I was once hesitant to share personal experiences regarding my struggles with weight loss, training and nutrition. However, because of my experiences I can truly understand what people with struggles like mine are going through. I want to discuss the scale mindset with you today because it’s a common topic with all of our students at TFW Mahopac.
Letting go of the SCALE mindset is something I’ve battled for years.
[responsive_video type=’youtube’ hide_related=’1′ hide_logo=’1′ hide_controls=’0′ hide_title=’1′ hide_fullscreen=’0′ autoplay=’0′]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGIUvx5MgpU[/responsive_video]
• Are your workouts fueled by the “I want to lose weight and look better” mindset?
• Are your daily food choices driven by thoughts like “I shouldn’t eat that” or “that will just make me fat”?
• Are you constantly worried about your total calories every day? Do you restrict even healthy foods?
• Do you weigh yourself on a daily basis, or several times per week, in hopes of seeing a smaller number on the scale?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then let me explain to you why you can benefit from changing the scale mindset.
In the past I would’ve answered “yes” to many of those questions on a daily basis. I’m sure many of you do.
This scale mindset takes over your mind.
In the past it was tough for me to just have a fun workout. Every workout I did was a beat down; I never missed a day. Even when I was tired, sore and exhausted, I would still train to my limit and then some! I would weight train, HIIT train and run long distances.
Every time I sat down to eat I thought about how it would affect my physical appearance. I could never eat something “unclean” without being scared and guilty immediately afterwards, and sometimes the next day.
It’s Time to Change Your Mindset:
First and for most, don’t “hate” yourself for how you look right now!
I get it. It’s difficult when you’re unhappy and uncomfortable with yourself. But isn’t it exhausting focusing on the scale and that damn number every day?
Will you do this for the rest of your life?
I was obsessed.
What happened was I got tired of it all and began to change my mindset. I looked inside and asked myself these questions. Why did I feel the need to lose weight?
What would weight loss achieve?
Would I be happy if I reached my goal?
At TFW Mahopac we have a large population of women trying to bring out their “Warrior Within” every day. I often hear statements like, “I just need to lose 10lbs to be at my goal weight; then I’ll be happy.” But many times when they reach that “goal weight”, they are still not satisfied. Being a fitness professional and someone that works in the weight loss space, I began to notice many people set lofty goals, put incredible amounts of stress, time and effort toward those goals only to be disappointed. In some cases that leads to quitting.
When will we start to accept ourselves?
I’m what you call a perfectionist. I was like that playing sports at Mahopac HS, and in college at C.W. Post. I have the same attitude when it comes to my fitness and nutrition goals.
Once I realized how much I was obsessing about the scale every day, I decided to make some changes to my training and mindset.
Here are 5 changes I made:
1. I stopped getting on the scale every day. Why? Because I was making myself crazy over a number that no one sees! Who cares?!
2. I stopped comparing myself to people.
3. I decreased my long distance running and added more strength training and sprints.
4. I started to appreciate myself and focused on the things I do well instead focusing on what I hate about myself and my body.
5. I found my direction or in TFW terms “My Compass” and set positive attainable goals.
Once I stopped worrying about the scale, started focusing on taking one day at a time and getting stronger, my obsessive thoughts slowly disappeared. I started to enjoy the entire process of training. I wasn’t worried about burning calories, weighing myself, or having to run 100 miles because I had a piece of cake at a dinner party. When I took on that mindset, my body changed drastically over the next several months. I think part of the reason was that I wasn’t stressed out all the time!
Have you been “beating yourself up”? Are you obsessed over the scale?
You can fix this!
Going forward I challenge you to be conscious of your mindset, and how you treat yourself. How do you talk to yourself when you’re trying on clothes? What do you say when you see yourself in pictures? Do you have more of a positive or negative self-image? Take control of these thoughts and address them!
Embrace the journey and start to appreciate yourself, you are the only one that can control how you feel.
Would you like to find out more about how TFW Mahopac helps people with weight loss, motivation and accountability? Fill out the form below and one of our qualified coaches will be in touch right away!
