Learning how to let go of dieting, while focusing on my health, nutrition, and well-being, has been one of the most challenging, yet most rewarding, things I’ve ever done.
Making the decision to stop dieting for me has meant:
- no longer restricting my calorie intake
- moving away from taking whole food groups out of my diet
- dealing with my disordered eating habits (binge eating, overeating, sneak eating)
- not weighing myself everyday
- learning how to love my body and its capabilities
What not dieting has allowed me to do is:
- eat the proper amount of food for my body
- eat a well balanced diet nutrient wise
- to really connect with how I’m feeling
- and to not correlate the number on the scale to my success and overall health
Some days I feel on top of the world! I trust the things I’ve been taught since birth about nutrition, I eat when I’m hungry, I stop when I’m satisfied, I enjoy my workouts, and I could care less about the number on the scale.
Other days I feel a loss of control! I doubt that by letting go of restrictive eating and dieting that I’ll be able to lose weight, I push my hunger to the point where I overeat because I am was hungry, I struggle to workout, and I want to hop on the scale every morning to see if my actions from the day before got me closer to a weight that is not meant for my body.
It has been a constant battle to forge ahead and not resort back to my old ways and habits.
One of the most challenging things for me has been letting go of the scale. For me, the scale has always been my measure of my success. It has determine how “good” I’ve been and could either make or break my days. Even if I had had a great week and was feeling healthy, if the number on the scale was higher than my previous weigh-in then I automatically felt like a failure.
My whole life, the movement on the scale, whether up or down, defined my worth, my value, and my success. I mean, how am I going to know whether or not I’ve been good or bad, successful or unsuccessful, if I stop weighing myself?
Even though it is difficult to let go of the scale, I am seeing how detrimental it is to my well-being and my future. The fact that a good week can be completely discounted just because of the number on the scale is disheartening. Society, doctors and all, have made me consumed with a number that in all reality is just a number. Society is who tells me that 230 is obese and that 160 is “the goal”. Society is who taught me that weight gain equals failure and that I should be ashamed of my inability to reach what doctors deem as “healthy”.
As hard as it has been to let go of the scale, the thought of letting go and learning to connect with how I feel, how my clothes are fitting, and the effort I am putting into my self-care is exhilarating. To weigh what I weigh, regardless of what it says on the scale, and to be happy, is my ultimate goal!
That may mean 210, it may mean 190, it may mean 220, or it may mean 230, I honestly don’t know where my body wants to me. But what I do know is that by letting go of dieting, learning to fuel my body properly, and not being consumed by the number on the scale, I can reach a place of bliss and true freedom in MY body!
