How not to hate your weight…

by Barb Roose

When I wake up in the morning, one of the first things that I do is a 101-point body inspection.

First, I survey the landscape of my face, hair, and neck to see if any new lines, spots, wrinkles or unwanted hair has appeared in places where they should not be.

Then, I turn sideways in the mirror to check whether my midsection looks thicker or thinner than the day before. I zero in on my lower stomach area because if something went wrong overnight, it’s going to appear there first. Next, I’ll swing my hips around to see if my rear end has lowered anymore since the day before. I admit that there is no objective ay to know for sure, but I check anyway.

Next, I’ll swing my hips around to see if my rear end has lowered anymore since the day before. I admit that there is no objective ay to know for sure, but I check anyway.

The final phase of the inspection is the weigh-in. Although many women avoid the scale, I invite this misery by stepping on the scale at least two or three times a week.

There are rules to the weigh-in to make sure the weight is the lowest possible. I believe that my most successful weigh-ins happen first thing in the morning after I’ve used the restroom and, most important when I am naked as a jaybird.

Even though I know how much God loves me, I’ve fought an ugly struggle with the numbers on my bathroom scale.

Why do we judge ourselves by the number on the scale? As much as we know that we shouldn’t, we do, right?

Have you seen this photo before?

Here are five women of varying body sizes and heights, but they all weight the same weight. For those who are nosy, these women weigh 159 pounds.

What’s the point of this photo?  

Scales give us a report, but they don’t give us a right to beat ourselves up.

Friends, I weigh 172 pounds. But my weight doesn’t have anything to do with my gifts, talents or passion. It does impact what size clothes I wear and whether or not I can fit into a kiddie ride at the amusement part. Luckily, both of those situations can be navigated.

So, how do we keep the scale from becoming the gauge of our self-worth?

Friends, keeping track of our weight is important for a variety of physical reasons, but here’s a great tip to keep your scale from imploding your mental or emotional outlook. Did you know that you could write on your scale? I found this picture on Pinterest and you can do it, too. 

My personal strategy …

I got tired of struggling with the scale, so I found a way to sever the scale from my self-esteem.

I’ve decided to tie my weight to my water consumption. I shoot for drinking about ½ of my weight in ounces each day. If the numbers on the scale increase, it’s often because I’ve been eating bad calories instead of drinking more water.

This may not make sense to you, but this shift in focus has worked for me.

Now, when I look at the scale, the number is no longer tied to my self-worth because I’ve tied it to a healthy behavior that I can control.

What do you think of my strategy? Leave a comment below.Do you have a strategy for how you keep the scale from determining your self-worth?

Do you have a strategy for how you keep the scale from determining your self-worth? Share your tips with us and let’s encourage each other!

 

*Excerpts taken from my Enough Already book. It’s on sale and if you order, I’d love to sign it for you. Click here to order.