some sort of progress report on your state of your health and if your "Diet" is working. Of course this could not be further from the truth. DO NOT BUY INTO THIS CRAP!
A scale measures an object that is put on it, that's all. It does not weigh the person you are! It does not and cannot discern between muscle, water, morning, evening, etc. All these factors by the way, including any other type of dynamic in your day or week that cause a daily read-out on the scale, have nothing to do with what your real progress is. For example: too much salty food. If you carry a lot of muscle you're going to be heavy the next day, and if you jump on the scale it will appear as though you have magically lost ground on your diet - and then the next day back to normal.
Well, you don't have to be Columbo to figure out that muscle holds most of the body water. Add salt to it and basically your Sponge Bob. 24 hours later, back to normal. Now, if you don't jump on the scale after your salt exursion, but instead just became aware of the cause of your body fluxations, you would then truly be in charge of your own physiology.
It really is incredible if you look at the amount of power and fear the scales play in most people's lives.
The smartest, most in shape people who know better than to judge the progress by the pound, still jump on the scale or worry about jumping on the scale. (Folks, it's a box with numbers, that's it!) It's like people who go to Vegas and bet at the roulette wheel, "black 14 please", and watch in fear and anxiety as it slowly comes to a halt on red 13.
Throw your scale out the window! Visual is tough for people because most people have a distorted view of what they look like. Just start by "feel". By that I mean how do you feel? Does your wardrobe reflect a change; Pants too big? More energy? A positive daily outlook? You know the whole thing that actually matters as apposed to wiping it all out with one trip to the scale.
The scale has done more damage to people then we have time to talk about it. If you place importance on a box with numbers and you allow it to dictate your mood and how you view yourself, then you will never be free to achieve what you are really capable of. Period.