Do you have an obsession with the scale, weighing every day to see if you have lost weight yet? Or, do you not only weigh every day, but also morning, noon, and night?
I see a serious danger in being so obsessed with a number on a scale. First though, if you have been reading my writing here at Fearless Fat Loss, you know that I think that if you need to lose weight, then it is important to do so, not only for your health, but also for your self-esteem and overall well-being. However, giving so much power to number on a scale keeps you focused only on weight loss rather than the big picture of your life (and health!).
When you lose weight, you can eliminate, reduce, or prevent serious health issues. You can raise your level of self-confidence, and gain a great sense of accomplishment for achieving one of the hardest tasks to undertake in life. You can once again enjoy shopping for new clothes and truly like how they fit you. You can easily enjoy physical activities that many people take for granted: bike riding, taking the stairs without pain, fitting in an amusement park ride comfortably, or simply walking without getting out of breath.
Additionally, you will likely both look and feel younger, you should definitely have an increase in energy (if the weight loss program you follow is healthy), and you will gain muscle tone by incorporating strength-training exercises.
If all that you are focused on however, is how quickly you can get the scale to move, your entire focus can be so narrowed towards that number that when the scale doesn’t move (you will more than likely hit a plateau), what will this do to your attitude? What about when the scale shows a gain? Your body weight naturally fluctuates and the scale can go up even though you have not overeaten or slacked off on exercise. If the only thing you care about is that number and it goes up or stalls, you may end up turning to food to try to soothe yourself because you feel so bad.
I only weigh myself on Monday mornings, with the exception that currently I also weigh on Friday as part of my “Ban the Refined Sugar Experiment“; otherwise, once a week is more than enough. I can tell much more about my weight loss by how my clothes fit anyway, and by only weighing once a week, I have let go of both scale obsession and the obsession over weight loss.
I used to weigh every day during a time in my life when I thought that if only I lost weight, then everything would be perfect. I am now focused on the big picture, weight loss being only a part of my life rather than my only (or largest) goal. If you are eating healthy, eating only when hungry, stopping when full, and getting regular exercise, the weight will come off. Weighing yourself every day creates too much stress and too much of an emphasis on weight loss.
If you are currently scale obsessed, I encourage you to find some other things to get excited about in your life while you continue to take the right action to get the weight off. Start focusing on something besides weight loss and trust that you will lose the weight as long as you continue to act to achieve that goal, but don’t make the mistake of making this your primary (or only) goal in your life. Get off that scale, and start living your life today! 🙂
Been teaching for many years, and this is the of the hardest concepts to teach my students. The obsession with that little square thing on the floor, it dictates if they eat or not and then after not eating for a bit they come up “for air” so to speak and binge eat. You are right, life is too short, focus on the long term plan! Thanks for your experience.
Hi Deni,
You are so correct – that “little square thing” is just given far too much power in many people’s lives. And then, if you gauge how much you are going to eat (or overeat) based on the number on that scale, rather than on physical hunger, it turns into madness.
I’ve been there before – “Oh, looks like I can eat more because I weigh … today, and I’ll just cut back tomorrow”. It’s no way to live.
Thank you for your comment! 🙂
All the best,
JoLynn
Hey Deni!
Good entry! I would just like to add that the best way to shed some excess weight is to listen to your body. Don’t deprive yourself of food, but at the same time, make sure that your body really needs food before eating. Most people would eat based on time, but different people have different “biological clocks”. I suggest that we must be attuned with our body’s need to lead a more healthy and balanced lifestyle.