Last week I went to a fabulous new restaurant and was sitting across from my girlfriend, enjoying a delightful dinner with imported cheese, organic veggies and a delicious glass of wine, and feeling a little guilty because of the calories.

Have you ever had one of those days… or weeks?  Where you feel like no matter what you eat or what you wear you just feel icky and fat. If you are a woman, I think those moments just spring up on you no matter how thin, tall, or beautiful you are.

There are just moments when you don’t feel good enough, thin enough, or pretty enough.  Maybe its hormones or a bad day that triggers “fat days.” I was having one of those weeks last week when I just felt bigger than normal.

My clothes all fit fine and I even got some compliments from friends telling me I looked good. All of the negative feelings I was felt were brought on by standing on the scale one day.  I got a number I did not like.  My clothes all fit and I did not look that different, those extra pounds just crept up on me.  It probably was because it was that horrid time of the month.  Maybe it was an extra beer I drank.  Either way, it was enough for me to feel guilty when I should have been enjoying a beautiful dinner with the most amazing girlfriend.

After that night, I remembered some advice a close friend gave me last summer. She told me to hide my scale and only use it once a month.

This idea made me cringe.  A few years ago, I lost close to 50 pounds and ever since weighing myself on a daily basis has become a part of my routine. A means of keeping track and making sure I am on where I want to be.

If you have ever lost a considerable amount of weight, you know that it is a lifestyle change.  In order to keep it off, it is something you have to keep in the back of your mind with every bite you take. It’s a quiet obsession that takes over and becomes part of the daily routine.

My friend’s advice threw me for a loop, and scared me. If I did not know how my weight stands daily how could I track it, and stay honest to myself?

I started considering the second part of her advice. If you get rid of the scale and only use it on a monthly basis, the rest of the time you mind you calories, keep your daily exercise routine and follow the rules to maintain the weight, the monthly weigh-in should be fine.

It takes away those days of feeling insecure or “fat” because of a two-pound difference brought on by water retention or a beer.  If your clothes fit and you feel good, what difference does two pounds make?

After this past week of having all these negative feelings towards myself, I have decided to get rid of the scale for the next month and mind my eating habits. Maybe I will feel better even if one or two days out of the month I am slightly heavier than normal.   Instead of feeling guilty or focusing on a number, I can enjoy a meal and focus my energy on more interesting and fun topics. In the end those two pounds, I had gained were gone two days later.  Actually, four were gone.

I know most people lose weight feel heavy for a long time after the weight is gone.  Finally one day you see the real person in the mirror.  The next step is here.   It’s been a few years and it’s time to trust myself enough to know how I look and feel based on my lifestyle change.

Stick to the rules and trust that they will apply. I challenge anyone else who has been or is in this predicament to hide the scale for a month or a week at a time, and see what happens. Good luck! I am hoping that this is easier than the Krispy Kreme withdrawal I went through a couple  years ago.

Lucy Lipstick was once a single girl, living in Richmond. She found love, and could no longer write about the meeting and greeting of prospective dates. Now she is living life, and writing about the everyday things that occur in the life of a lipstick lady living in the RIC. E-mail Lucy at lipsticklucy11@gmail.com.