"Wow. That can't be right."
I stepped off and then on again, but the number was unchanged. The nurse gave me a sympathetic look.
"My husband doesn't even allow me to have one of those in the house. It freaks me out too much."
When I went in for my yearly pap last week, I discovered something quite alarming and it had nothing to do with my vaginal health. There was a huge discrepancy between the numbers the scale at the doctor's office was registering and what my scale at home read. And even taking into account the time of day, the clothes I was wearing, and the phase of the moon, the difference was shocking. Nine pounds.
At first, I was upset, but probably not for the reasons you think. Our scale was pretty ancient and I had doubted it's accuracy for some time. But NINE pounds. That's practically ten pounds. Double digit discrepancy. That's a pretty BIG deal, no pun intended.
I was mostly disgruntled that all the time when I thought I was only five or eight pounds away from my goal, I was really more like fifteen pounds away. And fifteen is FAR, FAR away when it comes to weight loss. Fifteen is months of hard work and sacrifice. I felt like I'd been running a marathon and then somebody took me, stuffed me in a duffel bag and dropped me back off at the start line.
We ordered a new scale from Amazon, one that gives body fat percentage because it always nice to have one more thing to stress out about. I started a new diet today, which really isn't a diet but should more aptly be called portion control. Diets are for girls. I'm also plunging head first into my exercise regimen and even considering running to make those numbers on the scale shrink faster. Yes, I really am that desperate.
I never understood why people chose to start new health habits in January. The middle of winter is the most difficult time to stay motivated. The entire world encourages hibernation, buried under blankets of snow. But I guess if you can make it through February into the promise of spring, you'll get your second wind. By then, I hope to already be ten pounds lighter.
Posted by Kaz at January 29, 2007 9:02 AMi went to the same dr. for my pap, and my weight was way off on their scale, too! or at least way off of what i thought it was. so maybe we can just agree that their scale is off, and we're really much skinnier than it said. because it depresses me severely to think about how much weight i have to lose if their scale was right...
Posted by: lauren at January 29, 2007 12:27 PMIt's TMI week at wanderlust.
I haven't been on a scale for years. I don't know what I weight. When I get a belly I know I need to lose, Throw the scale out, tell your doctor you don't want to know.
Posted by: Reed at January 29, 2007 1:30 PMThe US Department of weighs and measurements come to our hardware store yearly to check our scales accuracy. I've never seen a sticker of certification at the doctor's office. I use the fatass rule, if you can't get your pants zipped it's time to cut back on the food. And yes, I still wear pants that are as old as Holly. (She will be 29 on Tuesday.)
Posted by: Vikki at January 31, 2007 7:43 AMNormally, I use the clothes too snug measurement as well and skip the scale. But I'm just trying to get down to my pre pregnancy weight and it's nice to have a scale to give you some kind of idea of how far you have to go. None of my shirts fit anymore because I gained a cup size when I got pregnant and then breastfed, so it gets discouraging because there's not a lot I can do to change that and I have to adjust my expectation of what my weight will be based on that in part. 38 C's add some heft, you know?
Posted by: kaz at January 31, 2007 9:00 AMWeighs and measuremnets did our scales last week. I asked about the doctor's scales, they use to check their scales but since they are not selling "a value or product", they stopped. You'll get your figure back after you stop nursing. Vikki
Posted by: at February 19, 2007 7:18 AM