I spend a lot of time listening to women struggling to live a healthy lifestyle, and whilst I dislike to package any of my work as “weight loss”, for many of my clients, it is their primary goal, to live slim and healthy, to feel good in their body and in general, just be happy.
The reason I dislike calling it weight loss, is because there is so much more to losing weight than the food we eat. And yet that is where so many women get stuck. They get obsessed about every bite, scared to sit down and eat properly and paranoid about what the food will do to them. Often racked with guilt and unhappiness, they take no joy in eating and yet continue to binge in a cycle of negative behaviours, negative thoughts and negative feelings. Too often we create food anxiety which then spirals into other parts of our life.
And, I’ve been one of those women at times. Paranoid about what I’m eating, yet unable to stop, hiding from the scales, hiding from mirrors, hiding even from myself! And over the years I’ve learned to fall in love with myself and love, accept and nourish my body in positive ways. I am far from perfect, but continue to believe I will always be a work in progress, and getting better each day. That doesn’t mean I’m thinner, or fitter than ever, but simply that I care about my wellbeing, much, much more than I ever did in my past.
After spending so many years helping women to change their habits, patterns and beliefs about themselves I’ve learned a lot about peoples attitudes to weight loss. I’ve worked with women in all different sizes, shapes, ages and fitness levels, and I’ve unfortunately seen the same insecurities pop up time and time again.
And in many ways, it's a shame, because I see beautiful, loving, kind, generous and fun women with a wealth of knowledge and range of experiences and skills, who have spent most of their life hating their body.
That’s a whole lifetime believing they didn’t have it in them to eat healthily without monitoring their food, a lifetime of wishing they were someone else, a lifetime of trying to be “normal”.
It’s been my privilege to have met these incredible women and be part of their journey as they begin their transformation from self-loathing to self-love and honoured to help them through Hypnosis and Coaching to change their thought patterns and subconscious beliefs.
But today I want to share some knowledge that you may find useful on your own transformation. It’s actually one of the biggest mind set blocks and behaviours that stop us from losing weight at all. I’ve even heard this shared as good advice in motivational groups and has been said with the best intentions.
One of the most damaging behaviours I see, is weighing yourself daily. And we have all done it, and we have all heard it right? Weigh yourself at the same time of day each time to get an accurate result, or weekly and check in. But do you know what I think? Put away the scales. Nothing will give you a more accurate assessment of your body than looking in the mirror. The clients with the highest anxiety I meet, weigh themselves regularly, and in most cases, it’s every day.
So if you want to change your mind set to losing weight then learn to let go of the number that appears. That number will NEVER represent if your energy levels are higher, it will NOT tell you if emotionally you are happier now you have begun eating better, and it will NOT take into account what’s really going on in your body.
Our weight can fluctuate daily, depending on so many factors, including hormonal changes during the month, water retention and even the weather. So your scales will not determine your overall health, it is merely a snap shot of that moment.
I’m not suggesting that by leaving the scales alone, you ignore your weight or health, I am suggesting however that you find a different way to evaluate yourself. And as I mentioned, the best way is looking in the mirror and being honest with yourself. Completely honest and without comparing yourself to other people’s standards.
Continually weighing ourselves is just one of the ways we increase our anxiety levels, and impede our weight loss. How many times have you stepped on the scales to see it hasn’t moved at all, or worse gone up! Yet you’ve tried so hard? It’s simply demoralising. And instead of feeling that burst of motivation to try harder we simply feel like giving in? Because what’s the point of trying if nothing has work? Yes, I’ve done it all too.
For many people giving up the daily or weekly weigh in, is hard, because we have for a long time judged ourselves by that number. But really what does it represent? So I ask you to just try it. If you regularly weigh yourself, then for the next 8 weeks put away the scales. Many of the people I’ve worked with, found it liberating, to be free from a habit that brought no joy.
Remember that trying to determine if there is change after a week or two is not going to give a real reflection of yourself or new behaviours. Therefor consistency really is the key to healthy living.
When we are in a place of deep love and acceptance of ourselves, we choose to treat our bodies with care and respect, that includes the kind of food and drink we put in our bodies, the activities we choose to participate in, even the people we share our time with. So when we begin changing our thoughts, we change our patterns and behaviours.
When we release our mind from the fear of the dreaded “weigh in” we are releasing ourselves from that cycle of behaviour. When we open ourselves to a new belief about weighing ourselves, we also open our possibilities to many greater things.
Will you take the challenge? And of course let me know how you get on,
Love & Light Jennifer x
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