Sometimes when you are embarking on a journey to a body you love, you use certain “benchmarks” that you use to track your progress.  In the past you probably were a slave to the scale, tracking your weight loss progress as often as you can at different points throughout the day.  The scale would often serve as your permission or denial of certain foods or skipping certain meals and snacks.

If you have been on this intuitive eating journey with me for some time, I hope you have begun to realize the scale is not a progress tracker.  When the scale indicates weight loss or weight gain, this is not indicative of success or failure.  If you have been torturing yourself on a fad diet that offers little variety and is not meeting proper health requirements, but you lose weight on it, are you really succeeding?  Maybe you have been honoring your hunger and eating well, but your weight is taken a doctor’s appointment and the number is not indicative of how healthy you feel– does that make you a failure?

The answer to both of these questions is no.  If you have lost weight through extreme, unhealthy measures, you put yourself at risk for gaining it back once you resume regular eating habits.  If you are happy with how your body has been feeling then by no means does that make you a failure, even if the “great” and “powerful” scale is reporting no weight loss.

The scale is just a material object.  YOU dictate how successful you feel.  YOU are the one learning how to live a healthy lifestyle.  So let the scale collect some dust for a bit and focus on the progress you are making in other ways.  Without this “weight” on your shoulders, you are sure to feel lighter and freer right away!

Your turn to take action: What are some new ways you will measure your success?