It’s time to ditch the scales. If you’re trying to become slimmer this might seem rash; after all, how are you going to know when you’ve reached your magic number if you can’t hop on every now and again? The answer is…you won’t. But that’s okay because, it’s time to forget about how much you weigh and focus on how you look and feel instead. So, here’s why Nutritious Lolly recommends that unless you’re a boxer, jockey or other professional sportsperson – you need to ditch the scales fast!
Ditch the scales before they control your life
This might seem familiar. You’ve joined a local diet club and your weigh-in day is a Thursday. So, now your week starts the moment you leave that club. You’ve lost 2lb after the first week…happy days, it’s time to celebrate! What will it be, a Chinese carry out or a fish supper? So, you opt for the Chinese carry out and make a night of it with your other half. Why shouldn’t you…you’ve earned it.
Next morning, you can’t resist weighing yourself again but guess what? You’ve put on 3lb! So, that’s the 2lb you’ve lost plus one more for good (or bad) measure. If only you hadn’t had that extra spring roll! Still, don’t panic…you’ve got a week to get 4lb off now, that will get you one pound closer to your ‘goal’. But, you forgot about your colleague’s leaving party tonight. It’s fine…you’ll just have a couple of diet Cokes and come home at a reasonable hour. Before you know it, you’ve left the car and are onto your third alcoholic drink…it’s going to be a long night.
Next morning you weigh yourself again. Naturally you haven’t lost any more pounds, but by now you’re feeling extra-guilty and have one less day to make up for your over-indulgence. Maybe a couple of days of near starvation will get you back on track, so you decide to give it a go. But as your body’s metabolism slows down in a bid to conserve body-fat, you end the week the same weight as you started it. Must try harder.
And so, it continues. Your life becomes one big yo-yo diet treadmill of excess reward and strict denial – why? Because, instead of retaining control of your choices and living your life in balance, you’ve just become accountable to a set of scales. If you feel this happening to you – you need to get rid of them…fast!
Muscle is more dense than fat
5lb of muscle weighs the same as 5lb of fat. I know this is stating the obvious, but here’s the difference – muscle takes up less space. This means you can put on weight even although you’re following a fat-stripping, healthy eating regime, coupled with some light-muscle building. By using scales as your measure of success you will never get a true reading of how much you’ve accomplished.
Measure up to get the full picture
A much better way to gauge your success is by measuring key areas on your body – for example, your chest, tummy, thighs and arms. Then, take a picture from the front and another from the side. Measure yourself every few weeks, take fresh pictures and compare. But, here’s the thing – you’ll already know if you’re going to see a difference or not, because you’ll feel better, and your clothes will be looser. This is much more motivating than subjecting yourself to the pre-weigh-in cold sweats every week (or worse…every day!).
Your chosen weight is not your goal
I know I sound like a broken record with this one, but I make no apologies. When people join diet clubs they often set their goal in terms of the weight they’d like to lose. For example, they might set a goal to lose 2 stone in weight. Then they get certificates at intervals along the way stating how much they’ve lost. I’m not knocking the achievements of the members because we all know how hard it is to lose weight. What I’m questioning is the goal. Weight loss is not, and never should be a goal. Aiming to lose 2 stone in weight is a target – the reason why you would choose to lose 2 stone is a goal. This puts a different perspective on things.
Let’s say you’ve been invited to a wedding and you’ve chosen a dress. Fitting into it and feeling good about yourself when you do, is the goal. As long as you’ve set a realistic time scale and are ready to put the work in, you will achieve this (read the goal setting section of my six-week Whole Body Plan). However, you may weigh the same, or even more, than you did before you started! But, you’ll look slimmer and more toned than before.
