It’s Time to be Kinder (to yourself!)
Thoughts on Our Obsession with the Number on the Scales
Coach Rosie
I have been SO guilty of this in the past. I’m not saying I’m totally over it now. But women are just SO hard on themselves about weight. About the numbers on the scales. It really upset me when I see how much the ladies at Curves criticise themselves when we do Coaching and Accountability. I was doing another lady’s measurements last month and glanced up to see the ladies waiting and they both looked so sad. So ready to criticise and slate themselves.
Why do we do this? Many of us have been brought up with the constant “weight” articles. The ones that immediately arrive in your magazines or newspaper supplements ready for your summer “beach body” or after Christmas. Years ago, no sooner had we got past the Queen’s speech than the Slimfast adverts would start.
It’s been drilled into us. The Rosemary Conley fat free diet, cabbage soup diet, 5:2 fasting diet, Atkins diet. The list goes on and on and we buy the books, and we read all the success stories. We seem to believe that if we weigh less, everything will be perfect, and we will be happy. We look at someone who is “thin” (in our eyes) and think they must be healthy, and they certainly MUST be happy!
The number of ladies that do their Coaching & Accountability each month with their Coach and immediately start to make excuses that they’ve been out for the weekend or they’ve had a party or they’ve been on holiday and over indulged. IT ISN’T A CRIME!! You’re not going to do this every day for the whole month. You’ve just had a special occasion, and you want to enjoy it. How hard on your families if you are miserable and sitting eating a salad when they’re all enjoying fish and chips! If you’re constantly going on about your weight and how much you’re putting on.
Seriously ladies. Do you EVER hear your husband, dad, brother, mate ever say “I’d better not have that pudding, I’ve had a big dinner?!” or “I’ll just have a drink, no cake!”. Why do we do it? Why do we feel so guilty?
I’m not saying we “can’t” celebrate losing weight if that’s what we really want and what we’re working for. But it doesn’t mean you’re a bad person if you HAVEN’T lost weight, or you’ve put a few pounds on. You’re still the SAME person.
I don’t really know what the answer is here because that number on the scales is SO important to you. Even if you’ve lost inches. Even if your body fat is down. Even if you’ve had the best workouts all month and you are feeling absolutely blooming fantastic and SO much stronger. That number on the scales is the thing you go on about.
I have two daughters, and I couldn’t tell you how much they weigh. They are in their thirties, and they NEVER go on about weight. I really hope this next generation are a lot “kinder” to themselves than many of us are.
Years ago, I was constantly saying I would watch what I eat but I was like a hamster on a Sunday night! Seriously! I stored up! I knew that come Monday I was going to start to eat healthy and cut right down on everything so I ate everything I could on a Sunday night.
I’d go in the kitchen and have a biscuit or something. At the end of the day who was I cheating? Ian didn’t care what I ate and when. But if I ate it in the kitchen, it was like I wasn’t eating it! Absolutely ridiculous but I know I’m not the only one. Who was I cheating? Myself!
My friend said to me once that when I looked in the mirror, I saw a different person to the one she saw. I believe she was right. The person looking back at me was a lot bigger than the one she saw.
Please please be kinder to yourselves. We are here to support you all the way and if you want to lose weight, we will help you do this BUT it isn’t the be all and end all to everything and it doesn’t solve every problem you have in your lives. It can make you very depressed and miserable if you are constantly weighing yourself and going out for coffees with friends where you decline cakes all the time. Life is very short. We so need to get our heads round this. xxx
That’s me! We practice what we preach here at Curves so we get our Coaching & Accountability done too 💜
Checking ALL the numbers for a balanced view so it’s not just about my weight - you can see I still get anxious about it but my Curves Coaches keep my mind focused on what’s important, my health 💜