It’s never as bad as you think…
What am I talking about? Getting on the scales of course!
If they fill you dread then I’ll admit that the experience of being weighed may meet all your (terrible) expectations BUT, and you’ll have to bear with me here, it’s not the number that’s the problem.
Let me explain.
I’ve been weighing and measuring women for 15 years now. For the last year we’ve been weighing and measuring between 100 and 170 women EACH MONTH. That’s a LOT of numbers, and that means I’ve probably measured literally thousands of women and one thing I can tell you with absolute certainty is, I have never measured one where it was as bad as she thought.
Now, you might like to think you’ll be the first, but I am confident enough to highly doubt it. In fact, it’s probably statistically impossible by now. Also, I’m not suggesting that thinking the worst is a strategy to not be disappointed, because that’s not what’s going here (well, not entirely).
Don’t get me wrong, I have dealt with plenty of disappointment when weighing and measuring members, sometimes devastatingly so. So, while that’s not what I’m talking about here let’s stick with it and talk about it because the disappointment never came from someone “doing badly”, it always came due to unrealistic expectations and those are borne from diet culture. Diet culture is pre-determined to set you up for disappointment – it keeps a huge economy turning if women are perpetually disappointed in themselves. It keeps us quiet, it keeps us striving to take up less space, to be less of a nuisance and generally think badly of ourselves and sometimes even each other, but especially ourselves.
Now back to the “it’s never as bad as you think it’s going to be” – that too I lay at the door of diet culture. What it does you see is not only encourage us to set unreasonable expectations, it trains us to believe that if we behave in certain ways, and eat certain foods prepared in certain ways that we will deserve to get results, or, more likely not deserve it. After a while we come to believe there’s something wrong with us, and when we believe that, we are sure that anything we do is wrong, and therefore we are expanding with each breath we take.
All of which is nonsense of course. That doesn’t change decades of conditioning that can make us flinch at the sight of a set of scales. Or mean that we look in a mirror and compare ourselves unfavourably to someone with the exact same measurements as us (but we’re fatter right? Or she has nicer legs? Or maybe she’s just lovely, and that makes us less and her perfect.)
What this boils down to is just how important it can (sometimes) be to get weighed and measured. If you are not having it done because it sends your mindset into oblivion or scuttling for the larder (eating in the dark, standing up or in your car) then do goals only.
If you are only not doing it because you believe it will terrible, I highly encourage you to do it anyway. Start to build a relationship with your body and its numbers that encourage a belief that we are all different, we are all OK and you are too. We’ll keep you safe, if you give us the chance.
“Gentle Coaching &Accountability”
If the numbers put you in a cold sweat then ask us for a “Gentle C&A” – this means no measures. Because the secret to anything is what goes on in your mind. So, if measures send you into a spiral of over-thinking, blame, guilt, and shame then don’t do it.
If you would like to lose weight and are OK tracking measures, then that’s OK, but for so many women the measures can be a trigger and they don’t put them in a good place.
If that’s you, ask us for a “Gentle C&A” – we’ll know what you mean. Or just say goals only. We’re not in the ritual humiliation business. We’re in the Coaching business, we’re here to help you think in a way that means you can make changes that benefit you.
All our Coaches are trained to make sure your Coaching & Accountability is a positive and uplifting experience - we’re here to celebrate your achievements (no matter how small) and set you up for success in the coming month - Coach Patience is ready to measure member Pat (part of our community since 2008)