How the Scale is a Powerful Tool and Ally for Weight Control
QUOTE:
“If you never allow yourself to gain more than 3 - 5 lbs., then you never have a weight problem again.” -Amanda Nighbert, RD
TOPIC:
THE SCALE IS A POWERFUL TOOL AND ALLY FOR WEIGHT CONTROL
How doable, or how impossible does the idea of keeping your weight within 3 - 5 lbs. seem to you?
Would you be willing to step on the scale daily to monitor your weight?
Why or why not?
Many of my clients have a love/hate relationship with the scale.
They allow the number on the scale to dictate their mood for the day.
They use the numbers that display as a reason to judge themselves, beat themselves up, or shame themselves.
On the flip-side, they also use the numbers that display to feel accomplished, proud, and motivated.
The way we feel all depends on the thought we choose once we read the number that displays.
What’s so fascinating is these are simply digits supplying information.
Like a watch, or the numbers on a microwave.
The scale provides us with data.
With this data, we can evaluate what foods and lifestyle factors such as exercise, sleep, hormones, hydration, and stress keep us in our preferred 3 – 5 lbs. weight zone.
It provides guidance that keeps us from veering off-course.
The feedback provided does not mean success or failure, good or bad, fat or skinny, or worthy or unworthy.
Your weight doesn’t just reflect your fat tissue, but it also reflects your muscles, organs, bones, and water composition.
Many factors affect your weight on a day-to-day basis in addition to what you eat.
When the scale registers a number outside of your 3 - 5 lbs. weight zone, it’s not an invitation to beat yourself up.
Judging yourself as a failure or someone who just can’t control her weight is not only untrue, but it also has no upside.
Useful action that produces successful results and movement forward never comes from the negative place self-loathing and judging yourself creates.
This is the time to take the data provided, and get curious and reflect on the food choices, and lifestyle factors at play creating the numbers on the scale.
Dr. Jason Fung and Dr. Ken Berry, both medical doctors, researchers, and authors at the forefront of solutions for the current obesity epidemic in the U.S., note our weight management is controlled 80% by food, and 20% by other factors.
We have 100% control over what food we place in our mouth, so it makes sense to focus first and foremost on the foods we ate that pushed us out of our weight zone.
Different foods, even whole foods like fruits and vegetables, affect everyone differently due to our gut microbiome.
With that, it is important to evaluate what foods or combination of foods cause you to gain weight.
From the results of that assessment, simply double-down and consume the foods that satiate you, nourish you, and allow you to easily maintain your weight.
You know exactly how to control placing yourself back into your 3 - 5 lbs. weight zone.
Replacing your habitual “fix” of judgment, self-flagellation, and conflating your self-worth with the numbers that display on the scale with self-compassion is super-important to create an effective solution.
Self-compassion doesn’t fix problems—it just makes it easier to troubleshoot by reducing stress which allows your mind to tap into its wisdom.
How can we make this shift to self-compassion from old habits like beating ourselves up or mistakenly tying our self-worth to the number on the scale?
One of the most effective exercises I have found is approaching myself as I would approach a friend.
I always seem to know how a friend should handle his or her situation, but I’m at a loss when it comes to resolving my own problems.
The reason for this is because when I am talking to myself, my primitive brain, where emotion is defined and regulated, is activated shutting down the analytical part of my brain responsible for reasoning, thinking, and decision-making.
The stress I create by beating myself up and shaming myself causes my primitive brain to release two kinds of stress hormones: cortisol and adrenaline.
This prepares my body for fight-or-flight, and my logical brain goes off-line.
When I consider how I would advise a friend who has gained weight outside of their 3 - 5 lbs. weight zone, my brain’s analytical region is activated instead of the emotional part, and I unlock all kinds of helpful, supportive, and motivating advice.
It’s like receiving a hug instead of being scolded.
The next time you step on the scale and you see numbers that fall outside of your 3 - 5 lbs. weight zone, ask yourself, “How would I advise a friend experiencing this exact situation right now?”
Take action from all of the wisdom your analytical brain offers, and keep moving forward.
EMPOWERING QUESTION:
What habit or habits am I continuing to perform that no longer serve me?