Scales were Invented by Men.

Scales were Invented by Men....

In a conversation I had earlier with a friend, I made this statement and I feel the need to elaborate.  See, this friend was feeling a little too down on herself and that did not sit well with me.  Like myself, she is striving to lose weight and also like me, she was discouraged by an unmoving number on a scale.  I can relate to this discouragement all too well.  I have spent many a morning stepping on and off my scale in hopes that the number will miraculously lower itself on the next attempt.
I first asked her if her clothes were fitting looser.  She was on to my approach though and her mood did not seem affected by the knowledge that muscle weighs more than fat.  That, although the scale was not moving, she was in fact losing weight.  This is when I fired out my statement from above. 

Repeat after me....Scales were invented by men.

I don't mean this to be offensive to our male counterparts ladies.  Not at all.  But let's face it.  How many times have we heard someone say "He's a big boy"   That is a compliment.  Now think about it.  How many times has "She's a big girl" been meant in the same way?   Men are positively associated with bigger.   Men work out to increase their size while us ladies generally work out to decrease it.  The bigger the better is true of most things in the male world.  Bigger muscles...bigger appetites...bigger "body parts" .  Don't giggle.  I was referring to the acceptability of the male beer gut, of course.

How does this relate to men being the inventor of the scale?  Well, like men, scales take things at face value.   You, in a sense, ask it a question and it gives you back an answer. The answer being what does your body weigh at that moment. It does not take into consideration that the person stepping on may be PMS'ing and therefore the excess water weight should be deducted.  The scale does not know that the person hovering over it may have had a bad day at work or is stressed out over finances.  No.  Why should it?  Does the scale care that you had a huge fight with your significant other and therefore were ENTITLED to that bowl of Ben & Jerry's.  It should subtract weight for the vigorous workout you will be doing the next day when the guilt seeps in for eating the stupid ice cream in the fiirst place!

Going even further, the scale just tells you what you weigh.  It doesn't tell you how much better you look in your clothes lately.  (or out of them).  Doesn't that dam scale know that us ladies need support and encouragement!  Is it that hard to pay us a compliment every now and then?

Takes a deep breath

 

 

Whoa...started to get a little dramatic there for a sec.  Sorry about that. The point I'm trying to make is that although the scale is very informative, it does not take all into account.  And therefore we should not place it on such a high pedestal.  When the numbers on the scale seem immobile, keep in mind all the other things before disparaging and putting yourself down.  Muscle does IN FACT weigh more than fat.  When your clothes fit looser or oh, I don't know...start to fall off.  That says way more than any scale ever will.  Body weight breaks down in many ways as our bodies transform.  Take each little transformation and treasure it like it was gold,  cause guess what?  It is.