Well, hello, little mayo packet!

Two interesting things happened to me in the locker room this week:

A) I opened my favorite locker a few days ago and staring back at me, from the bottom shelf, was a lonely little mayonnaise packet. Kraft, I believe. He was just lying there, crumpled in half, waiting for some tuna or a BLT to dress up. I decided against picking it up and chose the next locker. But get this: Two days later, I grabbed a locker and went to throw my gym bag and the same mayo packet was there! OK, I guess this isn't all that interesting after all. But at the time it made for an artsy still life.

B) Thanks to the powers that be at my gym, we in the women's locker room are lucky enough to have not one, but two scales to measure our self-worth-- I mean weight by. One is a gargantuan, carnival-like Toledo scale that's approximately as big as Andre the Giant (rest in peace, Sweet Prince.) The other is a standard medical scale you find at your doc's office. As I was changing post-shower, I couldn't help but notice in the mirrors to my right the reflection of a woman about my age walking up to the smaller scale, stepping on, and shifting the little black thingie right and left until her weight finally emerged. I was too far to actually see the number of course, but close enough to see her slam that measurer far to the left as she hopped off the scale. It was as if she did not want anyone to see "her number." (This was a slim girl, BTW).

I've noticed this phenomenon many times - women looking left and right down the row of lockers before stepping gingerly onto the Toledo scale, making sure nobody else can watch them weigh themselves. It's almost like this is such a private intimate act - and yet we're (yes, I have participated on occasion) willing to do it in public, often naked. We might not start out that way, but you know that little dance so many women engage in...kicking off flipflops, dropping the towel, taking off the watch - just to try and make the number go down a smidge.

Of course, the overarching question is, why do we place so much emphasis on that stupid number...but that's a mighty big question to tackle. So, baby steps. My question: If you weigh yourself at the gym, do you care if other women see? Would you be like that woman who pushed the balance to the side, erasing "the evidence"? Or are you proud of your number and want other women to know? I remember talking to a woman, Sangeeta, in my book, about the scale and she told me "When I weigh 114, I feel skinny. But at 118, I feel fat." Just four pounds was enough to change her entire viewpoint of herself (I truly hope this comes across in a non-judgemental way - I think thie girl is wonderful, she's smart - she's just like so many of us women, caught up in the numebrs game). I wonder if she would be OK having the locker room see the "114" readout, but not the "bigger" number.

I'm off to interview Dr. Stacey at Every Woman Has an Eating Disorder. Will report back after the weekend. Have a good one!!!

xo,
Leslie

Comments

Ha! It's quite amusing but I hold the complete opposite view. I think it a bit odd if women leave their weight on the scale afterwards (as if they are intentionally showing everyone) and wiping the tickers off is normal. I always zero the scale afterwards mostly because it's proper procedure, good for the scale. Of course this is years of physical sciences and probably matters not to a something used to measure the human body.
I do strip almost naked to weigh myself at the gym and am not the least bit shy about it. Although I can get quite obsessive about my weight (and four pounds will change my overall self confidence) I'm also realistic, I know the rest of the world will see I'm young had have a very decent body. While I may present myself as proud and confident in how others view me, I am also acutely aware that another inch off my thighs or dropping another 3 pounds will make me a great deal happier with myself.
Cheers.

I agree. I've always thought returning the scale to zero is the same as putting weights back after you use them. I do wait until no one else is around to weight myself though.

i am a guy and guys DO care. they usually move it back to zero. i dont like putting too much emphasis on weight. especially since my body type isnt normal. i am 6 foot tall. when i weighed 209 i felt skinny and fragile. but when i weight anywhere from 225 to 250 i felt great. i looked great. the thing with me is that i hold my weight well and i have muscle. so when i am 225 lbs people think i weight 190. even now, i am over 300 lbs but folks think i am in the 270s. its really weird. anyway, i just dont put too much emphasis on weight. its more about how i feel and how i look.

A few years ago, I used to go to this gym where you would swipe your membership card through a reader-thingie on the scale and it would track your weight week-over-week. Quite useful in itself, however it also "said" out-loud "You lost weight this week" or "You gained weight this week". It was mortifying.