Why I Stopped Weighing Myself & Maybe You Should Too
I’ve had multiple conversations this week with women about their “goal weight” and I have realized this weight thing is haunting us. We get a number in our head and no matter how we feel, how we look or what we’ve accomplished, it’s never good enough. I’m over it.
As women, why is the number on the scale so important to us? We get all freaked out when we have to write it down at the doctor’s office, update our driver’s license or weight is just brought up in conversation. What’s the big deal? Who told us that our weight defines what “healthy” and “confident” feels and looks like?
Since being pregnant, I haven’t weighed myself once. Pregnancy comes with a lot of pressures, why would I add the pressure of weighing a made up number on top of everything else? I think that’s how it should be in general. Life can be stressful — why do we add the stress of trying to control a number on a scale? Especially a number we have no control over. The body tends to do what it wants!
It’s most definitely important to set goals for yourself, but they have to be goals you can control. You can’t fully control your weight or how fast you lose. Here are some goals you should give a try that you can control:
- Eating Goals
Daily log your calories for 7 straight days, add something green to every meal, no processed sugar for 30 days. Set yourself a short-term goal and stick to it. Don’t forget, 80% of losing inches is what you eat. - Fitness Goals
Being active is vital to living a healthy lifestyle. I’m not saying go run a half marathon or start crossfit! Walk a mile everyday, attend 2 fitness classes a week, lift light dumbbells while you watch your favorite show. Find time in your regular day to stay active! - How You Feel
When we make healthy choices and discipline ourselves — in the end we feel empowered and internally encouraged. Enjoy the little successes. Don’t let anything rob you of the hard work you’ve accomplished — even if the scale is trying to convince you otherwise. It’s okay to always want to improve and better yourself but it’s just as important to be content with who you are.
Check your thoughts, don’t be too hard on yourself and make yourself proud. Take it day by day. You got this, girl.
There are 2 comments
I love this! I never used to weigh myself. I intentionally didn’t even own a scale! But when I was pregnant my OB kept nagging me that I was gaining too much weight. I was active, and I ate well, and I drank plenty of water, but every appointment I went to, my weight jumped up. So I bought a scale and weighed myself every morning and wrote it down in an effort to keep it under control. I still gained 50 lbs during my pregnancy. I was retaining water everywhere. I was so swollen. But my baby wasn’t huge as my doctor kept warning me she would be. She was about 6.5 lbs. And within a week of delivering I’d lost all that retained water and was only 10 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. Within 3 months I was 5 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. At 10 months postpartum I’m 10 lbs under my pre-pregnancy weight. BUT those numbers are doing nothing for how I feel in terms of health and confidence–most of the pounds came off on their own, and not from my mid-section, so sometimes I still get asked if I’m pregnant. It’s the healthy choices that have been making a difference.
Exactly! It’s not the number that makes us confident and proud, it’s the discipline and hard work we put in! Keep working at it, girlfriend. Thank you so much for sharing!!