Weighing in on a Weighty Subject

Recently a good friend on Facebook had a discussion on how often you should weigh yourself. There was a nice discussion about daily, weekly or monthly weigh ins. Now I am not a fan of weighing myself in fact until recently I didn't even own a scale. The scale and I are not friends, in fact I think we  are mortal enemies. Although which one of this is the hero and which one is the bad guy is still open for debate.

With that being said I decided to get one to help me with my weight loss journey. It can be a good indicator to help you decided if the things you are doing are working or not. But I worry about the effect it will have on the "pseudo" step-kids especially the daughter. As woman our whole self esteem can be become wrapped up in the number on the scale.

For me personally if the number on the scale would get to high I would get depressed which often lead to more eating....I am an emotional eater. When I am sad I eat, when I am bored I eat, when I am angry I eat (actually I drink wine but that is a lot of calories). So then I would avoid the scale (by avoiding the Dr because that is the only time I stepped on the scale) and then when I was finally forced to get on one I would get depressed hate myself and my body. Talk about a vicious cycle and I can't even blame anyone for it...this is all me.

Now that we have established that I have any unhealthy relationship with my scale...How often do I weigh myself?  I have decided on once a week to help me monitor if what I am doing is helping or hindering my ability to get healthy.  To be honest with you the scale sits on the floor in my bathroom (which is better than the kitchen I think) and every time I walk in there I fight the urge to step on the scale. Its a constant mental battle I have with myself...even though I know that your weight will fluctuate through out the day, I still have to fight myself to stay off.

I also want to help the kids in my life have a healthy relationship with food and the scale. How do I do that when I have a bad relationship with food and the scale?

Here are my weekly get healthy habits.

Good Habit: Get on the treadmill 5 days this weeks, for at least 15 minutes preferably 30 minutes.

Bad Habit: No extra snacking. I know this was last weeks bad habit but I didn't do as well as I would hope to do with it so I am trying again this week.