“Trust your first instincts, they’re always right,” the spunky yoga instructor at Yoga Inside Out said to me during a sweaty power yoga class I took with Gina last week.
The instructor was talking specifically about my lack of decisiveness in finding where to place my hands during a pose, but I took her little reminder with me when I left class and applied it to life in general.
Last week I was having a hard time on the weight loss front. I was working my butt off in my fitness regime and practicing portion control with my eats, but I kept stepping on the scale and seeing not a teeny bit of change.
By the end of the week, I realized what I instinctively wanted to do: ditch the scale for a bit. It was only throwing my game off mentally, and the scale certainly does not tell the whole story. Maybe I’ve built up a bit of muscle lately, which would be great with me. After all, my goal is to tone up and lose a bit of fat. Or maybe the scale just wasn’t budging for the time being but would randomly jump this week. Sometimes it’s a mystery, but I decided to give up my daily weigh-ins for the week and see how it feels.
And so my goal this week is to keep doing things that are beneficial to my health: working hard in the gym, eating healthy with some treats thrown in… and to NOT get on the scale. I think that as with everything, I’m striving for balance, and so this week, the scale is taking a backseat to the most important thing – how I feel.
I grew up around women who frequently weigh themselves, which is probably why I’ve grown up to do the same, but I’ve found it to sometimes be counterintuitive in both my life and the lives of the ladies around me. For instance, if you’ve been treating your mind and body well, exercising daily, and eating healthy, but are weighing more than your ideal weight, it may have the power to get you bummed out and feeling like you’re not doing good enough. Or if you’ve indulged a lot over the weekend and the scale shows so, you might feel guilty over “being bad.” In contrast, one of my best friends doesn’t even own a scale. Friends, weigh in on weighing in: What’s your relationship with the scale? How often do you step on it?
I can totally relate to what you’re saying! I’ve found a good balance with weighing myself a couple times a week instead of every single day.
Good for you, Ali! It’s always nice to find that right balance.
I have not weighed myself in over a year. At first, it was to make a point that the number on the scale means nothing, but now it is because I am afraid of what the numbers will say. I am happy with my body and all my clothes still fit, so I’m just going to keep on going. 🙂
Wow, that’s kind of awesome!! I know from your blog that you eat a lot of good food (and creme brûlée!) & don’t like working out, so I have a feeling that genetics are on your side! Ha. But you’re definitely right – the scale can really not mean much, and I love your attitude about not caring what the number is and going with how you feel & how your clothes fit.
I hear you about growing up with people who use the scale all the time, my mom still does. It can determine whether she is happy or sad for weeks at a time. There was a day where I finally realized I just didn’t want to live that way!!
I’m totally with you!! There was this one time recently when my 80-year old grandmother weighed herself at the gym – freaked out at the number having gone up 5 pounds more than she was her whole life – so she then proceeded to go to my mom’s house, my aunt’s house, and then her own house to weigh herself on all of the scales. Craziness!
Hey Nicole thanks so much for stopping by my blog !! I say toss the scale! Numbers don’t mean as much or tell you as much about bodily changes as pictures, the way clothes fit, and most importantly how you feel on the inside. But I think you look fantastic and don’t need to worry anyway 🙂
Thanks Paige, that’s so sweet of you to say! I don’t know if I can totally toss the scale out for good, but I do think that using it less may work well for me.