In May of 2022 I started eating “intuitively.” For the better part of twenty years I had cycled between different eating regimens looking for the Elusive Golden Key of Nutritional Truth that would unlock Clear Skin and Perfect Weight. I thought if I just tried hard enough I’d find the right combination of foods and exercise that would propel me into this utopia in which I would dwell pleasantly for approximately forever.
It didn’t exactly work out that way.
As you may have learned in your own life, there is rarely a perfect solution to most problems and, sometimes, our remedy of choice does more harm than good.
That is a very short summary of my life-long battle with body image, weight fluctuations, and disordered eating.
But in 2022, after reading The F*ck It Diet, I changed my ways. Overnight. I stopped intermittent fasting, except when I felt like it. If I wasn’t hungry, I didn’t eat. If I was hungry, I ate. Sometimes I was hungry an hour after a meal. I ate. I didn’t avoid specific foods, didn’t push myself to eat only kale and rice cakes.
And I loved it. I loved letting my body take charge. I loved not vilifying foods. I loved realizing that left to its own devices my body knew what to do. Sometimes I craved chips or chocolate because I was having a bad day and instead of heaping guilt on myself, I allowed myself the joy and gift of eating to soothe both body and soul. I also loved realizing that, for the most part, my body craved deeply nutritious things. Even though I could eat ice cream for breakfast, lunch, and supper, I never had any desire to.
Around the same point, I decided to stop weighing myself. For years I had weighed myself daily, and for a while it was no problem. It served me well in a certain period of my life. But then it stopped serving me and became a master. It was addictive and each day my mood hung in a precarious balance based on the bright red number blinking back at me from between my feet.
Last year when I went to the hospital for surgery I looked away while they weighed me to calculate anesthetic meds. I was hardcore about weight ambivalence.
But I have gained weight with intuitive eating. I could tell based on how my clothes were fitting. And while I told myself everything was okay and that I wasn’t setting any specific weight goals for 2024, my old brain hijacked my new brain and marched me over to the scale TWICE in the first week of January.
And I wasn’t ready for it.
The number is irrelevant, it’s the feelings it evokes. Frustration and failure. Helplessness. Fear. Disgust. Elation. Power. Success.
All this over a number. And the subtlest of changes in a number. Down 0.2 lbs. Where is my marching band? Up 0.2lbs – why even bother starting the day?
How did this one metric of health become a loaded suicide vest strapped to our feet?
I wasn’t ready and I don’t need to be ready. So I decided to state publicly that my intention for 2024 (and hopefully beyond) is to avoid the scale. It’s not about the number, it’s about me and my reactions. But I don’t need to work hard to overcome that anxiety. I can just avoid the source of the anxiety! I can eat well and exercise in ways that feel good…and I can buy pants one size larger. This is okay. It doesn’t make me a failure. It doesn’t mean I’m not living healthfully. It just means I’m choosing to live more comfortably.
I also want to be more intentional about respecting what my body has done (birthed two kids!! carried me through almost four decades of life) and can do (thirty days of yoga!!).
Good work body. Gold stars to you.
We all battle unique weight/body image and food demons and I want to acknowledge that since we are all unique individuals, different things work for different people. If checking in with the scale is a net positive in your life, Long Live the Scale. For me, it isn’t. Hence cutting it out in 2024.
I considered turning off the comments to this post as it is a polarizing and potentially triggering topic. I decided to leave comments open since I know so much wonderful community happens in that space; if you feel inclined to chime in, let’s all season our words with grace and gentleness and love!
Header photo by Pickled Stardust on Unsplash
J
I feel this so much. I don’t weigh myself anymore either, though I haven’t been able to look away at the doctor’s office. I should. I have put off appointments before in the hopes that I might lose a few pounds before being weighed. That’s a sad statement if ever I heard one.
I come from a long line of dieters and weight obsessives. I try to not pass it on to my daughter, but whether from me or from society or both, she suffers from it as well. I can think of one woman I know in my entire life with zero food/weight issues (that I am aware of). My sister. And her twin went through an eating disorder, so there’s no promises anywhere.
Also, yay to 30 days of yoga! I was feeling my abs, was glad for a ‘rest day’ today. 🙂
Elisabeth
It’s the rare exception to be someone who doesn’t obsess or struggle in some way with a relationship to food and body image. It’s sad, but so overwhelmingly pervasive. Yet, somehow, we still feel isolated? Like we’re the only ones in our bubble struggling with some metric. In reality, almost everyone around us is struggling too.
I was also feeling my abs! Yikes they were sore after “Centre.” The rest day felt amazing and it’s actually one of my Happy Things for this Friday.
Sara
Oh, Elisabeth. I can only imagine the feelings that you experienced typing this post, what bravery. It’s crazy the power I’ve given the scale on countless occasions and the way it has ruined my day/week/month, or it’s impact on my sense of self-worth. I don’t know what possessed me, but a couple of years ago I was at a friend’s house and they had a scale–I had dropped the last one I owned off at the door of my nutritionist after strong urging from my therapist at the time–and I have no idea what possessed me, but I got on without almost thinking. And thus began the spiral. Even though objectively it was the healthiest I had ever been.
I can’t vow I won’t some days feel uncomfortable in my own skin, or that loving this body that God has gifted me and using it in service of others rather than a slave to the scale, isn’t the goal of my lifetime, but I can vow never to get on a scale (forward facing) of my own accord. In it with you…
Elisabeth
It can so easily come to play a disproportionate role in our lives – and there is almost a “siren song” to the scale which I think most women have experienced. It has been my task master, but I can’t help but go back for punishment and new marching orders.
“Health” is so wrapped up in “weight” and while there can be correlations between the two, rarely to the degree we assign them.
Two things you wrote stood out. First, self-worth. Sometimes I’ve felt like I don’t deserve to take up the space. I’m straight-sized and look relatively healthy from afar. And yet I feel like my weight should eliminate me from functioning in society someway when I can’t find a pair of pants that fit right? (Obviously these are realistic considerations, but just gut reactions I’ve felt in my core).
And also, that these bodies are a gift. For me, I know a huge step is recognizing that God gave me this body! I want to take care of it so I can serve Him by loving others. And part of taking care of it, is NOT giving the scale/my weight so much power in my life.
A
This is my first comment ever but wanted to say I am right there with you. I switched to intuitive eating, I saw so many benefits, AND I gained some weight (probably the weight I should have been at all along if I hadn’t been under eating my whole life!). I had a similar experience of weighing myself recently and realizing nope, this is not for me right now. I did have to buy larger clothes and it was mentally so fraught but it’s actually been… fine! We deserve to have clothes that fit and make us feel good. We don’t exist just to fit into some arbitrary size.
Thank you for your honesty and vulnerability. I’m so glad you’ve found something that works for you. As well, what an amazing example you are setting for your children – they are definitely noticing and absorbing your relationship to your body and food on some level. All best wishes to you on this journey!
Elisabeth
Hi A, thanks for adding your voice to this conversation <3
Intuitive eating has been life-changing, but there are still scars from my old patterns that can rear their ugly heads.
I bought a pair of pants this weekend in a size larger and it's...so much more comfortable!
I am very conscious about my kids, especially having a tween daughter. I started dieting when I was 11, and I want to avoid those behaviours in the next generation because so many of us can attest to the pain it causes...
Nicole MacPherson
I understand this so well. I stopped weighing myself in August 2020 and have always looked away at the doctor’s office. It just is unhealthy mentally for me to know my weight. It just is. Some people can look at the scale in a dispassionate way but I cannot. If the scale was down or neutral, I would be in a state of stress to keep it that way, if the scale was up I would be in a state of stress to get it to come down. My body has certainly changed since August 2020 but I’m in perimenopause, and of course it is going to change. I’m at the point now where I am very happy with my body BUT I am never going to know my weight again (at least voluntarily).
Diet culture is everywhere, and it is so insidious. We are taught that it is better to be in a smaller body basically from birth. It is terrible, it is misogynistic, and we are all affected by it. It takes a LOT of work to unlearn lessons that have been drilled into us from all directions for our entire lives.
As soon as I saw the title of this, I literally gasped out loud. Because I would never be ready to step on the scale again. xoxoxoxoxo
Elisabeth
I actually thought of you immediately when I weighed myself and thought: Nicole would tell me NOT TO DO THIS. And I shouldn’t have done it. But maybe also having that reaction was what I needed to realize I really need to sever that chord again. I’m not saying it has to be forever, but maybe it will be.
AND YES! When the weight is down, I would feel jubilant, but then also anxious about needing to keep that number down. When you’re “down” there is nowhere to go but “up.” The scale used to be far more neutral for me, but it isn’t anymore and so I need to take charge and make intentional choices that reflect that mental reality.
Joy
Thank you for sharing this. I rarely get on the scale anymore and, like a previous commenter, I have avoided doctors because of weight more than once. I was embarrassed and afraid of getting scolded. So sad.
Now I try to eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, and have stopped obsessing over the scale. I decided that good health was more important than a random number. And I went to the doctor, who encouraged and supported me (and then signed me up for several baseline tests I plan to follow through on in 2024).
Here’s to good health in 2024.
Elisabeth
Yes – here’s to good health in 2024, both mentally and physically! And may we revel in what amazing things our bodies can do, regardless of size and weight!
Beckett @ Birchwood Pie
There have been times in my life when it was useful to weigh myself every day. The last few years have not been one of them. I’m experimenting with weighing myself once a week so that I can hopefully get a downward trend going, but I’m not going to lose sleep over it.
When data isn’t useful there’s no reason to collect it.
Elisabeth
It’s all about finding what works. (For a few years, the scale didn’t really impact me much and I could almost see the number as an impartial observer – how?! – but that is definitely NOT the case now.) It’s so easy to compare what someone else does and think it should automatically work for us, too. Just like clothes – just because someone says One Size Fits All doesn’t mean that translates well across a spectrum of individuals.
I’m so glad you’ve found a rhythm that works well for you – gold stars and cheers to good health in 2024.
Lindsay
Oh, Elisabeth, thank you for sharing this hard-learned lesson. Weight and size and eating and diet (either the technical “what you eat” or the weight loss specific approach) are all so fraught with emotional landmines; it’s hard enough to know where to step for ourselves, much less how to navigate in conversation with others.
I am incredibly glad you set the boundary that will take this anxiety away and are exploring ways to respect your body and treat it well on your own terms <3 As you know, I've been mucking my way through thoughts on some of this a lot lately and none of it is easy without be honest with yourself about what you hold true and where your relationship with body and self sits (which can change so rapidly with so many quiet and loud variables in life)….
Elisabeth
Yes to all of this; and landmines is such a great description. Everything can seem to be going well/seem neutral and calm and then *BAM* a bomb explodes. Such helpful imagery (for me at least!).
All the best with your health goals in 2024!
ccr in MA
It is SO important to figure out what works for you! For me, it’s weighing myself once in a while, but mostly for curiosity, so every few months I think, oh, I should do that again. My weight over the last few years has gone up a little, down a little, but within a range of maybe 10 pounds, so it seems clear to me that this is what my body wants. And yes, that number is higher than what my culturally indoctrinated mind would like it to be, but I’m just going to have to get over that.
Elisabeth
Isn’t this the truth: that number is higher than what my culturally indoctrinated mind would like it to be. It really is a deep indoctrination about health, yes, but mostly value and worth.
I’m so glad you’ve found a solution that works for you!!
Lisa's Yarns
I feel this so much! And I also relate to J’s comment about putting off a doctor appointment because she thought she could lose a few pounds before the next one. I have embarrassingly done that. And that is so stupid. We have a scale in our bathroom but I haven’t stepped on it in several months. I used to not own one and then I bought one. Now I should probably banish it to the basement. Or get rid of it entirely (there are times we like to weigh the boys now that their appointments are less frequent but it’s probably not reason enough to keep one around).
I haven’t struggled to maintain a certain weight in quite some time. In the past, if I was active, my weight was in a certain range. Since having 2 kids and entering my 40s, that is no longer the case. I would have to be very restrictive about what I eat to maintain a certain band of weight. And I’ve determined that it is NOT WORTH IT. I’d rather eat a bowl of ice cream or enjoy some wine and weigh a bit more. I’ve bought new clothes recently and have gotten rid of a lot of things that I will never fit into again. It helps to not see those clothes.
Elisabeth
Yes – to stick to my old “normal” weight took CONSTANT vigilance and work. I just don’t have the mental headspace for that right now, but I definitely succumb to feeling less than because of the number on the scale (not because of anyone around me, just my – correct! – interpretation of most mainstream messages in general society).
I cleared out some old clothes this weekend and it felt really good to not have them as an “option” anymore. They were too tight and uncomfortable…why was I keeping them?
Sarah
I don’t weigh myself anymore either. It feels good, but I have been in such a messed up cycle with food for my whole life, that I don’t really just eat out of hunger. I also like the way I look better when I am thinner. So, even though I am no longer stepping on the scale, I still have a complicated relationship with food and my body. Bah.
Elisabeth
I hear you – my best of all the worlds would be eating intuitively, exercising intuitively AND losing weight. I DO feel better and move more easily when I have a particular weight. But, also, I spent so many years working so hard to maintain that weight which can’t have been my natural set point.
Complicated is a great word to define my relationship to food/body image, too.
Sending you hugs my friend <3
Jenny
Oh yes, DITCH THAT SCALE. I went through years and years of weighing myself every day, and then years of never weighing myself, and standing backwards on the scale at the doctor’s office so I wouldn’t see the number. Now, I get weighed twice a year (when they check my thyroid) and I usually do look at the number. It gives me some anxiety, but overall I can recognize it as a very destructive game that I’m choosing not to play anymore.
The one thing I don’t do is look at myself in a full-length mirror- I don’t even own one. I know that might sound very weird to some people, but I don’t need to be examining my cellulite. I want to focus on what my body can do, instead of what it looks like. I admit it’s a little inconvenient when I want to see how an outfit looks- there have been times where I’m out and catch my reflection in a window or something and think “Oh wow, I won’t be wearing THIS again!” I think I need to find a better solution to this- like, maybe get a mirror and put it in my son’s room so it’s a little out of the way. There is one in my daughter’s room, but it’s attached to the wall and right now she has her dresser in front of it. I know- we’re a mirror-challenged family.
Anyway… great post. And I’m glad you didn’t turn off the comments. I think many, many people can relate.
Elisabeth
Love this, Jenny: overall I can recognize it as a very destructive game that I’m choosing not to play anymore.
It is like a game, but one that’s rigged – there is no way to win. Like Nicole said, if the number is low we feel stress to keep it low. If it’s high, we feel stress to get it lower. How can we ever be satisfied? We’re conditioned, taught, and SOLD on not being happy with our bodies. There is also so much confusion. Eat this way. Nope, wait a minute, don’t do that…eat this way.
What an interesting point about mirrors. I definitely can struggle when I look in a full-length mirror, but I’ve never thought of getting rid of them. Might be a good exercise (ha – pun intended?) to avoid looking at them for a month and see how I feel? Though I did walk out of a public bathroom a few weeks ago WITH TOILET PAPER ON MY SHOE AND I DIDN”T NOTICE AND ABOUT DIED FROM EMBARRASMENT. So, then again, maybe I need to look in full-length mirrors more frequently?
Michelle
Thank you for writing this, Elisabeth! It’s such an important topic. I’m another one who has happily switched to intuitive eating. I was obsessed with food, diet, and weight my whole life until 2021, when I got Melanoma in my eye. There was no amount of diet, healthy eating, fasting, or exercise that could’ve prevented it. I realized that it was all a huge lie created by the diet industry, promising that if I ate what they told me, I’d be healthy forever. I have gained weight with intuitive eating, and sometimes it bothers me, while other times I feel so much better! Isn’t that funny? I don’t ever feel like I need to binge. I don’t feel stressed about food. I also don’t weigh myself. In fact, I threw away the scale after Christmas! The battery had corroded and leaked out, so away it went, and I’m not buying another one.
Elisabeth
I feel like I’m a walking contradiction, too. Some days I am just SO happy with the freedom in eating (after years of being obsessed with food/diet/weight). And then other days I worry I’m killing myself slowly by eating the wrong foods. But you’re so, so right. We can do everything “right” and still have tragedy strike our body. For me it’s about honouring my body – that includes taking care of it by feeding it foods it needs to enjoy life (if I JUST eat chocolate covered almonds for breakfast, lunch, and supper, chances are good my body won’t feel too good)…while also destigmatizing my right to enjoy food. This is one of the great delights of being human and so much of that joy and priviledge is stripped away from us by the vilifying of certain foods or even eating patterns.
I’m so sorry you went through melanoma of the eye. How scary; I’m so glad you’re back to creating so many lovely miniature worlds for us to enjoy <3
Katie
I’m proud of you for making the changes you need! This was timely as I am actually pregnant (yay!) but kind of dreading the whole getting weighed at the doctor/tracking weight gain etc. I didn’t weight myself for my pregnancy with my daughter + the year afterward and it led to so much peace… but, I would occasionally see my weight scribbled on a piece of paper at the doctor’s and that was hard to process that number in front of whatever provider I was seeing.
“As you may have learned in your own life, there is rarely a perfect solution to most problems and, sometimes, our remedy of choice does more harm than good.” I have been pondering this very thing… it seems like I often try to solve a problem and make it worse. For example, I had some minor bladder issues in the past and saw a PT. The whole experience actually made me really obsessive about it and made my symptoms worse. When I quit PT, my symptoms actually improved quite a bit. Obviously I’m not knocking PTs or getting professional help, I’ve just been thinking about this a little differently lately!
Elisabeth
CONGRATS, KATIE! Wow, this is such wonderful news for you and your family. All the best in the coming months.
I had a very hard time after A; I gained A LOT of weight before she arrived and felt really self conscious and bad about my weight despite having just birthed a baby. Over a series of years lost about 70lbs and got down to the weight I was a teen. It didn’t really feel obsessive at the time and weighing myself daily really worked in that stage. But then STAYING at that low weight, especially after another pregnancy, was just…hard. And some very bad habits reentered my life in terms of restriction and guilt/shame. So much guilt and shame about being HUNGRY.
SHU
so applaud you for figuring out what YOU need to support your wellness (mental AND physical!). And glad you felt brave enough to share.
Elisabeth
Thanks! It’s a big topic and it’s okay (great even) that we can all fall at different parts of the spectrum. But it feels good to concretely identify the scale is a net negative for me and cut it out of my life!
Grateful Kae
The scale is SO tricky! I will admit that it can mess with my head too at times, though I really very rarely weigh myself anymore either. I used to much more frequently, but I also found it just too troubling and confusing sometimes. And I am someone who I am sure most people would say is “thin”(and therefore “shouldn’t” ever have any negative thoughts about my body… which is unfortunately just not the case! I think that’s one good argument for not worrying about carrying just a little extra weight. No matter how thin you/we/ “one” is, there’s still always going to be SOMETHING we don’t like our bodies, it seems. So what’s the point of stressing over it? TBH it sort of feels like we can either diet/stress about being the perfect weight + still not be 100% satisfied, or be more relaxed/eat more + still not be 100% satisfied. lol. If either way we’re never satisfied, might as well eat what we want and enjoy it! 😉
When I started strength training more seriously years back, sometimes the scale would bump up, or I would be eating well/ exercising/ feeling good and then the scale would say a higher number and I’d suddenly NOT feel good anymore about where I was at. I just didn’t need that so I basically stopped weighing myself!
Elisabeth
This!!!!: TBH it sort of feels like we can either diet/stress about being the perfect weight + still not be 100% satisfied, or be more relaxed/eat more + still not be 100% satisfied. lol. If either way we’re never satisfied, might as well eat what we want and enjoy it!
Yes…I was NEVER satisfied about where I was at or at the very least stressed about not being able to maintain that weight. There is no winning that way, so letting go and enjoying life and food and exercise is definitely the more viable option, for me at least.
Suzanne
I love this so much, Elisabeth. I want to fold you in the biggest hug. It’s all so complicated and you are doing the right thing for you.
Weight is on my mind because I am about to visit a doctor who commented negatively on my weight last year. It shouldn’t matter, and yet somehow it does. Ugh.
Probably related, I had a dream the other night about my baby putting on weight, and how I was trying so hard to guide her toward being skinnier (!!!!!!) without giving her a complex, and… ugh. (This is also probably related to how much I am fretting recently about her nutrition. She does not have the varied and nutritious diet I want for her and I DO worry that her propensity toward chips and candy will have negative results. And it is my job to help her make nourishing choices — in addition to chips and candy, which I think are a delightful part of life — and I am failing and I don’t know how to push nutrition without giving her a complex.) UGH. It is so complicated.
Wow. I really made this about me, didn’t I? The truth is, I admire your choices so much. You deserve all the gold stars.
Elisabeth
I am so thankful I have never had a doctor mention things about my weight, but ooof – that would send me spiralling. SPIRALLING. Ugh.
It is so hard to watch our kids (especially daughter’s I think) and weigh all the pros/cons of specific ways of eating. How DO we encourage nutritious foods without creating guilt. It is a fine balance and nearly impossible to get “right” I think. I would interject that as a kid I ate a lot of candy and have grown up to not be super into it. Some of these things have to run their course. I support you 100% in whatever you think is the right move with Carla…but, how she eats now is almost certainly not going to be how she eats forever! She’s nurtured and cared for and has a young and resilient body. I grew up on Fruit Loops and have managed to make it through adult life without eating them again (and having no desire to do this)!
coco
Elizabeth, you are such a brave woman to put this post out there and acknowledge publicly a struggle that affects most of woman. We all have body images in some extend and we need to work on it from time to time to not let it become our master. I think your approach is the one I like the most, trust our body that does wonderful things, and not let a number dictates our day.
If weighting yourself triggers things, then don’t weight and aim to fight the fight. That is pragmatic and definitely a way to go.
I don’t weigh myself regularly and I know that my weigh can be affected by so many things. I focus more on my yearly check up to know which aspect of health I need to focus more.
Elisabeth
You’re so right – SO many things trigger weight fluctuations. Lack of sleep, hormonal cycles (I could literally gain TEN POUNDS – TEN POUNDS! – around my period that would be gone a week later.) Focussing on overall health is the way to go for me, too.
Ernie
I’m not one to weigh myself often, but I do look when at the doctor. When I worked out at the gym, I weighed myself regularly and I was often frustrated. That’s so silly. I was healthy. I was working out. I was eating mostly healthy food. It’s a shame that weight is so linked to our perception of self.
I’m happy that there seems to be a shift in mindset, although I get that regardless of that shift – people still fret over weight gain. The shift: there are books like the one you read and there are people who say things like NO FAT SHAMING, etc.
My great aunt used to always comment on our weight. It was a different time. During college, I’d come home and I’d see her at a family party and she’d have to comment. “Looks like you’ve gained some weight.” Sometimes she even took a stab at how much someone gained. I don’t think that’s a socially acceptable conversation anymore.
I love what you said about not vilifying food. Amen. I tend to eat when I’m hungry – partially because I live in fear of leaving the house and not finding GF food wherever I end up. I ended up losing quite a bit of weight because of my struggle with SIBO, but dang – what I wouldn’t do to enjoy life without SIBO. (it is hard to get rid of, so it’s an ongoing issue)
Elisabeth
Weight is SO often linked to our perception of self, our identity, and our worth.
It’s also tricky because muscle weight more than fat, so when we can be making our bodies stronger it can be driving the number on the scale UP.
I just can’t even with someone guessing WEIGHTS! That is so hard and I’m sorry you had to go through those experiences. No one – no one – should be subjected to that.
I’m so sorry about your food sensitivities and other health challenges. That can make food even more fraught since in addition to nutrition and body image you also have to factor in the HUGE component of certain foods making you ill. I hope your current plan forward brings lasting relief and eventual complete healing <3
Joy
Cheering for you, friend! This is incredibly relatable and I’m proud of you for posting it and committing to loving and honoring your body. ❤
Elisabeth
Thanks; I always appreciate your cheering voice <3
Kate
What a transparent and gentle approach to what can be such a fraught topic. One thing that helped me detach from my emotional reaction to the scale was realizing how little my weight actually says about my health and fitness. When we lived in Italy without a car, I dropped two clothing sizes and felt relatively fantastic about my body (I will never look like I did in college, nor should I as a mother pushing 40!). And guess what? I weighed almost exactly the same as before, because I had built muscle mass. On the flip side, I’ve had time periods when my weight has dropped, but I’m spilling out of my clothes because I haven’t been exercising. I do still weigh periodically more out of curiosity than anything else, but this lived experience has really helped me to view the number on the scale as one teeny data point.
I’m also really glad you left this post open to comments. Your community of blog-readers is so thoughtful and gracious — I’ve enjoyed reading all of their insights as well as your own!
Elisabeth
Yes. We’re very hardwired to look at weight as a direct correlation to health and fitness and that simply isn’t the case. I’ve known some VERY thin people that could barely walk to their office from the adjacent parking lot. Thanks for adding this perspective as it’s such an important consideration.
San
Bravo, Elisabeth. I applaud you for breaching this topic and writing so openly about your struggle with body image and weight. It’s not an easy topic to talk about, but so relatable for so many people. I don’t think there are many women who are not in some way or another programmed to care about that number on the scale (although it says NOTHING about how healthy you are, depends on so many factors, AND is really the last thing we should focus on when it comes to our health statistics! It’s just ONE number out of many, many others that are so more important!). I really admire you for taking control back and banning the scale from your life. It is a very healthy mindset to focus on intuitive eating and listening to your body’s cues.
I contemplated not chiming in on this. I think I am one of the rare people who have a very uncomplicated relationship with the scale and I have never been on any sort of diet. Sure, I have watched what I ate at times and focused on eating healthy, I have even tried (intuitively) to lose a couple of pounds, but I have never been a slave to the number on the scale, and I know that I am an exception.
Elisabeth
This is wonderful, San! And I’m glad you chimed in. I think it’s important to remember that some people can/do have uncomplicated relationships with food and the scale. It gives me hope for future generations; I hope that our kids (and our kid’s kids) don’t have some of the same baggage that so many in our generation have inherited. I know one other person who doesn’t struggle with weight/what they eat and I love being around them!