Tag Archive for: internal body signals

Take A Stand Against the Scale

Scale-womans feetDo you find yourself hopping on the scale every morning? Do you rejoice on the days you’ve lost a pound, and scold yourself on the days you stayed the same? The scale starts to have the ultimate power of how you feel and treat yourself during the day. This leads to a cycle of under and overeating, weight gain, and body dissatisfaction – four things that lead you down the wrong path when it comes to food.

 

The number on the scale does not reflect the person you are, or the person you are becoming. No one and no thing can tell you how you feel about yourself. With intuitive eating you cannot fail, it is a lifestyle and learning process every step of the way. The scale is a false idol. There are many factors that influence your weight which do not reflect body fat, such as fluid retention, fluid shifts within your body and water loss from sweating after a workout.

 

Forget the scale; it does not represent who you are, or who you are becoming. Intuitive eating teaches you to become compassionate toward yourself, and helps you to get past dieting. Listen to your internal cues telling you what you want to eat, and when you want to eat it. The scale does not determine your food or exercise schedule for the rest of the week. Your inner cues won’t lead you astray, have confidence and listen to what your body is telling you.

 

The next time you go into the bathroom to weigh yourself, STOP! Remember the scale is not your measure of success on this intuitive eating journey. Take that scale and put it away. Just take a look at the image with this blog…a woman standing on the scale yet the scale registers zero pounds.

 

Now it’s your turn to take action: Put away the scale and make a commitment not to weigh yourself. Please share your success in the comments below.

 

 

Eating as a Part of Your Life—Not Letting it Consume Your Life

When you want to get into a routine and build something into your life, one way to do it is to schedule and plan.  For some, this is also true when it comes to dieting.  You schedule the number of meals you will eat that day based on when the plan tells you to and you restructure your life around that plan.  You are always thinking about what you are supposed to be eating next, will you be eating it “on time” and if you didn’t pack it with you, will you be able to find something comparable.  You find the only thing you are thinking about is food.
I want you to remember a time, if such a period existed, where you weren’t worrying about your weight or your food.  You lived your life and when you were hungry you ate, you stopped when you were full and you weren’t frantically wondering if a food fell into your plan if you wanted to have it.  For many of you trying to get back to this memory, it might take you all the way back to your childhood days—and that’s OK.

 

When you are younger and there is less to worry about, that carefree attitude translates easier to food.  Eating is just something you have to do in between all the other fun things you look forward to doing every day.  Now that you are older, sometimes food is the fun part of your day, and sometimes it is something to worry about.  Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on you still shouldn’t be living for or living in fear of it.  Accepting food as part of your day rather than something your entire world has to stop for makes it easier to accept a healthier non-diet lifestyle rather than a diet mentality.

 

If you weren’t so hungry and you didn’t eat as much lunch as you normally do, or if you waited an hour later than usual to eat it, that’s OK!  You are listening to your body.  Maybe one day you had a very intense work-out and your body told you to eat a little more at lunch time than you’re used to—listen to it!  Pardon the pun but go with your gut and listen to what it says rather than restricting it to a pre-determined schedule that might not fit into your day.  Eating is a necessary part of life, but it doesn’t have to be your life.

 

Your Turn to Take Action: Try and focus on the things in life you enjoy that are not related to food this week.  Please share your thoughts in the comments below.