3 Powerful Reasons to Ditch Your Scales

I’m not a fan of scales. In fact, I often encourage my clients to get rid of them altogether.

If you’re trying to move away from dieting and build a healthier relationship with food, staying emotionally tied to a number on the scales can make recovery much harder.

Unfortunately, diet culture has convinced many of us that weighing ourselves regularly is normal, healthy, or even necessary.

But when someone comes to me for help with binge eating, emotional eating, or disordered eating, one of the first things we often talk about is how weighing themselves may actually be keeping them stuck.

For many, the scales become far more than a measuring tool. That number can determine mood, self-esteem, eating behaviours, and body image for the entire day.

Those who seek my help describe having obsessive thoughts about food, weight, and their body. From morning to night, these thoughts do not stop.

The process of weighing themselves exacerbates this, crowding their mental space so there's room for nothing else. Is this the same for you?

Stepping on the scales dictates how you "should" feel that day. Lose a pound, and you're euphoric; gain a pound the next day, and it can trigger a binge, food restriction, low mood, and nasty, critical inner thoughts about yourself and your body, convincing you that you've failed or are a bad person.

Moreover, our bodies naturally fluctuate in weight from day to day. A 2017 study in the journal of Physiological Reports found that the average body weight of adults fluctuates between 2.2 and 4.4 lb over a few days, in individuals who are making no effort to lose or gain weight.

This is due to many factors, and rarely to do with how much and what we eat. The researchers found that weight fluctuations were primarily in fat-free mass, with water being its main component.

If you are experiencing slight fluctuations in weight, as I would expect, think about what it will do to your mindset if you are weighing yourself regularly.

If you are someone who leads their life based on that number on the scales, consider what that number really means.

Where did your ‘ideal’ weight come from?

Are you allowing that number to stop you from leading the life you want?

I explore this in more depth in my best-selling book, The Binge Freedom Method™where I guide readers through practical strategies to build a more compassionate and balanced relationship with food and body image. When we become overly focused on weight, it can shape our thoughts, emotions, and eating behaviours in ways that keep us disconnected from ourselves.

Recognising this is often an important step towards healing your relationship with food and body.

This is something I work on closely with clients, and time and time again, I’ve seen how transformative it can be. Book a complimentary call HERE to find out more