Dear scale, it’s not me, it’s you. 

As the song accurately stated, “Breaking up is hard to do.” When that something involves weight and the desire to keep an eye on it, the breakup is amazingly difficult. It might be impossible, but that’s yet to be determined. 

Breaking up with the scales is part of my October challenge so I enlisted the help of my daughter. Her instructions were easy enough: remove the weight scale from the bathroom, please, and keep it away throughout October. 

Before I got home, she had done the deed. Instantly, I felt something was different about the bathroom – everything has a place and everything is usually in its place – but I couldn’t quite put my finger on what was wrong. Obviously, I'd forgotten. 

The shock of reality struck me the next morning. As is my custom, I went to weigh myself and that’s when I freaked. My scale was no longer in its place beside the doorway. I had a momentary, but palpable, sensation of panic. 

I thought about walking into my daughter’s room and playing it off as a joke.

“I can’t believe you fell for that,” I’d say, with a string of ha-ha-ha-ha-ha. “I was just kidding. Please, return my weight scale to the bathroom. Thanks for playing along, though. You crazy kid you.” 

I resisted that urge. 

My morning ritual started in 2014. I had gone years ignoring what I was doing to my body and my first stop was the weight scale. I definitely wasn’t happy with what I saw. So, I started making healthy changes to my food intake. Finding better, but acceptable, alternatives. Limiting fast food, which had become almost daily. 

I never saw weighing myself daily as a problem. Weighing in the morning wasn’t an obsession, but it did become a ritual. 

If weighing isn’t a problem, then why stop? 

I’m finding myself too focused on that number. It bothers me. It has a tendency to upset my mood, when just seconds before I felt fine. Not a good start to the morning.

My goal has always been to be healthier. The determinants of health can be divided into four categories: nutrition, lifestyle, environment and genetics. I can’t do much about my genetics, but I can work on the other three by focusing on the other three. 

With health in mind, I ate better, exercised more and tried to lower my stress level. Weight loss was a just a very pleasant side effect. I want to get back to that way of thinking, so I decided the weight scale in my bathroom had to go. 

So, the scale is out. I’ve had feelings of withdrawals each morning, but I’m coping. To better judge my overall health, I am keeping a diary of the three categories and how I feel throughout the day.

Standard reporter Lisa Hobbs can be reached at 473-2191.