I threw out my scales and I couldn’t be happier.

October 1, 2016

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I wake up happy, rested, and ready to take on the day. This lasts five minutes. Or the precise amount of time it takes me to reach my bathroom scales.

Yep, I’m one of those girls. And if you’re not, chances are you know someone who is.

On a good day, I step on and I’m the same weight. If I’m particularly lucky, I’m 200–300 grams less. Cue fist pumps. Even though this weight is no more than a glass of water, I’m still stoked.

I sing in the shower. I chirp about my day’s plans. I dress in a firm, feel good outfit. I’m on top of the world. I’m Beyoncé. I got this.

On a bad day, my weight’s crept up. My body feels the same, but the number staring back at me tells me I should feel shameful. I curse myself for the glass of wine/extra helping of dinner/hot chocolate I had the previous evening. I stay silent as I prepare for the day.

Sophie Asquith

October 1, 2016

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This was my reality for years. A cycle of hell beginning at 7am each morning, no matter the date or occasion. Birthdays, holidays, workdays, and weekends always began one of two ways – with cursing or fist pumps.

That was until I asked my husband to hide the scales. I wanted them out of sight. It was becoming all too much.

Bec Sparrow talks about her journey to self acceptance. Post continues below.

Cue catastrophe. Spiralling weight gain. Low self-esteem. Jeans that don’t zip up... Right? Wrong.

My pant size is the same. My top size is the same. That little belly I have when I sit with my legs crossed is the same. The persistent bulge over the side of my bra? The same.

But I’m not the same. I couldn’t be more different.

For the first time in a long time, I’m happy with my body. Big smiles, little-tummy-jiggling, carefree happy.

Not the type of happy that only occurs if the scales appease me. The type of happy that sticks around.

Celebrities on body image. Post continues below.

We love these celeb quotes on body image

Rebel WilsonThe actress said on Twitter; "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Image via @rebelwilson

Adele"The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body - only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Image via Getty

Lady GagaAfter the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution"/ Image via @ladygaga

Ashley JuddAfter the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face" the actress fought back in 'The Daily Beast', calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others". Image via @ashley_judd

Christina Aguilera"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview. Image via @xtina

Lena DunhamAt the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show 'Girls' why Dunham is naked in so many scenes.

Dunham responded; "I realised that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day. Image via @lenadunham

Alexa ChungChung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:

"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it." Image via Twitter @alexa_chung

Stella BoonshoftThe NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies. Image via http://thebodyloveblog.tumblr.com"> Body Love Blog

Beth DittoThis five-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to 'The Advocate' saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself." Image via @marybethditto

It doesn’t mean I’ve given up. I’m not eating KFC as I write this post (and if I was? Great choice).

I’m still clocking kilometres on the treadmill, jumping on the bike every other day and lifting weights.

But I'm doing this for me, not for the scales.

Letting go of the scales doesn’t mean “letting go” of our bodies. It doesn’t mean not caring if we gain weight. It means trusting ourselves, being healthy and active for positive reasons – not because we’re 800 grams heavier than we were yesterday.

Using the scales is meant to help women feel in control of our bodies, our bumps and our curves. But more often than not, it makes us feel the opposite - that we have no control. It becomes a dictator of our mood and the way we feel about ourselves. It has to stop.

Watch the trailer for 'Embrace', a documentary about learning to love your body. Post continues below.

Video by Transmission Films

When we step on the scales daily as part of our "pursuit of happiness", we’re letting a piece of battery-operated plastic define our happiness. We’re smarter than this.

I’m not going to pretend changing my relationship with the scales was easy. It wasn’t. It still isn’t.

But, boy, has it been worth it.