14 Scale Smashing Stock Photos to Fuel Your Anti-Diet Dreams

An orange nylon-coated dead blow hammer rests on top of a black bathroom scale on a concrete sidewalk.

Image description: An orange nylon-coated dead blow hammer rests on top of a black bathroom scale on a concrete sidewalk.

Smashing diet culture metaphorically is great, but smashing it literally feels even better. There’s no statement quite as satisfying as breaking up with diet culture by smashing your bathroom scale!

We are so much more than any number. Numbers have a way of making you feel like you don’t measure up, but it is impossible to quantify the magic of who you are as a person simply by the number on a scale!

Whether you’re recovering from an eating disorder like anorexia, bulimia or orthorexia, learning to reject dieting and accept your body or moving further in your journey to accepting your body, it can be very liberating to finally say that you’re no longer going to let the number on the scale define you.

Image description: A plus-size woman is standing with a scale above her head that she is about to smash on the ground. She is outside in the shade and standing on cement beside a set of cement stairs. She is wearing running shoes, jeans, a white shirt with cutouts, and a black undershirt.

The first weighing scale — which was also one of the first automatic vending machines — was brought to the U.S. from Germany in 1885. The convenience and ease of using a machine that didn’t rely on counterweights and was relatively precise quickly fed into diet culture and created a new profit path for healthcare providers.

Concepts of a “normal” body size became relevant around 1900 outside of the military, for example in school examinations and checkups by panel doctors or medical officers (and around the late mid-19th century in insurance policies). Anthropometrists and medical scientists aimed to measure the human body in size and shape in order to improve its ability to work and its performance potential.

The measurements needed to be as precise as possible in order to enhance health and the life expectancy of entire nations. However, at around the same time, some doctors began to (re)discover “obesity” as a new (and profitable) problem for wealthy citizens.

Weighed and found lacking? A Brief History of Bathroom Scales by Debra Frommeld

If the bathroom scale is or was a tool you have used to measure your worthiness and it has only left you feeling deprived and unhappy, it’s time to smash the scale!

Scale Smashing & Diet Recovery Photos for Anti-Diet & HAES Marketing

Here are 14 photos from the Scale Smashing collection at Body Liberation Stock, the world’s first and best site for high-resolution stock images of large bodies for commercial use. These images can be used on your website, social media, flyers, brochures and other marketing materials to represent more of your customers, clients and prospects. You’ll also be helping to change the world by increasing the representation of large-bodied and fat folks.

These stock photos are often used by:

  • Health at Every Size healthcare providers, authors, therapists, nutritionists and dietitians
  • Body image, intuitive eating and life coaches
  • HAES eating disorder treatment professionals
  • Inclusive and fat-friendly fitness pros and personal trainers
  • Plus-size fashion designers, retailers and ecommerce
  • Body-positive bloggers and influencers
Image description: A fat woman wearing a teal and black striped dress with black tights and flip flops. She is holding a crowbar and has it pulled back and aiming it at the scale that is sitting on a set of cement steps. This photo is taken right as she is about to smash the scale on the steps with her crowbar.

This picture shows a woman who is ready to smash her scale on the ground. You can see the determination in her face as she prepares to forcefully smash the scale and see it break into pieces in front of her eyes! For anyone who has struggled with any form of an eating disorder, I bet you can relate to that feeling of pure motivation to say goodbye to a toxic tool that has brought you so much self-loathing.

Image description: A woman with purple hair and part of her head shaved is smashing a scale with a yellow crowbar. This is an action-shot and the crowbar as just landed on the scale. Her hair is flying behind her and she is kneeling and bent over for full impact of the crowbar against the scale.

Smash smash smash! In this photo, a woman is using a crowbar to smash her bathroom scale. This action shot perfectly shows the energy and emotions that can go into a ritual to smash your scale. The woman in this photo is using a crowbar to smash her scale and she is focusing all her anger she has towards the scale into each swing she takes. She is using this process as a way to release the pain that the scale has caused her so she can leave it behind for good!

Image description: A woman is holding up the number indicator from the inside of a scale and it is broken and she is looking through the cracks. You can only see one of her eyes looking through the broken dial. There is green grass behind her.

How much time have you spent looking down at those numbers and feeling inadequate? This picture is a reclamation that those numbers no longer are going to define how you feel about yourself. This one piece of the scale has caused so much distrust in ourselves.

5. Body Love Box: Take Up Space

Image description: A group of people sitting on cement steps with smashed scales at their feet. One is holding a crowbar and they are looking at each other and talking.

This photo represents the power in the community. When it comes to fighting negative body image nothing can be more powerful than having others on the journey with you. Together with being able to reclaim your body’s you are able to support and encourage each other to put down (or smash) that scale and focus on the things that bring you joy.

More Diet & Eating Disorder Recovery Stock Photos

Moon Cycle Guide at Shelbey Osborne | Website

Shelbey Osborne is a 200-hour Yoga Teacher. She is passionate about yoga and astrology and uses these teachings to help individuals connect deeper to their own intuition. She is an advocate for body acceptance and applying a self-compassionate approach to all areas of our lives.