** REVISED: 8/19/19 with new images from my scale of choice below **
TL;DR: Scroll right to the bottom for images from and a link to the scale. If, however, you are down to read the backstory about how I “blessed and released” my once-upon-a-time obsession with my weight, here you go:
So, real talk. I honestly hesitated in sharing a scale – one that measures a person’s WEIGHT – as a “favorite thing,” but I landed on feeling comfie doing so, because of my own personal hugely transformational change in perspective about a number that haunted me for more than 20 years of my one and only precious life.
Here’s the Cliff Notes summary of my former dysfunction around weight (please know that – if this is you presently – I greatly empathize, I get it more than you will ever know, and I know there is a way to not feel as you do, because I am no longer plagued by that which used to be so burdensome to my existence):
Basically, I was a “skinny” (I loathe these words now) kid. I ate a large NY style pizza by myself in one sitting at age 8 and weighing in at a whopping 45 lbs, and no one even blinked an eye or find that remotely alarming. I could eat exorbitant amounts of food (the jokes were “she has an extra stomach” and “she has tapeworm”), and – like so many people – I was an emotional eater (still am and still working on it) who ate whatever I wanted because I didn’t gain weight and everyone wrongfully thought “skinny = healthy”. Every. Emotion: happy, sad, bored, lonely, and everything in between. Then, between ages 11 and 12, I had a growth spurt and gained 7′ and 30 lbs, which was nothing short of devastating because – even at this young age – I had deeply internalized that my being “tiny” and “skinny” was highly valued and something that the whole of the female population aspired towards (other girls my age talked about it all the time as something they admired/envied/wished they were). Therefore, “gaining 30 lbs” – read as: GROWING NORMALLY AS CHILDREN DO – meant that I was now “fat” in spite of still only being 90 lbs at 5’4″. I mean, obvs. *Rolls eyes and then proceeds to weep for me of back then and wishes she had present day me to guide her*
It was at 16 (the photo right above is of me at my Sweet 16) that I would – after years of subscribing to YM and Seventeen Magazines which forever offered “8 tips and tricks to a bikini body” (oddly, I never wanted to actually wear a bikini but I desired a bod that – in my mind – had the *right* to wear one) – kick off my very first diet and would continue with the yo-yo dieting roller coaster ride for the next 20 years. How loathsome I was towards my body – always deeming it unworthy and deeply flawed – will forever break my heart, which is why it is a primary life purpose/mission of mine to make sure that as many women are freed from this vicious cycle of self-loathing based on an arbitrary and (for the most part) meaningless number on a scale that says nothing more than your gravitational pull towards the Earth and nothing about your worth and value. Most of all, I wish to spare as many young women – like my beloved niece – from ever having to embark on this path.
It is too long of a story to explain everything including dieting for perpetuity, my life trauma as a domestic violence survivor in a brief 3-month-dating-no-love-on-the-table relationship with a psychopath (“the events of 2012” which caused me to gain 40 lbs in 2 years), the complete disconnection from myself (as in my existence) in the aftermath, and then, finally, embarking on a path of healing, visiting a fitness resort, later working at that resort and hosting 2 lectures there, and where I have landed now which is: complete comfort with the number on the scale. At my current weight, I am 52 lbs heavier than my high school weight (that photo above is what I aspired towards – stuck it onto my mirror and errthing – all through my 20s and early 30s thinking I need to “get back to” that # on the scale and size), and that causes me no feelings whatsoever.
That being said, as someone who has family history of all kinds of health stuff, I finally have internalized that it isn’t the # on the scale that matters but my actual health and wellness (which really wasn’t on point simply because I was “skinny” back when I was eating trays of brownies, large NY style pizzas, and beating football players in eating contests). Accordingly, I love this Redover Scale, because it gives insight on so much more than just weight and measures things that are more reflective of one’s actual health (while, I must insist, these metrics still do not saying anything about a person’s worth and value nor do they speak to whole health & wellness. Mmkay, don’t get it twisted)
For example, the scale covers all of the below metrics and allows a person to track trends in things like % body fat, skeletal muscle, % water, or visceral vs. subcutaneous fat. Important notes: 1) One can have fat, but cannot be fat (you cannot be a molecule), so stop claiming that as your false identity, 2) Fat is okay – in fact, important – to have so don’t beat yourself up for the “having of it”; it is not a character defect (remember: As they say “You are not fat; instead, you HAVE fat. Just like you have toes, but are not toes.”), 3) I ignore BMI entirely as there are people who are tremendously fit and lean with high muscle mass (I am not one of them) who are deemed obese by this wonky measure, & 4) Y’all can think whatever about any of my #s; I, legit, don’t care and the fact that I’m sharing this with you speaks to my freedom from my weight-obsessed dysfunction*.
* If I am so “free,” you may wonder why I weigh myself at all &, for example, during these last 2 weeks, a total of 3 times. Here are several reasons: 1) I share naturally-derived wellness products (that are supposed to support health & not be a substitute/crutch for it) so – if I begin using something – I like to see what, if any, impact the product has. Similarly, I like to see how circumstances make an impact (for example, traveling in India for 2 months and eating #allthethings) 2) I began Intermittent Fasting (more on my experience with it later) in October through January 1st (full stop in India), and I believe IF has contributed the most to any improvement in my overall health more than any products; however, I do believe the products supported my efforts (that I made in the first place because I’m trying to stave off ever developing diabetes).
Re: Point # 1, if you are curious about what I was using during the below (between 10/3 to 1/1, then 1/1 to 3/2 while I was in India eating massive amounts of carbs and hardly any protein, see this blog post (but PLEASE READ THE DISCLAIMERS!)
Date Range: 10/3 – 8/19
On that note, thanks for stopping by and would love to hear if you end up getting the scale or the supplements and how you like them! Oh, and please be sure to follow me on my Facebook and Instagram to stay connected!
Connect soon,
* Disclosure: Smita Shares is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon properties. Amazon, in turn, offers a small commission on products sold through their affiliate links. Each of your purchases via our Amazon affiliation links supports my being able to share the things I love (& genuinely personally use and recommend to friends and family) at no additional cost to you.
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