In the midst of an eating disorder, I would step on my bathroom scale approximately ten times a day. On a good day.

I was obsessed with the number - despite how bad my body image was, if I saw a lower number on the scale, I could feel okay about myself for a moment. Seeing a number change is an easy source of instant validation. If it goes down, you are doing something right. If it goes up, you are doing something wrong. My mind latched onto this oversimplified and completely invalid idea, and suddenly, I couldn't think about anything except how to get that number to keep decreasing.

Let me reiterate: no matter what number I saw on the scale, I was never actually satisfied with how my body looked. All I got was momentary gratification from the affirmation that I had "achieved" in losing weight.

So first and foremost, if you feel like you are addicted to watching the number on the scale drop, get help. If you set out to lose five pounds and then convince yourself to lose just five more, then five more, get help. If your weight is a number that predominates the majority of your thoughts and you are ruminating on it, get help. Your well-being is so much more important than the measure of gravity's force on you.

Scales are the number one tools an eating disorder will use to control what you do, eat, and think. Don't let a piece of plastic and metal hold that much power over you.

I know there are probably plenty of you reading this going, "Yeah okay, but I don't have an eating disorder, I don't have bad body image, I just want to lose five pounds." That's great and you're totally allowed to make personal choices about your body and your health. In the long run though, the scale is probably hurting you more than helping you.

I'm obviously not an expert on weight or nutrition. That being said, I have extensive experience from years of work with dietitians, and I've gained some valuable information along the way in regards to body-image and how measuring our bodies can affect not only our mindset but our progress, with any body goals.

Set point theory is the idea that each individual has a set weight (usually within a 10-20 pound range, depending on your age and height) that their body is designed to function optimally at. The theory is that your body will fight to stay within this range because it is most comfortable and healthy there. Each person has a unique set point and this point cannot be altered. This does not, however, mean that you can not change your body at all.

Losing weight is one thing, but increasing muscle mass and shedding a few pounds of fat is something entirely different. When most people say the want to lose those last five pounds, they are referring to a little extra softness somewhere on their body that makes them insecure. First of all, I promise you that no one will actually be able to tell a difference between you at X pounds and you at X-5 pounds.If you set out to lose weight using an elimination diet and only focusing on the number on the scale, you probably won't see the results you're looking for.

Weight alone is not a very good indicator of health or fitness, so it is important to not rely so heavily on the scale. Muscle is denser than fat, so if you gain muscle while losing fat, you will look more toned and lean, but you will probably have a higher weight. The same goes for BMI: it is an outdated tool to track your growth curve and has little actual value in terms of indicating overall fitness - but that's a whole other rant.

Start to use other measures of progress - how you look, how you feel, how your clothing fits. The most important thing to be aware of is your body's functionality - any size or shape you are at should not take too much work to maintain. If your body is sacrificing other functions to compensate for missing fat or muscle mass, you are not in your healthy range.

Even for long-term, sustainable weight loss or gain that is in line with your personal set point, weighing yourself more than once a week is not recommended. The main problem with weighing yourself daily, or multiple times daily, is that weight can fluctuate drastically throughout the week, and even throughout the day. Water-weight, for example, is a big culprit behind seemingly sudden weight gain. Food in your system, changes in digestion, your period, exercise, and hundreds of other little things cause your weight to go up and down constantly. Seeing these frequent changes can lead to undue anxiety about weight and diet.

Becoming fixated on a number can be dangerous. Once you start to rely on a number, it is easy to identify as that number and become attached to it, or to attach on specific body type to it. In truth, your X pounds can look the same as someone else's Y pounds, and even the exact same weight can look different on your own body depending on your muscle mass, water retention, or bloating. It is easy to rely on a scale as a measure of progress in terms of weight loss or gain, but those numbers are essentially meaningless. Start focusing on how you feel in your skin, not on a few irrelevant digits.