How to Stop Letting The Scale Dominate Your Life
Many women have told me that the scale can literally dictate how the rest of their day goes.
It dictates whether they have a good day or a bad day.
It dictates what they eat.
It dictates how they feel about themselves, which then impacts everyone and everything around them.
Sound familiar?
One of the reasons this happens is because you’re tying your worth to what the scale says.
You’ve attached meaning to the number.
So when the number is “good”- you feel good about yourself, at least for a moment.
When the number is “bad”- it starts to kick off thoughts about what that “bad” number means.
“Must be because I had pizza last night. I can’t believe I did that again”
“Ugh I’m so fat”
“I’m disgusting”
And these thoughts kick off negative emotions.
The thoughts and emotions spiral and we end up feeling terrible about ourselves for the rest of the day.
Thoughts actually kick off a chemical reaction in your body to generate emotions - which is why you probably also experience physical symptoms in your body, like low energy, on days like this.
So how can you stop letting the number on the scale have so much power over you?
First, know that your worth is inherent. You were born worthy and you’re worthy just because you are.
Next, ask yourself if weighing you is actually serving you.
If you choose to continue to weigh yourself, can you do it less?
Treat it as an experiment and see how your mood changes.
I have clients who have told me that letting go of the scale changed their life.
I have clients who continue to weigh themselves and have worked on changing their relationship with the scale.
Neither is wrong and I’ll save a post about weight for another day, but if you are able to weigh yourself less, that’s a great first step.
Lastly, ask yourself, “what am I letting the number mean about me?”
Ultimately, the number doesn’t matter.
What you’re making the number mean about you holds all the power.
I would recommend actually writing out on a sheet of paper what comes to mind. Let it flow and don’t edit.
What are you making the number mean about you?
Once you’re done, take a look at what you wrote from a place of curiosity and compassion.
Are those things true?
You’ll likely be able to find a few items on your list that at the very least, feel less true and less intense.
With practice you’ll start to create new neural pathways. The number on the scale will start to feel less emotionally charged, more neutral, and you’ll be better able to tap into your inherent worth no matter what comes your way.
This approach is radically different and way more effective than needing to lose weight to feel better about yourself.
That strategy is futile, as 95-98% of diets fail and most people will gain back more weight than what they started with.
In addition, those people who do successfully lose the weight find that they don’t feel the burst of confidence they thought they would. It was never about the number.
Have you ever looked at an old photo of yourself and thought “wow I can’t believe I used to think I was fat”?
This is because the weight was never the issue.
Tapping into your inherent worth and challenging thoughts about your body and your weight are all parts of finding peace with food.
As you shift how you feel about yourself and your body, your ability to tune into what your body needs and eat based on your body’s cues (ie. Intuitive Eating) increases dramatically.
All these pieces work together so that you can get to a place where food, how you feel about your body, and the scale stop dominating your life.
When that happens you have way more mental space to do what makes you happy, live your fullest, most beautiful life, and focus on what’s important to you.
You get your life back.
In my 4-month Food & Body Freedom program, reprogramming how you think and feel about the number on the scale is one of the main things I help women with so they can break free from dieting, end the stress around food, and find that mental space to focus on what really matters to them.
We also work on getting to know your body’s cues, learning to nourish yourself based on those cues, breaking through emotional eating patterns, body image, and getting out of your own way.
If you’re interested, inquire here and let’s have a quick chat to see if Food & Body Freedom is right for you.
xo,
Melissa
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