When you introduce yourself on the first day of school you do not stand up and say “ Hello I weight 170 pounds with a body fat percentage of 25. No. We introduce ourselves as letters, our name, our year in school, what we want to do in life.

You are not defined by a number.

I go to the gym daily and in the locker room almost every day I see girls get onto the scale, see whatever number pops up and have visible reactions (often miserable). I see them sulk away and from personal experience, know that that number can ruin their entire day. No number should be able to have that effect on someone.

It should not have power over you.

The number on the scale does not show muscle vs. fat. It does not show you the healthy weight you should be, that stupid freaking number does not show distribution or happiness or power. You are so much braver than you think and more beautiful than you feel.

You are not defined by a number.

Recently I saw a video on facebook and it had three women who were told they were going to get weighed and they all said that if the number was higher than they would like, they would be hurt. Instead of weighing them, the producer gave them a sledgehammer and let them each smash their own scales.

The simple empowerment of being in control and not being forced to see that number in itself gave these girls a complete 180 in how they were feeling and I honestly wish every person in the entire world could have that experience and smash the scale.

I had my own scale smash the other day comparing three poses I took in the mirror one night to the same three poses the next morning.

The pictures look like they could have been taken several months apart. The water weight difference was ridiculous and it made me realize that those people in the locker room are seeing themselves at one specific time in the day. Weight is something that fluctuates so frequently throughout the day and week and even month that we cannot judge ourselves based on that. There is water weight, bloating and a million other factors that go into that ignorant number.

Your number beats into your head every day and those who are so unhappy with it often obtain some sort of eating disorder. Binging, anorexia, bulimia, overeating etc are all so common in today’s society that we do not blink an eye. It is all so looked past because we all feel it. Everyone has come to the understanding that these are the easiest ways to “fix” that number. WRONG.

You are not something that needs to be fixed. Unfortunately, as time goes on, socially that number is becoming more and more of a deciding factor of ones beauty which simply is incorrect. That silly number does not get to decide who you are. It does not decide your beauty or health or confidence, you do.

You are not defined by a number.

We need to start teaching those around us to love themselves and not fight and torture themselves in order to fit what society deems beautiful because everyone is beautiful and to anyone that bases their confidence and self-love on a foolish number because dear everyone who is struggling, you are beautiful and amazing and:

You are not defined by a number.