My client, Julie, decided she was done with the scale. She was tired of the stress and frustration that comes from weighing herself regularly and not always seeing the results she wanted. She decided to take out her aggravation and hammer her scale into thousands of tiny pieces!

Are you a success or a failure? This is what it boils down to when you step on the scale. You feel like a million bucks when you see the numbers on the scale drop, even just a pound or two. And when you get on the scale and you’ve gained weight, oh boy, you can feel terrible and sometimes even depressed. How about you? How do you feel when you step on the scale? Are you letting this little appliance control you? Is it worth it? I say no!

To begin with, weight loss and maintenance takes time, hard work, commitment and consistency. Many times you’re doing everything right. You eat healthy, exercise regularly, and even say no to all of those high calorie treats, but you still have a hard time losing weight and then you might give up on doing all the healthy things. There are many medical reasons why people can’t lose weight. Women going through peri-menopause and menopause are dealing with hormonal changes which makes it very challenging. Other medical issues that get in the way is hypothyroidism (me!), diabetes, chronic stress, and depression, just to name a few. So many times it is not your fault!

The best plan of action is to eat healthy, exercise regularly, and then pay attention to your non-scale victories. When you’re working hard doing the right things to lose weight, but not seeing the results, these non-scale victories can show you that you are still going in the right direction. Remember, the number on the scale is just one type of measurement and it doesn’t even prove that you are healthy! These non-scale victories are so much more important. You can get the complete list from Whole 30 here. Let’s take a look at a few of these:

1. How’s your skin, hair and nails? After eating healthy for a few weeks you might notice it glowing. Do you have fewer blemishes? How are your under-eye circles? Is your hair stronger? Are your nails longer and stronger?

2. How about your appearance? Do your clothes fit a little looser? Is your stomach flatter? Are you feeling less bloated?

3. How about your mood? Are you happier? More optimistic? Less stressed? Has your self-esteem improved?

4. How’s your relationship with food? Have you stopped binging? Do you have fewer sugar & carb cravings? Are you more in control of the food you eat?

5. How’s your sleep? Are you sleeping better?

6. How’s your energy? Has it improved and can you do more activities because you have better energy?

As you can see there are so many reasons why you should continue to eat healthy and exercise regularly, even if the number on your scale might not have budged. Julie is now so much happier. Smashing the scale left her feeling relieved. She is exercising regularly and she eats healthy around 80% of the time. She might not be perfect with her eating, but she is feeling more in tune with her hunger cues and she’s definitely not as stressed with the scale. How about you? Are you ready to break up with the scale?

Comment below and tell me your scale story.