Water Weight

I am convinced I have a problem with water weight. On any given day I am certain that I am retaining 5 to 7 pounds of it. I have a love/hate relationship with the scale, as most women do. If it says what I want it to (which is never), then I love it. If it says what I don't want it to say (which is always), I hate it.

Recently, when I weigh myself, I conclude my time on the scale by mentally deducting 5-7 pounds for the water weight that I am convinced is the problem, which leaves me with a final weight that I can live with. I used to think that this problem only occurred at certain times of the month, but I have changed my thinking on that. Because no matter what time of the month it is, I am having this same problem with the 5-7 pounds. Thus, water weight is a month-long, and year-long problem. There's no way to trace the 5-7 pounds back to the fried food I ate last night, the cookies I ate the last two nights, or the giant blobs of cool whip that I put in the top of every cup of coffee that I drink. Because the cool whip is fat free - so that can't be the problem! (I have to laugh out loud as I type this because it cracks me up that I really do find reasons to deduct weight when I weigh myself in the morning - there's always several things that I am sure are the problem that I will deduct pounds for. How much can underwear weigh????)

In all seriousness, though, or a little seriousness, I guess, I was thinking this morning in the shower about how much that stupid scale can dictate how I feel about myself on any given day. I can get up, look forward to my day, have a positive attitude and good interaction with my family, and then jump on the scale (in hopes that those few pounds I'm tired of seeing are gone), and boom, there goes my happy outlook on life. I am then in a funk, frustrated with myself, analyzing whatever I can remember eating, and then beating myself up all day about it. So silly, yet so true.

So, this morning, after the water weight increased with my morning weigh, and I ran out of things to deduct for, I decided that I am going to put my scale in a place that is so inconvenient to get to, that I wouldn't make the effort. It's just ridiculous for that object made of plastic and metal to have that much power over my mood and my feelings about myself. I had this sweet older lady last week tell me that she weighs every morning... "because if it's good, you can have fun, and if it's not good, you can't have any fun", she said. As cute as she was telling me about it, I certainly don't want to spend the next 50 years of my life letting that object tell me what kind of day I am going to have!

So, I am going to continue eating healthy most of the time, continue exercising most of the time, and enjoy my life! I have decided that a monthly weigh-in is just right - that's only 12 days a year with the potential to be distressing - and a lot less mental calculation to make sure I deduct the right amount of water weight, etc.! Way better than 365 days of having to do all of that! And only once a month that Randy has to drag the ladder out to get to the scale! He'll be so happy.