Each and every morning millions of women across America perform a secret masochistic tribal ritual.

We approach The Oracle -- and we ask that the truth be revealed.

We disrobe.

We stand naked before it.

We confront the unpleasant reality.

And then... if The Oracle declares that we have sinned -- we begin the atonement process.

We spend the rest of the day performing the sacred acts of mental self-flagellation.

"I am a big fat pig, I am a big fat pig, I am a big fat pig..."

In other words, we step on the bathroom scale -- and then we terrorize ourselves or the rest of the day by the numbers that we see there.

Why is it that so many of us feel compelled to get on the scale each and every morning?

Moreover, why do we beat ourselves up when the numbers on the dial don't match the numbers that we have in our heads? Especially when the numbers that we have in our heads are usually numbers that appeared once on our wedding day, when we were a nervous wreck from the all the stress and coming off of a four-day bout with a stomach flu.

Usually they are numbers that we haven't actually seen in years, they aren't "real numbers" -- yet some part of us still expects them to be there. Fat chance of that.

What most of us fail to realize is that even the most "accurate" scale is actually very inaccurate way of determining whats really going on with our bodies. This is because the scale only tells you about the QUANTITY of your weight. But it tells you nothing about the QUALITY of that weight.

Rather than focus on how much we weigh, we're better served to focus on what that weight consists of.

We've all heard the phrase "muscle weighs more than fat". But what does that really mean?

It means that muscle is denser. For a given volume of fat, say a cup....that same volume of muscle will weigh about 22% more. But whereas fat is metabolically inactive -- muscle is metabolically active tissue. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate.

A higher metabolic rate means that you burn more calories all the time. For every pound of muscle tissue you add -- your metabolism increases 30-50 calories per day -- or 1500 extra calories a month!

Many of us confuse "lean" with "skinny". But the two have absolutely nothing to do with one another.

Lean means having a relatively high proportion of muscle relative to body fat. While skinny just means looking thin and weighing less on the scale.

Lean women are athletic, skinny women are not.

Lean women have an easier time maintaining their weight as they get older. Skinny women continue to lose muscle tissue at a faster rate then lean women so they have more and more fat relative to lean tissue even though they are small-framed.

Lean women usually have fewer "trouble spots", they are fit and toned. Skinny women often have a considerable amount of cellulite from a combination of poor muscle tone -- and increased body fat.

Lean women have good posture because their muscles give them support. Skinny women usually become round shouldered and stooped as they age from not working their back and shoulder muscles.

But yes, lean women usually do weigh more on the scale then you'd imagine from looking at them, because muscle weighs more than fat.

Most of the fit women I know don't weigh themselves all that often. They don't have to -- they know the deal.

They go by the fit of their clothes. They're more concerned with the healthfulness of their diet and how much they are working out. They focus on how great being in shape makes them look -- and feel.

Fit women are not obsessing about those three little numbers in between their feet -- and yet they still do find other things to obsess about...like running their personal best in that up coming 10K, getting their black belt in Tae Kwon Do and finally nailing that chakrasana in yoga class.