Strength training changed my relationship with the scale. Now, when I see my weight go down, I’m disappointed.

A few weeks ago, I stepped on the scale and saw that my weight had gone down.

My younger self would have looked at that number, and it would have set the tone for a good-mood kind of day. She would have considered it proof of success. I probably wouldn’t have admitted it back then, but deep down, I felt that smaller was better. A lower number was better. I may have understood, even then, that weight wasn’t the whole picture, but knowing something intellectually and believing it about your own body are very different things.

But, now as an adult, a dietitian, and an avid strength trainer, I looked at that lower number and felt… disappointed.

My r…