It's Complicated
When things are going great, food is good, exercise is good, stepping on the scale is exciting, invigorating even! You can't wait to see just how much all of your hard work has paid off. That little bit of positive feedback is enough to keep you going on your journey another day. But when we fall off, stumble, screw up, or just down right give up, the scale is often something we dread looking at and often times run away from altogether. So, how do you change that? Well, the short and simple answer is this...make the right choices so that you can confidently step on the scale.
Wouldn't that be great if we could just do the right thing all the time? If we could follow-through with everything we said we were going to do? You and I both know that's not always the case. We will likely stumble along the way, the path to success is not a straight line.
When it comes to the scale, here's what we want to avoid:
Placing too much value on it overall
Allowing it to dictate our food choices, and
Letting it have power over our emotions (mainly, happiness, motivation, etc.)
Your weight is a reflection of your choices
The scale is only a reflection of what you do. So, make your actions be the focus, not the scale. Re-direct your energy to where it matters the most. Faithfully take the feedback the scale gives you and let it teach you something. Every time you step on the scale, learn from what you see. Did you lose weight? Great! What contributed to that? Did you gain weight? Great! What contributed to that? There is always some good you can take from the bad. When you step on the scale and you don't like what you see, you instantly get a reality check. You get an honest report of the decisions you made yesterday or the week before. Instead of beating yourself up or getting discouraged, ask yourself "What can I do better?" and then attach an action item to it. For example, if you are snacking at night time, your action item can be something like, "No eating after 7 pm."
Monitor all areas of progress
The scale is only one data point you should monitor on your journey of losing weight. Personally, I love to track habits and feelings in addition to my weight. Tracking what I do helps me make powerful observations and keeps me focused when I step on the scale and don't love what I see.
It's absolutely essential to check-in with all other areas of progress you are making. Did you make it to the gym this week? Did you eat more nutritious meals? Did you drink more water and less soda? Track and monitor your actions so that you don't get defeated by the scale. Every day you are making deposits into your new, healthy self, don't let the scale steal that from you.
Think of the scale like you think of the speed limit
The scale is like the speed limit. When you're driving, you might glance over at the speed limit every once in a while to make sure you're on track, but you're not driving with your eyes fixed on the number, are you? That'd be dangerous and silly!
This is how we must view the number on the scale. Check-in, take what you need from it, and move on. Keep driving.