Let me start by saying, this post is not meant to imply that weight loss can’t be a health goal. It can be. BUT, the intent to lose weight often comes from external noise, from a culture that implies weight = health, which is just plain and simple abso-freakin-lutely NOT true. We embark on these diets, one after the other seeking weight loss, but often without even really knowing WHY we are seeking weight loss in the first place. Losing weight or being thin simply does not imply that you have become a healthy person. You must first identify what healthy means to you, what you value for YOUR health, and set goals around that, take action on YOUR definition of healthy. Rather than looking to vanity measures, like the number on a scale or the physical size of your body, I challenge you to set goals around how you feel. Do you desire more energy, mental focus, better sleep, clearer skin, confidence in your body, less stress & anxiety and overall better mood? Seeking these types of transformations may lead to organic weight loss, meaning naturally shedding some pounds without the intent of weight loss, without tracking your weight every day, every week, or even every month as a marker of your progress. Your progress is determined in the way you feel.
Our body weight fluctuates not only day to day, but hour to hour. It is maddening to me that we use such an unstable number as a measure of success. The tough love truth, ladies: you are lying to yourself if you say that the number on the scale doesn’t dictate your emotions and your actions for that day. If the number reflects what you want (i.e. weight loss), you feel happier, you feel like you can do anything, like today is gonna be a great day, like you’re a success. But then, you’re sunk. You wake up the next day and the number has gone up, maybe even only a decimal of a whole pound. You start your day feeling shame and failure, regret for eating “too much” yesterday, resentment towards yourself for not staying the course. You restrict your food that day, punishing yourself & driven to get that weight back off. You never once think to blame the diet or program that is encouraging you to weigh yourself every day. You blame yourself. You blame yourself and spiral down an emotional roller coaster.
You monitor your weight out of a desire to be healthy, yet you let your emotional & mental health suffer by speaking to yourself negatively; you let your social health suffer by excluding yourself from dinners with friends because you know you can’t “splurge”, you need to restrict so you don’t put on any more pounds!
BULLSHIT.
You need to know the WHY behind your actions on your health. The ‘why’ needs to come from you, from what YOU desire, from what you know will make you feel your best, your healthiest, your most full of life! Weight loss is not the universal health goal and being thin is certainly not the universal picture of health! Meat on your bones is protective for your body, for your organs, for the functions of your daily life to carry on. Depriving yourself for the sake of making the number on the scale go down is BS, honestly, especially when a smidge of change in your weight can be from your period, needing to poop, drinking a lot of water, eating something salty, or maybe a medication you take.
From the bottom of my heart, I urge you to recognize that diet programs and influencers spewing baseless information & promoting supplements don’t care about you. They feed off of your fear of weight gain. They want you to feel like you’ve failed so that you continue to need them and pay them. I want you to get fired up! I want you to feel resentment towards the diets that claim they can change your life; that claim your health is held in your weight – that your WORTH is held in your weight. I want you to reclaim control over your health and deny control to diets, deny control to the scale, deny control to external noise.
Your body is more than capable of being your measure of success in achieving your health goals. And we owe it to our bodies to show some love and respect. Here are 10 ways to measure healthy progress without the scale:
1. Your energy level
2. Improved sleep
3. The way your clothes fit
4. Stamina in movement of your body
5. Sharper focus
6. Cleared skin
7. Healthier poops
8. Increased strength
9. Improved emotional health
10. Genuinely how you feel, confidence, comfort in your body
I challenge you to ditch the scale and set non-weight related goals for all pillars of your health. I challenge you to check yourself, to check if your current actions truly align with your goals, to check if your weight loss efforts have a negative impact on your mental & emotional health, on your social & spiritual health.
You are more than your weight. Your worth is not tied to your weight.
Ditching the scale can be scary, I’ve been there. I’m here to support you, my friend. Connect with me here and together we will help you ditch diets for good so you can live your truest best life.