Buzz
Many of us have an unhealthy fixation on numbers, and for most, this obsession is all too familiar. If you’re someone who hops on the scale each morning, hoping to see progress, you’re immediately confronted with a figure staring back at you. A slight drop might feel like a victory, but if it’s higher than expected, it can feel like a personal defeat.
This is where the concept of Shapa comes in—a unique wireless scale that ditches the traditional display. Instead, its app communicates your weight through colors: green for maintaining, gray for gaining, and blue for losing. It’s a refreshing take on tracking progress without the pressure of numbers.
Unfortunately, the app is exclusive to their $99 scale. (It also incorporates “behavioral science” to keep users engaged and introduces a “Shapa Age” metric—so, yes, there’s still a number to stress over.) Still, the idea of a numberless scale is intriguing, and it’d be great if an app could adapt this concept to work with any wireless scale. For instance, here’s a graph from Lose It, but I’ve removed the numbers to mimic the effect:
You could always cover your scale’s display with a photo of an adorable puppy and keep weighing yourself daily, only checking your progress graph when you’re ready. The closest alternative I found is Happy Scale for iOS (free), which still shows numbers but emphasizes a trend line, helping you see minor weight fluctuations as insignificant blips rather than dramatic changes.
Weight fluctuations are completely normal, sometimes even within a single day. While some may choose to avoid the scale altogether for mental clarity, this approach isn’t for everyone. Instead, consider smarter methods to track your weight without letting the numbers dictate your emotions.
