The Scale
Photo by Samuel Ramos on Unsplash
The scale is not an enemy.
Monday morning my weight was at the high end of the range that I give myself. I would call the number the red flag, or the “hold on sister” number. I knew that number was coming. My behavior over a number of days set me up for a gain, and I know that because I have years of experience in maintenance.
This is what I have learned about my weight fluctuations over the years:
It usually does not come from overeating. It comes from eating differently. My portions are still pretty small, but my food choices are worse. During these times I am usually moving away from whole foods, or from nutritionally dense foods, and towards calorie dense foods that are processed, and therefore higher in carbs/salt/sugar/fat.
The weight gain happens quickly, but if I shift my behaviors as soon as I see the gain, I can recover.
I have to monitor myself closely to stay on track (hence a daily weigh in).
The ups and downs are part of the journey.
There are many other measures of success that I can look to if needed.
During my ten years as a coach at WW, I saw so much fear and dread around the weigh in. I saw tears, anger, frustration, feelings of failure, feelings of hopelessness. It’s no wonder I saw those reactions - we are programmed to believe that the number IS our success, and that we should be able to get to that number quickly. The American diet culture gives us stories of big, dramatic, and fast weight loss, leading us to believe that real, long term weight loss is easier than it actually is. You rarely (or never) see a magazine cover about the person whose journey was slow, hard fought, sustainable for life, and who overcame a lifetime of bad eating habits.
I would love to see a grassroots shift away from the focus on the number. For each of us to learn that it is our behaviors and thoughts that will drive long term success. We can then use the scale simply as a data point to help us gather information about our own body’s patterns, how sleep or water intake affect our weight, whether it may be time to shake things up a bit, or to get more honest with ourselves.
You may be giving too much power to the number on the scale if you:
Eat “well” for one week and expect to lose a couple of pounds (or more).
Restrict/deprive in order to lose more quickly.
Work out really hard in order to lose more weight in a given week. Or to punish yourself.
Just want to “be done.”
Compare your rate of weight loss with any other friend, celebrity, or coworker. Every body is different.
Like success in other aspects of life, losing weight takes time, consistent effort, pivoting and shifting as circumstances dictate, and a clear idea of where you want to ultimately be. Do not let the number on the scale become a roadblock to your success.
