I have wanted to write this post for some time now. It is honest, raw, and hopefully will help many of you on your journey to a healthier lifestyle (physically and mentally).
With that being said, are you someone who absolutely hates stepping on the scale? I used to have a huge fixation about what it said. The scale had so much control over me that it would determine my mood for the rest of the day. My husband would know immediately if I didn't like the number on the scale. I would come out of the bathroom pissed, not wanting to eat anything because I felt I needed to loose weight.
How can a silly little machine have so much power over us?
Sadly it can make or break a person's confidence. I can't begin to tell you how often I would wake up feeling great about my nutrition and workouts for the week. I knew I had put in the hard work and was feeling awesome about it. My clothes were fitting better and I knew I was loosing inches. But as soon as I stepped on that damn scale and didn't see the number I wanted, I would suddenly be in a horrible mood. Why?! What is it about the scale that can alter ones mood so drastically?
To be honest, I struggled with this for a loooong time....I felt like as a personal trainer and fitness blogger I needed to be a certain size and have a certain body weight to prove I knew what I was talking about. Who would want to learn from someone that isn't in shape (or what I considered to be "in shape").
I hated that I cared so much about a stupid number on the scale, when I knew it really didn't matter. Being healthy is not a number! It became a source of stress, anxiety, and eventually depression for me.
Are you someone that fights the same demons?
I know how hard it can be to silence the chatter of constantly feeling like you need to loose weight, be thinner, more toned, etc... Especially in our day in age, where everything and everyone is compared on the internet.
While I don't want you to totally throw the scale out the window (it can be a great motivator at times) I do want you to learn to not rely on it completely. Below are a few tips that have helped me overcome my infatuation with the number on the scale.
- Don't weigh yourself EVERY day.
- Weigh yourself in the middle of the week: Don't weigh yourself on Monday, after a weekend of relaxing, and don't weigh yourself on Friday, after a week of "perfect" dieting and exercising. The middle of the week is the best indicator of where you stand.
- Weigh yourself in the morning, not after a meal or at the end of the day.
- Take pictures of yourself. See the process you are making visually, not on the scale.
- Notice how your clothes are fitting. Don't rely on the scale to tell you that you are loosing fat.
Once I stepped back and stopped being obsessive about my number on the scale, it became easier for me to enjoy the process of working out and loving my body again. I'm not going to lie, gaining weight during my pregnancy was tough emotionally and physically. And I am yet to be back at the weight I was before getting pregnant. But now that my priorities have change a bit, I have found working out is something I do because I love it, not because I feel like I need to be a certain shape.
I hate to say the old cliches "love yourself" and "do it for yourself, not for anyone else"...but to be honest, that is exactly what you should do. It makes working out and eating healthier a hell of alot more enjoyable when you do it for yourself.
Leave a Reply