Ditch the scale as a measure

When you ask most people why seeing the scale number go down is so important, you’ll hear some version of “it’s proof that i’m consistent and validates that what I’m doing is working.”

It doesn’t help that this line of thinking has been so embedded, thanks to a lifetime of diet culture conditioning, that even if there are non-scale measures, they are often overshadowed by the reality or possibility of weight change.

Furthermore, it lends itself to the “I will feel/be better/healthier when my weight is X” narrative so many subscribe to, that they often miss the other areas they’re experiencing real and healthy transformation.

When weight is your only measure of consistency, it doesn’t take into account:

• How much you’re being active and present in your life.

• How much better you’ve become at listening to and understanding your body’s cues and needs

• How much stronger you’ve gotten physically and mentally

• How much better you feel within your body

• How much more nourished you are because you’re no longer restricting and fighting with food

• The other positive behavior shifts that can happen when

Instead it panders to the toxic diet culture and oppressive beauty standards that boil your efforts, and life down to 3 digits.

It further assumes that you have FULL control of that number changing.

Real talk, you do not.

Sure you can manipulate calories and exercise, but they aren’t the only or sometimes the most important factors to consider.

You could get sick, not eat for a few days, and your weight changes.

You could be dehydrated and your weight changes.

You could be taking medication and your weight changes.

You could cut out food groups, be under extreme stress, have crappy sleep and poor energy regulation and your weight changes.

Hitting that magic number on the scale doesn’t guarantee you’ll be better off nor is it going to guarantee the happiness or approval you think lies on the other side of it.

This, in my opinion, makes weight the worst measurement of how consistent you are.

You know what does:

The small shifts in your actions and thoughts that are steering you towards the person you want to become.

These efforts, when geared towards improving your health and well-being, are not only proof that there other measures of consistency but they are the ones having the most impact.