I Am Breaking Up with You
🆘 I Am Breaking Up with You 🆘
Here are reasons that ditching the scale turned out to be the healthiest thing I could do for myself—and you can do for yourself. 💯
😘 1. Diets. Don’t. Work. 😘
Sadly, statistics show that the diet industry is worth over $60 billion yet only 5 percent of dieters lose their goal weight and keep it off for five or more years. There is no other industry in the world that fails so many people while thriving so economically. Don’t get hooked into this cycle, believe me, get out now and kick the scale to the curb!
🦄 2. Success is not measured in pounds, and the scale hurts more than it helps. 🦄
Exercise has endless benefits, including better body composition, better sleep, more energy, improved self-esteem, and improved physiological health, yet we focus so much on the number on the scale to judge its effects. I have seen many people declare that their fitness program “isn’t working” simply because the scale isn’t moving. Just like I used to, they ignore all the other benefits of exercise and often throw in the towel. This is part of the stop-start cycle of diets and exercise, and the scale is often the culprit in our lack of followthrough. Instead of looking at the numbers on a scale, which barely tell you anything, measure your success by how good and strong you feel.
❌ 3. The scale will mislead you. ❌
Often as part of my attempts to lose weight I would start going to the gym and gain weight! My body composition was changing as I built muscle mass and reduced fat, but instead if seeing these gains as wins, I would feel like a failure. When you replace fat with muscle you may see the scale going up, not down—another reason why ditching the scale and focusing on other physical benefits trumps all!
🥗 4. Restrictive eating can lead to unhealthy practices. 🥗
When we are constantly referring to a number on the scale it can become obsessive. As Psychology Today reports, “Dieting, along with the frequent and compulsive weighing that accompanies it, can lead to eating disorders. According to one source, people who diet are 8 times as likely to develop an eating disorder as people who don’t.” Fixating on weight can make food feel like an enemy to be avoided. It’s not! It’s the fuel that powers your body! On that note…
🏃♀️ 5. Athletes need to eat. 🏃♀️
When you’re athletic, you should follow a model of healthy abundance not restriction. Eat the food! Listen to your body, not the scale.
👑 6. Our weight is not our worth. 👑
Many women believe that if they don’t fit into the thin ideal their identity isn’t as valuable. We need to work on changing how we give value and worth to some body types and not others. Our value can never be ruled by a scale unless we allow it to be. Every body is valuable. Never let the scale dictate your worth.
💯 Ditching the scale and no longer feeling like I have to weigh myself has allowed me to rule my own life and pursue my athletic dreams in the body I have (my real body, right now, not an imaginary thinner version). It’s allowed me to find a healthy balance in nutrition, to kick ass in fitness and sport, and to believe that I am valuable and worthy of achieving anything I set my mind to. I know this can be true for you too. 😘
