I read this article today in the Huffington Post about the efficacy of the bathroom scale in weight loss. According to the article, studies have shown that people who weigh themselves daily lose more weight than those who weigh themselves weekly. My question is at what price? Yes, you may lose more weight but at the cost of mental well-being and loving yourself and your body just as it is?
For me personally daily weigh-ins sent me on an emotional roller-coaster. One day happy and excited for the weight loss, the next day questioning everything I had eaten and wondering what I had done wrong to gain half a pound. It was only after I started using yogic philosophy of love for self, compassion and gratitude towards myself, that I was able to lose the weight for good and keep it off. Loving my body just as it is and all of its perfections and imperfections was what got me over the hump of yo-yo dieting and on the road to a consistent healthy weight.
If you have resolved to lose weight this year, take some time to do the hard work so you can keep the weight off for good.
The Hard work:
1. Learn to love your self and your body, just as it is
2. Take the time to figure out the diet and lifestyle choices that work for you as an individual. You are not an off-the-shelf person, so why try to follow a diet off-the-shelf
3. Learn to say Yes and No. Yes to the joy you want to feel in your life through career, family, and community. No to the things that don’t bring you joy, the things you do out of obligation lead to feelings of resentment and then you are neither helping yourself nor others.
There are many tools and techniques to losing weight, increasing energy and preventing disease. The tools and techniques for you, as an individual, are going to be two or three done consistently. Weighing daily may even be the right tool for you. According to the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, no adverse effects were found with daily weighing. Which goes to show what works for one individual may not work for another.
Calorie counters and tracking devices have been controversial over the years, depending on your personality, tracking may or may not be the tool for you. Wellocracy, a website affiliated with Brigham and Women’s and Massachusetts General Hospitals, helps to find the right tracking device for you based on your personality and motivational style.
There are lots of ways to get healthy and stay healthy, figuring out your way takes some time and doing the ‘hard work’ but it is well worth it to be free of the weight loss/gain cycle forever.
Make an appointment today to discuss your health goals and start you on your path to freedom from the weight loss/gain cycle.