Ditch the scale
I cannot tell you the number of times that, when working with a client to help them make peace with food and their body, they experience a major setback after stepping onto the scale.
To be clear, setbacks are to be expected in this work - progress is never a linear thing and sometimes we have to experience a trigger before we can name it as such. But, if you know your well-being hinges on the number on the scale, might I gently suggest you ditch the gosh darn thing?
The scale may tell you a number, but it won’t reflect all of the other things you’ve gained as an intuitive eater. Giving yourself permission to ditch the scale helps to keep the focus on measurements of your well-being that are actually reflective of the things that are adding value to your life, rather than allowing your well-being to hinge on a number.
If you are struggling to discard your scale, I recommend the following exercise, which may sound counterintuitive at first:
Weigh yourself every day for a week. That same week, take a picture of yourself in the same clothes every day. In a notebook (or the notes on your phone), keep track of the photo, your weight, how you are feeling both emotionally and physically, and what else you’ve done in the day.
At the end of the week, look back and reflect: Did your body look markedly different on any of these days? What other factors besides your weight may have contributed to the good days? What about the not-so-good days?
Chances are, you will find that there wasn’t a ton of variability in your weight and appearance and there may be other aspects of your life you can focus on to support your emotional well-being.
At the end of the day, you are more than a number on the scale. You cannot be distilled down into a number; you are far too uniquely complex and special to be captured by something so reductive. Let’s honor your diversity of self get rid of the scale.
PS. Ditched the scale at home, but still triggered by weighings at the doctor’s office? Check out my three strategies to decline being weighed at the doctor’s office.