WHY WEIGHING YOURSELF FEEDS YOUR FOOD OBSESSION
Recently, I've recieved some messages asking what my opinions were on scales and weighing ourself. Since this is also a hot topic with some of my clients I figured it deserved a blog post.
When we are obsessed with being a certain weight we are going to be obsessed with food. The two do not each occur in a vacuum.
The two feed off each other. Our obsession with food increases every time we step on the scale.
The problem with scales is that they have judgement built right into them.
The only reason we get on a scale is to see how we are doing. Check the impact of sushi with the girls and nachos with our man. Instead of allowing ourself to fully enjoy these moments in our life we have to just check in with a weigh in that almost certainly leads to self-sabotaging thoughts because you were “bad."
The most common reason I hear from others for using the scale is that it is a self-motivating tool to “get back on the wagon” when you have fallen off the wagon. You can only fall off the wagon when there is MF wagon. Please my loves, just remove the damn wagon.
AND..., the scale does not hold you accountable. If that agrument truly worked you would look like Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas by now and this wouldn't still be an issue.
Stop making the scale so powerful.
I’d like to nip that “weighing myself is the catalyst for better choices” argument right in the bud.
It does not work. All it does is perpetuate the cycle of negative self-talk, food rules and restriction and thus more yo-yo dieting, binge eating and emotional eating.
When we weigh ourselves we give food and the scale too much power.
Instead of eating based on how we are feeling that day we eat based on the number. This interferes with our ability to intuitively eat and honor our body’s internal signals. Plus our weight can fluctuate daily from the minutiae of everyday life like eating, drinking, urinating, having a bowel movement, and exercise.
Weighing ourselves literally just makes us feel crappy about our behavior and our body. We don't need to get on the scale to know if we've been making poor eating choices. We can course correct without stepping a foot on it.
By judging ourselves based on the size of our body or a number we have no freedom. We are in a food prison where food has the power to dictate our actions, emotions, and sense of well-being. Food determines if we have been good or bad.
Our obsession with and feeling controlled by food is exacerbated by weighing ourselves.
It literally serves no purpose and only holds you back form healing your relationship with food and your body.
If you are having a problem not getting on a scale, the scale is not holding you accountable, it's holding you hostage.
Instead of checking your weight in the morning check in and see how you are feeling. Are you energize, positive, how do your clothes feel, are you excited to take on the day and do the things you love?
How you feel is so much more important than a number. Honestly, f*ck the number.
puh-lease ditch the scale!
xo
C