Why Everyone Needs a Scale

Like any other girl, I have a love/hate relationship with my scale. I keep it in my bathroom, step on it daily, and pack it with me when I go to my boyfriends or on vacation (even if its just for one night).

I need to weigh myself every day. In the morning. With no clothes on.

If I don’t, I will gain weight. I may gain weight regardless, but let me tell you – It is better to know you are gaining weight than to find out after you’ve gained 10 pounds and finally look in the mirror and notice.

When I was in LA on my “semester abroad,” I didn’t bring my scale. This may or may not have been my worst mistake – ever. I was bound to bringing only 2 suitcases for 4 months…

This meant only bringing 1/18th of my clothes, makeup, jewelry, shoes, jackets, towels, ETC. And I will let you know, this was most definitely the worst packing experience ever… Or wait, that was actually going home… since I had bought out an entire Forever 21 store while in LA and had to Fed Ex multiple packages to my house because I could not fit everything in my suitcases to go on the plane.

Anyway, when I arrived in LA, I was still sticking to my diet and work out plan. I felt great, BUT I didn’t have the scale to wake up to in the morning to give me that extra inspiration needed to stick to my diet. When my scale would tell me I gained a pound, I would do anything I could to lose the pound (in a healthy way) – and if the scale told me I lost a pound, I would be so excited and motivated to lose another. However, without a scale, I was hopeless.

It  all started when I arrived at the apartment complex and started going to the gym there. It sucked. The treadmills were extremely loud and were probably from 1980.

There was no where to put your water, ipod, or phone. There was no simulated track to watch yourself run around. And the view was of the hot tub – a place I would much rather be than on the treadmill. In addition to this, the gym was small. I think there were three 1980 treadmills, a few machines that also sucked, and pretty much no place to stretch and crunch. There were no exercise mats to put down anywhere, so you had to sit on the floor and be interrupted by people trying to walk by you. There were also no free weights (however, this was before I had discovered the magic of free weights, so that doesn’t matter – and maybe they were there.. I just didn’t notice).

SOOOO since I didn’t have my scale to tell me to go to the gym, I started not going as much… I was in LA. I worked until 6 or later some days – sat in traffic for hours – AND had night class 2 or 3 nights a week from 7pm-10pm. And I wasn’t about to wake up at 6am and work out OR work out after a long ass day at 1030 at night. No thanks… That’s just not my thing.

What was my thing, though, was getting frozen yogurt… Sometimes on a nightly basis. “Fro yo… that’s healthy,” you’re probably thinking. Yeah, it’s healthy to a certain degree. Pinkberry smalls with fruit on the top is only an extra 100-200 calories to your daily diet…

BUT these other places we went to, such as Top of the Swirl in Burbank, had that unhealthy “frozen yogurt…” you know the “frozen yogurt” that has nothing to do with yogurt. It’s pretty much just soft, low fat ice cream. But it SAID it was frozen yogurt and the store was FILLED with candy, chocolate, and other horribly bad food items to fill your “fro yo” dish with and pay by the pound! Did someone say winning? I thought I was winning every day. Until I woke up one day and realized I had gained 10 pounds. Scale withdrawal, my friends… scale withdrawal.

Anyway, I sadly sometimes replaced working out with getting fro yo, getting fake fro yo, going out to dinner in new places because we couldn’t get enough of weekend adventures out in Cali, eating Subway for lunch constantly because it was literally LA’s version of Dunkin Donuts, and lying at the beach getting tan.

TANS.

AKA the best way to make yourself look not-as-big-as-you-really-are. As Snooki claims, people look better tan… and they do. The darker you get, the more your fat remains hidden. That extra fat on your face that looks back at you in mirror during winter – GONE. Tans are awesome. But unfortunately, they don’t help you physically lose weight – The number on the scale remains the same.

So, meanwhile, I’m tan, I’m happy, I’m living on smoothies, fro-yo, Subway, and Captain. Nothing could get me down.

UNTIL, I went home. What’s the first thing I did when I got home? Stripped down to nothing and got on the scale.

Damn, I gained 10 pounds? When did that happen?

When you started living off of fro yo and Subway, DUH.

Was I an idiot? Yeah, kind of. But do you see how much I rely on my scale? My scale is my personal trainer… but seriously, it is.

Have I lost that weight yet? No… thanks to senior year of college and then post-college withdrawal… but that is another story for another time. And I am currently trying to lose the weight now… But I always am trying to lose weight. Aren’t we all?