Up until recently I have weighed myself weekly, every week, without fail, for about 19 years.
When you embark on a new regime and the scales show a downward trend consistently this is all fine. There comes a point when this stops however. Recently I have gained muscle – I know I have because I can see it. My body has got smaller / leaner/ however you want to articulate it- it has changed shape. My weight has gone up. This upset me. I complained. Quite a lot if I’m honest.
So I was advised to throw my scales in the bin. Weight is just your mass, it doesn’t take into account what amount of that mass is fat, muscle, water. It doesn’t reflect the hormonal changes of our body – women in particular are affected by our cycles and other things beyond our control (like werewolves only more vicious). It doesn’t affect how we look naked or in clothes or how strong / fit we are. I weigh 80kg now days – I am the same dress size as I was two years ago when I weighed 70kg.
I didn’t throw the scales away. Logic may be logical but 19 years of habit is hard to break. But I did hide them and commit to not weighing myself every week. That was about 3 weeks ago.
Mentally this is tough. What if I’m putting on weight? What if I have that illness where I look in the mirror and see someone thinner than I really am and so end up obese before I realise I’m doing something wrong? I know this isn’t logical but our relationship with our bodies is very often quite illogical.
Being successful with your fitness goals is as much about mentality as it is actually doing things. Right now i know I’m not ready to completely give up my scales – I’ve said I’ll maybe weight myself once a month or maybe every 6 weeks and look to cut down from there.
Heather Sherwood Fitness 