I believe in keeping track of weight over time.

It’s a good canary in the coal mine. I even remember the moment about three years ago when I saw the scale had nudged up by 7 lbs. My thought at the time? “Huh. Oh well.” If I’d used the information as a little wakeup call, I probably wouldn’t have gone on to gain an additional 17 lbs.

The practice of weighing (in my life) also correlates well with good health habits. If I’m weighing myself, I’m paying attention. When I pay attention, I put an emphasis on good foods (and sometimes exercise, though that’s a whole other challenge for me).

So why am I stepping away from the scale for now?

Weight-loss efforts before have been focused on just that: losing weight. When I lost more than 40 lbs. many years ago, it was in large part due to reducing my food intake (and doing occasional exercise).

And it’s what I needed at the time. I’d spent my entire life overweight, long enough to assume it was “just how I’m meant to be.” Losing weight shook me out of that notion.

Now, though, losing that weight I gained back has become a secondary goal: my primary goal is to become fit. I mean. FIT.

And I’ve been doing pretty well. It’s been easier than I expected to eliminate the extraneous cheese and sweets from my day (and I often replace them with fruit bowls or extra veggies in my meals). I’m even excited about pushing my body physically. I have little goals and for the most part I’m reaching them.

Except that when I step on the scale, it’s stuck (and sometimes sneaks up a pound or two). Whenever I see those numbers, I get discouraged.

What I don’t need right now is to be doing all this good work and then get discouraged because of the ten seconds I spend on a scale.

The plan: stay off the scale until September. Keep up my good habits (and challenge myself to ramp them up).

What I hope will happen

I want to rewire my brain to find rewards in good-food days; in my accomplishments on the bike and in my spin and H.E.A.T. classes; and in how those things change the way my body feels.

If I can start reacting more significantly to those cues, then a little time on the scale shouldn’t mean anything more than what it is: a reflection of how my body is reacting to all these good things I’m doing for it.