Stepping on the Scale

Many of the people I know have had issues with weight gain at some point in their lives – myself included. For those fortunate few who have never had to battle the bulge: we hate you. Just kidding – even if you don’t have to face up to some extra pounds, everyone has to “step on the scale” in some part of their life.

Like most developments in our lives, weight gain tends to happen as a result of habits. As we age and take on more responsibilities with work and family it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain good eating and exercise habits. It also becomes increasingly likely that we will develop bad habits like stopping at the drive-thru for dinner and snacking at our desks. Year after year our weight slowly increases, but we put off doing something about it. We buy stretchy clothes in ever-larger sizes and continue to make excuses for our predicament.

The last thing we want to do at this point in our lives is get on the scale and weigh ourselves. That would mean facing up to the truth about how severe our situation really is. But the beauty of stepping on the scale is that it forces us to quantify our situation and recognize that something needs to be done about it. You can avoid looking in the mirror and tell yourself that your clothes just keep shrinking in the wash, but you can’t excuse away the cold, hard number on the scale.

We avoid stepping on the scale in other areas of our lives, too. We try as hard as we can to avoid recognizing relationships that have gone bad, problems within our families and failings at work to name just a few. The problem is that, much like our weight, the longer we put off acknowledging and dealing with these problems the worse they become.

This is why it is often said that real friends will give you an honest answer when you ask for their opinion instead of just telling you what you want to hear. Real friends recognize that it is in your best interest to address problems in your life head-on, and they won’t help you pretend like those problems don’t exist.

Honest friends certainly help, but ultimately it is you who must look at yourself in the mirror and step on that scale. This is the first step towards curing your ills and resolving your issues. Once you get over the initial pain and shock you will be glad you stepped on the scale. Only when you know exactly what you’re dealing with can you begin taking steps to resolve it.

Have a great weekend,

Ro