26 Mar Weigh to Go
People often ask me how I feel about using the scale and weighing in. So I thought I would take this opportunity to “weigh in” (sorry. . . ) on the topic.
Here’s what I think. There are as many opinions on this topic as there are people offering them up. And I think that the one you should be listening to is your own. I don’t think that you need to have an over-arching policy here. . . . I think that the scale is one of many tools that we can use to work toward our goals of healthy eating and living. So the question to ask is not whether or not to weigh in, but whether or not weighing in is helpful to you. For many, it is a useful step in keeping tabs on how our eating and exercise choices are adding up. But its important to pay attention to what is happening when we decide to step on, or off, the scale. The scale is a measurement of weight only. . . and so its important to notice whether using it is providing information that is helpful or hurtful.
For instance:
Do you get off anxious and depressed?
How are you going to use the information that you just received?
Are you obsessing about a number in place of paying attention to your habits?
The most important question for me, is whether what you are currently doing is working or not. If it is, however you define “working”, then keep doing it. Until its not working anymore, and then change things up. We are not the same creatures day in and day out, and the approaches that will help us meet our goals will evolve and change over time as well. Thank goodness for that! Its when we try to lock into a plan that might have outlived its usefulness that we tend to run into real trouble. So try different approaches, test them out. Get creative and please, please stay playful around this stuff. It is serious work, but we don’t have to torture ourselves to make changes. In fact, I would suggest that the more generous and compassionate and gentle we can be with our habits, the more likely we are to develop ones that make us feel good.