Are you dreading stepping on the scale? If you are like me, I sure was. Just stepping on the scale brought up so much anxiety.
Does the way your day go depend on that number on the scale? In my morning I would strip right down and jump on that scale, weigh in and feel so good about myself when that number went down. But if that number went the other way, I would beat myself up and feel so down on myself, and then go into that fat feeling because those numbers went up.
That scale had such a power over me as does it for so many other women. It dictates how we feel about ourselves and about how our progress with our eating will go.
For a very long time I couldn’t get on the scale because then all I did was beat myself up for not doing better with how I was eating, or that I should exercise more. This self judgment about how with how I thought I was a failure does not help at all. There are so many factors into what your weight is going to be;
-Maybe you are gaining muscle and losing fat
-Maybe you are retaining water
-Maybe you are premenstrual, our hormones can affect our weight
But the most important factor that will determine that number on the scale is the one that is all about taking our thought, feelings which lead to our actions!
So let’s first talk about shaming yourself and how useless it is! If you choose to beat yourself up this will only lead to feeling like a failure and have you quitting or worse yet, heading to eat the food that gives you comfort. And that food is never healthy! My comfort was in a big tub of ice cream.
The next thing is to be telling yourself that no matter what the number on the scale says, that you will be honest with yourself. You will look at that number no matter if it goes up or down as something that is teaching you. Look at what it is you are doing correctly. If the number on the scale goes down, great, look at what you are doing now is working. If the number on the scale goes up, start looking at what it is that you need to tweak, improve or learn from so that the scale will go down. There is a message in that number and you must look at it from that view. The number does not have control over you but you need to be totally and completely honest with yourself!
What worked for me in the beginning was taking away the scale and not stepping on it at all. Just going by how my clothes were fitting was what I needed to do because I had to work on that mindset first before I could see the numbers again. I did get to the point that I could step back on it and see whatever came up. At first, I would go back to my fat girl thinking, that “you are a failure” thinking, but it did get less and less the more I was willing to put the work in. To this day I don’t really step on a scale because I go by how I feel and how my clothes fit, but when I get on the scale it does not trigger me at all. The number is only an indication of what actions I need to take.
If this resonates with you and you would like help in losing weight, please reach out to me at karenschaible.com
