I haven’t owned a set of scales at home in at least a twenty years. I refused to have them because I didn’t want to know what I weighed. I wanted to gauge my body by how my clothes fit, plus I wanted to bury my head in the sand and not care how much I weighed. Yeah, we all know how well that worked.
Now that I’ve been going to Weight Watchers for 18 months now, I no longer dread the scale. In fact, I often look forward to stepping on it regardless of whether the results show a loss or a gain. I haven’t missed a weigh-in or a meeting since I started, except for when my regular meeting time was closed due to holidays or weather.
I view the scale sort of like a performance review. It’s feedback telling me how I did the prior week, if my actions and choices were effective, and if not, where I need to change course. Perhaps I wasn’t quite as diligent at tracking and choosing my foods as I could have been. Perhaps I didn’t get in enough exercise. Perhaps I was stressed or didn’t drink enough water, both of which can help you hold on to weight.
One week, we had extremely hot temperatures and I knew I was retaining water (ankles swelling) and I was under stress plus PMS. The scale showed that I gained 4 pounds. Unheard of for me in one week. But I didn’t deter or give up because I kind of knew why the weight gain. Sure enough, within a couple weeks, all that was gone, plus more.
I’m eager for tonight’s weigh in. It’s been a tough last couple weeks (location was closed last Monday for holiday) and I’m eager for the feedback. My mom’s been hospitalized and I’ve been extremely busy taking care of her needs and getting her situated in a nursing facility. That means my regular routine has been completely disrupted. I’ve been driving more, sitting more, eating from cafeteria salad bars and menus, and not getting enough sleep (also a factor in weight loss). I know people can gain weight when life happens like this, so I’m eager to see if the countermeasures I took worked. I chose mostly salads for my meals, and even if my dressing wasn’t low fat, I used it sparingly. I tried to take the stairs whenever I could, and walk around the outside of the hospital to my car, instead of through it indoors. Essentially, I looked for every opportunity to add steps to my route because I didn’t have time to bicycle or go for a run.
I no longer fear or hate the scale. It makes me anxious sometimes, yes, but overall, it has become my friend. Gains one week don’t deter me any more because I’ve kept at this long enough to know that overall, I’m going in the right direction. 
Chart above is my actual weight loss progress as tracked at Weight Watchers online eTools.
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