F**k the Scale
A few weeks after my daughter was born, I was ready to begin my postnatal transformation journey. I felt optimistic since I had started my pregnancy in the best shape of my life. I had also gone through the last nine months successfully maintaining healthy eating habits and a five-day-a-week workout routine until literally the day before I went into labor. I gained 37 pounds over the course of my pregnancy, which was a little over the 25-35 pounds considered the “recommended norm” to gain, but nothing too daunting to tackle.
I hit the ground running with my organized plan, feeling confident the weight would come off easily. After all, many people had told me I’d bounce back in no time. So I ate my prepped meals, tracked my food, stayed in a calorie deficit, hit 10K steps a day, and resumed my strength training routine, all while getting used to a new baby.
I’m a firm believer that anything is possible when you put your mind to it, and I was determined to make it happen despite the life changing adjustment. I remained disciplined, both mentally and physically. But I soon realized that this would be far from a walk in the park.
The problem with being too exemplary when it comes to healthy decision making is that it often is attached to unrealistic expectations followed by feelings of frustration and discouragement. “I ate perfectly last week, how am I up a pound?!”, or “I worked out every day, how did I not lose any weight?!” are all too common when we give it everything we’ve got. And this is exactly what happened to me when I was stepping on that scale every morning. “Why won’t this thing budge?!” I muttered for weeks without much progress at all…at least according to the scale. But the truth was, I was making progress.
You see, progress is not determined by perfection, or solely by how much we weigh. Sure, weight matters and a healthy BMI is almost always a good thing to strive for. But it’s not everything. I would tell this to clients all the time during their programs, but here I was being a big old hypocrite. I needed to focus on the things that mattered more right now, like the way my clothes fit. How my muscles were starting to pop again. My confidence and energy levels. And just being able to balance everything with a new baby, which is a true victory on its own.
The thing is, I had been through this before. Not the baby part, but the transformation part. Just a few years back I lost 50 pounds from my heaviest weight. But more importantly, I gained the discipline, the knowledge, and the experience to be successful at maintaining my results as a long term lifestyle. So how did I do it back then?
Firstly, I almost never weighed myself! I’m talking maybe once a month out of casual curiosity. But I didn’t have a burning desire to know the number every day. I was able to make great progress by being in tune with how I felt, and how I looked.
Second, I was patient (which is rare for me!). Results take months, if not years. Ditching the need to rush the process gave me a huge advantage.
Third, I took a holistic and balanced approach to healthy living. The 80/20 rule. The emphasis on stress management and sleep quality. The bigger picture approach. I knew that no crash diet, two-hour-a-day workout routine, or “perfect” habits were going to get me anywhere sustainable.
Recalling these three fundamental strategies served as a good reminder this time around, and I started by doing away with the need to weigh myself all the time. It immediately offered a sense of relief, knowing that I would no longer get discouraged and off track because of a number.
The scale is a tricky thing. It can serve a valuable purpose as an accountability tool to many, but it can also do quite the opposite, and lead to sabotaging behavior that can derail motivation and results all together. Ultimately, each individual needs to assess their relationships with the scale. If it’s an unhealthy one, you may want to consider using other methods or forms of measurement to gauge your success. So if it makes sense for you, F**K the scale. And that is perfectly okay.
F**k the Scale
A few weeks after my daughter was born, I was ready to begin my postnatal transformation journey. I felt optimistic since I had started my pregnancy in the best shape of my life. I had also gone through the last nine months successfully maintaining healthy eating habits and a five-day-a-week workout routine until literally the day before I went into labor. I gained 37 pounds over the course of my pregnancy, which was a little over the 25-35 pounds considered the “recommended norm” to gain, but nothing too daunting to tackle.
I hit the ground running with my organized plan, feeling confident the weight would come off easily. After all, many people had told me I’d bounce back in no time. So I ate my prepped meals, tracked my food, stayed in a calorie deficit, hit 10K steps a day, and resumed my strength training routine, all while getting used to a new baby.
I’m a firm believer that anything is possible when you put your mind to it, and I was determined to make it happen despite the life changing adjustment. I remained disciplined, both mentally and physically. But I soon realized that this would be far from a walk in the park.
The problem with being too exemplary when it comes to healthy decision making is that it often is attached to unrealistic expectations followed by feelings of frustration and discouragement. “I ate perfectly last week, how am I up a pound?!”, or “I worked out every day, how did I not lose any weight?!” are all too common when we give it everything we’ve got. And this is exactly what happened to me when I was stepping on that scale every morning. “Why won’t this thing budge?!” I muttered for weeks without much progress at all…at least according to the scale. But the truth was, I was making progress.
You see, progress is not determined by perfection, or solely by how much we weigh. Sure, weight matters and a healthy BMI is almost always a good thing to strive for. But it’s not everything. I would tell this to clients all the time during their programs, but here I was being a big old hypocrite. I needed to focus on the things that mattered more right now, like the way my clothes fit. How my muscles were starting to pop again. My confidence and energy levels. And just being able to balance everything with a new baby, which is a true victory on its own.
The thing is, I had been through this before. Not the baby part, but the transformation part. Just a few years back I lost 50 pounds from my heaviest weight. But more importantly, I gained the discipline, the knowledge, and the experience to be successful at maintaining my results as a long term lifestyle. So how did I do it back then?
Firstly, I almost never weighed myself! I’m talking maybe once a month out of casual curiosity. But I didn’t have a burning desire to know the number every day. I was able to make great progress by being in tune with how I felt, and how I looked.
Second, I was patient (which is rare for me!). Results take months, if not years. Ditching the need to rush the process gave me a huge advantage.
Third, I took a holistic and balanced approach to healthy living. The 80/20 rule. The emphasis on stress management and sleep quality. The bigger picture approach. I knew that no crash diet, two-hour-a-day workout routine, or “perfect” habits were going to get me anywhere sustainable.
Recalling these three fundamental strategies served as a good reminder this time around, and I started by doing away with the need to weigh myself all the time. It immediately offered a sense of relief, knowing that I would no longer get discouraged and off track because of a number.
The scale is a tricky thing. It can serve a valuable purpose as an accountability tool to many, but it can also do quite the opposite, and lead to sabotaging behavior that can derail motivation and results all together. Ultimately, each individual needs to assess their relationships with the scale. If it’s an unhealthy one, you may want to consider using other methods or forms of measurement to gauge your success. So if it makes sense for you, F**K the scale. And that is perfectly okay.
