Lose Weight by ditching the scales
Do you feel your life is tied to the scales? How on earth will I lose weight by ditching the scales you may ask? We’ve been doing well all week, therefore it is natural to want to see the results of our weight loss. Looking at the scales is the most obvious way to measure how much we weigh. Only, if the scales don’t show the weight loss that were hoping for it can put us on a complete downer. We can feel frustrated, despondent and ask what is the point? “I’ve been starving myself all week for nothing” That is hard to deal with. You see we can end up then living our lives having our feelings dictated to by the scales.
In an ideal world we would move away from the scales and we could learn to see our results by our bodies changing and by how we feel emotionally and physically. This can be a huge step for some people. But it is totally achievable if we do it step by step. When we live this way, ahh we are free from the scales, free to feel what we want. It is like we are in charge of ourselves rather then the scales being in charge of us. When we are in charge of ourselves, that is freedom. Along the journey we are learning what foods and what quantities are right for us. Then we are not having to eat according to a diet rules, we are eating to our rules. That is incredibly liberating. Then it is easy to lose weight by ditching the scales.
How do we do it?
Well here are the steps
1. Cut back
Rather then stop altogether, cut back initially. Just weigh yourself once a fortnight or once a month to begin with and then we are slowly going to cut that back to once every now and then. We are teaching ourselves to be not so dependent on the scales. Every now and again it is practical to weight ourselves, but it is then seeing it as a measuring point as to where we are on our weight loss journey. It is not having our emotions change according to what the scales say.
2. The scales are a tool
They are just that, a tool. It is a tool to measure the weight of an item. This is a very handy tool for the post office or when going on holiday to weigh your suitcases. The item we are weighing is not human and we can change the weight of our suitcases easily. The suitcase does not get offended or hurt if you take anything out or put anything in. It does not get upset and down on itself when it weighs heavier then our allowance at the check in till, so therefore the tool is a great tool in that instance. It is also a good tool with us if we do not become attached to the scales. We can see the number and not base our feelings on that number. We can use it as a guide to help us tweak the way we are eating to continue on our weight loss journey. The scales are just a tool and by us getting emotional over what the scales say and then letting our emotions run the way we eat, we are giving all of our personal power to a set of scales.
3. Learn your body
When you step off the scales, the journey is getting to know and understand your body. The weight is always just a number, it does not tell you how you feel, nor is it going to say how you look. How you feel, how motivated you are, how determined you are is going to dictate how you live your life and losing weight. When we feel good, we naturally want to put healthier and lighter foods inside of us. This is the start of intuitive eating, learning to listen to your body when you eat something and learning and recognising hunger signs and not to ignore them. Feed your body when it wants food, listen to how it responds with the food you give it. Does it give you energy or does it make you slump? By learning to listen, this is how you can lose weight by ditching the scales.
4. Stop the all or nothing mindset
Looking at the scales can put us into this all or nothing mindset which is dangerous for weight loss. It means we are pinging backwards and forwards from totally depriving ourselves to gorging ourselves. When we look at the scales and it is not as good as we hoped, we can feel totally despondent, so we pig out, or we deprive ourselves. It is learning to find that balance in between deprivation and gluttony. That ties into being realistic with our weight loss and knowing the scales are a tool and just that and not always an accurate one at that.
5. Learn to love your body
Scrapping the tools, learning to eat intuitively helps us to being in tune with what we need and how much food we need. We are on this weight loss journey and wanting to lose weight, so by learning to love our bodies, getting to know them, that is the best guide of all as to whether we are losing weight. It is being body positive, finding parts of us that we like, It is also being grateful to our bodies for the work it is doing for us and being this vessel to give us life. Being kind to ourselves, giving ourselves some space and understanding when we don’t eat something that is healthy, is what will move us forward on our weight loss journey. Finding out about ourselves and what we are capable of. Learning to love healthier foods is what you will find out when you lose weight by ditching the scales.
Read an interesting article here about ditching the scales: https://www.healthyfood.com/advice/its-time-to-ditch-the-scales/
Read my other article on break your sugar addiction: https://www.vanessamclennan.com/break-your-sugar-addiction-in-5-easy-steps/
Good luck on your weight loss journey.
