For the last 13 years, we’ve headed down to Cape Cod with the same friends.
This picture is all of us (except for my son, who is on tour with his Choir).
We stay at my father-in-law’s house. We go to Yoga on the beach, have fun by the shore, check out the surrounding towns, and any thrift store we come across. It’s a relaxing and wonderful tradition for the whole family, and a great way to kick off the summer.
The other part of going to my father-in-law’s house – and this is what I want to talk to you about with you today – is that I am face to face with a scale.
You see, I haven’t owned a scale in over 20 years. Yup, it’s true. I gave them up, because they made me feel bad, or feel good for a moment, and then feel bad again.
Basically, the scale had all the power on how I was going to feel about myself every day.
Maybe you can relate…
I would get on the scale and…
If I weighed less than the day before:
- “I’m doing great!” – I felt good about myself, my confidence would soar.
If I weighed more:
- “Uh-oh, I better eat less” – my self judgement would kick in, stress about eating would increase, and confidence would plummet.
I was giving that $15 machine on the floor way too much power over me! Basically, I was allowing an inanimate object to determine how I felt about myself!
And, to add fuel to the fire, I was adding stress to my system.
This is how we can actually sabotage our weight loss efforts when we get on the scale.
It works this way:
When we are in a stressed state – our insulin and cortisol (stress hormones) rise – and that reduces our ability to burn calories. Basically, when we stress about our weight (or anything else, for that matter) we actually make it harder to lose weight.
Ugh, how painful.
So, back to my father-in-law’s scale…
In years past, when I would head down to Cape Cod, I would hop on the scale, just to “see where I was at” and sure enough – even though I was Health Coaching many women, and on the top of my game of listening to my body (and eating what nourished me deeply) – I would still feel the mind games of “I’m good if the scale shows a low number,” and “I’m bad if the scale shows a high number”
So this year, I just looked at the scale and asked myself what, exactly, would the scale show me?
- Would it show me a number that really reflected how I feel about myself?
- Would it mirror to me the inner work I had done around loving myself, even though my shoulder injury has kept me from dancing or yoga?
- Would it show me I had lost weight?
- Would is explain to me WHY I may have lost weight? It’s possible that any weight loss may be due to a loss in muscle tone from lack of exercise (due to my shoulder injury)…can a scale understand these subtleties?
- Would it show me I had gained weight? And does that make me any less of a good person? Of course it doesn’t…but again, the scale doesn’t care…it’s just a machine.
I decided to skip the scale because ultimately, the number on a scale doesn’t make us good or bad. It’s just a number. If we really want to know how we are doing with our weight – we need to tune in.
Tuning in means…
- listen to how we feel
- Notice how our clothes fit
- Pay attention to our energy level
- Find words that describe our body sensations
- Breathe and inhabit our body fully
These are all ways to connect to the intelligence of our body. That’s what we want more of!
When we hop onto the scale, we are ignoring the deep power and innate intelligence of our bodies.
Your body has much more powerful answers than your scale.
Try it.
Ditch your scale, listen to your body instead.
If this feels like new territory to you, or you’ve just lost your way a bit, I can help.
Drop me a note so we can find a time to chat and get you reconnected to the wisdom of your body.
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Nina Manolson, MA, CHC, is the Smokin’ Hot & Soulful Mom Mentor and Family Wellness Expert. She’s the founder of SmokinHotMom.com and HealthyYummyKids.com. She is a certified Health Coach and Psychology of Eating Coach.
She helps busy moms look and feel their best, and helps them feed their kids well in a world that doesn’t.
She’s the author of “Feed Your Kids Well In A World That Doesn’t: an everyday guide to make healthy food happen in your home and beyond”. She’s also the recipient of the prestigious Health Leadership Award from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her healthy recipes and wellness tips click here.
Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.
She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.
Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.
Start your Body-Peace® journey with this free masterclass that will help you understand and shift your relationship with your body.
I love it!