If you’re someone who gets obsessed with the number of the scale, I invite you to join my new Obsessed With The Scale Club. I already have thousands of women on the waitlist to join this exclusive club.
If you’ve ever felt frustrated that the number on the scale was either not budging or going up, weighed yourself every day (sometimes multiple times a day), or increased your intense cardio workouts from 5 to 7 days a week to get that number down, you’re a prime candidate for my new club.
What will we talk about in our club meetings? Well, I’m glad you asked.
First, we’ll begin by talking about why the number on the scale is so important to us. My gut is telling me there will be a consensus that this number defines where we are on the hotness scale. The higher up we get on the scale, the more confident we’ll be according to society. Who doesn’t want to be a confident bad ass woman? A She-E-Oh of life?
Next, we’ll talk about how many times we go crazy about the number going down one day and going up the next day. This will be a great segue to into our next conversation about how we can decrease the number of calories we eat in a day and increase our cardio workouts from 5 days a week to 7. We’ll come up with all sorts of “great” ideas that seem totally logical at the time but in the end will lead to chronic fatigue, insomnia, intense PMS, mood swings, hormonal imbalances, sugar and salt cravings, and, ironically, weight gain.
The cycle will start all over again from the beginning and it will go on for the rest of our lives. If you feel the need to let your inner rage woman out, please so do now. Just be sure to do this without harming others or yourself.
Okay, I really haven’t started a Obsessed With The Scale Club. I think you’ve already picked up on the fact that this is club is tongue-in-cheek. I’ve worked with many clients (including some men) whose primary focus is the number on the scale. This is totally understandable. As women, we’ve been conditioned to weigh a certain amount in order to be seen as hot, beautiful, or gorgeous. This is a mindset I’m on a mission to help women change.
Here are 3 reasons why you should ditch your scale and what to do instead.
Reason #1: Minimize Confusion, Frustration, and Disappointment
Focusing too much time on the number on the scale can cause a lot of confusion that naturally leads to frustration and brings feelings of disappointment to the surface. You think you’re doing everything right: one hour of cardio a day, counting calories or carbs or both, strength training sessions five days a week, and working out no matter how you feel, even if you’re tired, hungry, and crampy.
Your body can be predictable if you actually take the time to get to know it. I say this over and over again and I’ll say it again: your body wants you be healthy and it’s designed to help you thrive when you give it what it wants. You just need to know what to give it and when.
One great way to get to know your body is to track your menstrual cycle. Think back to the first day of your last period. This is day one of your cycle. If you can’t remember when you started, wait until you start again and make a note of this day.
Once you know where you are in your cycle, you can start taking note of your energy levels, sleep patterns, hunger levels, mood swings, and anything else that you’re inspired to write down. You may notice that in the first few days of your cycle, you’re not in the mood to workout or just don’t have the energy to. This is actually to be expected. I do a deeper dive into all of this in my signature program you can check out here.
Once you get a few weeks into your cycle and you’re at the point when you’re ovulating, you may feel like you have a surge of energy and want to go hard during your workouts. Go for it! Just proceed with caution because along with high energy levels and better moods, your chances of injury go up. Fight the urge to overdo it.
After you get close to the end of your cycle, you may notice your hunger levels increasing to the point where you eat your first meal of the day full of protein and healthy fats and an hour later you’re hungry again. This is how I feel during this phase of my cycle. I feel like I could eat all the food in our fridge, freezer, and pantry within 24 hours. Even during this phase when I eat more I still don’t gain weight because I know how my body operates. It needs the extra nutrition.
Coaches Note: When your hunger increases, this is not the time to indulge in junk food. Focus on whole, nutrient-dense food that your body thrives on.
Reason #2: There’s Other Ways To Measure Progress More Effectively
Here’s the hard truth about the scale: the number on the scale doesn’t always reflect your progress accurately. There I said it. Now that the truth is out there, let’s talk about it.
Fun Fact: Muscle is denser than fat. Yup, it’s true!
If you take a fistful of fat and fistful of muscle and place them each on their own scale, the number on the scale with the muscle will be higher. So, if you’ve been getting your strength training on for several weeks or months, you’re most likely gaining lean muscle mass which will make the number on the scale either stay the same or even go up a little.
A more effective and accurate way to measure your progress is to go by how your clothes fit. If you have a pair of jeans that are just a bit snug and then one day you slip them on and they feel a little loose, this is a sign of weight loss, most likely fat loss. This means you’re most likely leaning up and building muscle mass to mitigate osteoporosis, support your joints, and be able to defend yourself at any time.
Taking measurements of your arms, hips, thighs, and stomach with a fabric roll tape measure is another accurate way to measure your progress. This bad boy will give you a good baseline to measure your progress for whether or not you’re burning fat and gaining lean muscle.
Reason #3: Sustainable Fat Loss Results Take Time and Patience
Wouldn’t it be so much easier if you started eating better and moving your body more and the fat just melted away until you got down to the weight you want? The reality is your body doesn’t work this way. You may notice that you lose weight in the beginning of your weight loss journey effortlessly and think “Cool! This is actually working!” However, this may just be water weight and not necessarily fat. This is actually your body adjusting to your new eating style, movement routine, or both.
To burn fat and keep it off in a sustainable way, your body does this slowly. Sometimes so slow it can be incredibly frustrating but it’s actually a good thing. You most likely gained the weight slowly over time and now your body wants to slowly burn the extra fat slowly to keep it healthy.
I say this over and over again in my programs and I’m going to say it again right now. Your body wants you to be healthy and this is always its number one priority. The challenge is there’s sometimes a disconnect with your timeline and your body’s timeline to get to a healthy weight and they don’t always line up.
Rather than focusing on the number on the scale, start celebrating the action you’re taking every day to get to your healthy weight. Did you eat more protein at breakfast? Give yourself a high-five! Did you do a strength workout after work? Do a happy dance! Did you get a full night’s rest and wake up feeling awesome? Be grateful for your efforts to get to bed on time!
Shifting your focus from the number on the scale to your daily wins will shift your mindset to the things you can control: your efforts and actions.
So, how do you gently tell your scale you need your space?
Now, you don’t need to break up with your scale completely. Taking small steps to simply scale back (pun intended) the number of times you hop on the scale to check your weight might be a good starting point for you. If you currently get on your scale once a day, maybe get on it every other day or once a week, instead.
Before you get on the scale next time, remind yourself that you are a bad ass confident woman no matter what the scale says. It doesn’t define who you are as a woman. Your effort, commitment, and trust in your body are what makes you the bad ass confident woman that’s going to get you to a healthy weight for YOU.
Want to brainstorm ideas on how you can move away from the scale? Go here to book a free call with me and we’ll chat about what might work best for you!