Why scales make you binge-eat

Most of you know my position that obsession with weight = obsession with food. If the scale is important to you, food will be as important to you in equal measure.

And when food has an inflated purpose in our life, all bets are off. Binge-eating, emotional eating, and obsessive thinking all come to the forefront.

Now scales are particularly insidious because they’re designed for the exclusive purpose of judging ourselves, which ALWAYS leads to f*cked up behaviors around food.

The whole point of getting on the scale is to “see how you’re doing” — i.e. see if you’re “doing well” or “doing poorly;” are you “good” or are you “bad?”

But the second you judge yourself on the basis of body size, you give food power — and not a small amount of power either…the power to dictate your self-esteem; the power to make you feel good or badly about yourself.

That’s A LOT of power.

Obsession with food (and all related behaviors), is the almost certain outcome of that kind of power. Binge-eating-crazy-town becomes inevitable.

If you buy my argument that obsession with food increases with judgement of our bodies, you must also believe that obsession with food increases with each weigh-in.

Watch out. The scale is not so innocent. It’s a risk every time.