2666: [Part 2] Weight Tracker: Why I Ditched the Scale For Good (and You Can, Too) by Crystal Karges on Body Acceptance

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Have you ever noticed how a calm mind can really set the stage for a good night's sleep?

[00:00:04] [SPEAKER_00]: That's the idea behind our new podcast, Good Sleep.

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Greg, our host from Optimal Relationships Daily, is here to help ease you into a peaceful night's

[00:00:13] [SPEAKER_00]: rest with some positive affirmations. And these affirmations aren't just comforting

[00:00:18] [SPEAKER_00]: they can help ease anxiety and nurture positive thoughts, setting you up for true, good sleep.

[00:00:24] [SPEAKER_00]: So, press play on Good Sleep tonight because a good tomorrow starts with a Good Night's sleep.

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Just search for Good Sleep in your podcast app and be sure to pick the one from Optimal Living Daily.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: This is Optimal Health Daily episode 2666, Weight Tracker, Why I Ditched The Scale For Good and You Can, Too

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: Part 2 by Crystal Karges of CrystalCarges.com and I'm Dr. Neal, your very own personal narrator.

[00:00:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Hey there and welcome back to Optimal Health Daily, where I simply read you from the best

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: health and fitness blogs, always with permission from the sites and always with a bit of my commentary

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: at the end. Now today's post is Part 2 from Yesterday. So, if you're new here or skipping around,

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode 1. That was episode 1618. But, if you're all caught up,

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure you're excited to hear Part 2, so let's get to it and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Weight Tracker, Why I Ditched The Scale For Good and You Can, Too Part 2 by CrystalCarges of

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: CrystalCarges.com. While getting rid of my scale didn't magically heal my relationship with food

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: in my body overnight, it was a starting point that shifted the tide in a new direction.

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_00]: It changed the narrative of my brain that my weight was no longer defining my worth.

[00:01:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Nor could it dictate how or what I would feed my body.

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It allowed me to turn down some of that,

[00:01:55] [SPEAKER_00]: deafening external noise, so I could actually pay attention to what my body was needing

[00:02:00] [SPEAKER_00]: and come home to myself. It created the momentum I needed to move forward toward healing

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: and trust in my body once more. To this day, we don't own a scale or have one in our home.

[00:02:12] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the last time I was weighed was when my partner and I were expecting, and even then,

[00:02:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I committed to doing blind weights at the doctor's office, so it was not to become preoccupied

[00:02:21] [SPEAKER_00]: with the pregnancy weight tracker. It is possible to break free from the pregnancy weight gain

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: tracker so you can focus on doing what's most important to keep you and your baby healthy and safe

[00:02:30] [SPEAKER_00]: during pregnancy. And FYI, You Can opt out of being weighed during pregnancy without jeopardizing

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: your health and safety. There are many other markers your providers can use to assess your health

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: outside of being weighed. It has been so liberating to reclaim life from the scale and to learn

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: to live in alignment with my body and values, not fighting against them. Ultimately, I'm hopeful

[00:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: that as my children grow up, they will be empowered to trust their bodies in the same way.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I know they'll inevitably encounter diet culture in various ways and places, but I'm hopeful

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: the alliance they've built with their bodies will keep them impermeable to the lure and

[00:03:10] [SPEAKER_00]: plays of diet culture. Reclaming your life from the scale. If you too want to reclaim your life

[00:03:17] [SPEAKER_00]: from diet culture and heal your relationship with food and your body, I want to encourage

[00:03:22] [SPEAKER_00]: you to consider the role your scale plays in your life. Do you find yourself needing to step

[00:03:28] [SPEAKER_00]: on it frequently? Do you need it as a reassurance or guidance? Does it dictate the course of your

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: day including how you feel about your body and what you decide to eat? Let me tell you something,

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: it doesn't have to control you anymore. It doesn't have to take up any more of your precious

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: mental space or energy. As a recovered scale addict, I can tell you with complete assurance that

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: giving up your scale will be the best thing you ever did for yourself. Will it feel strange at first?

[00:03:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Yes. Is it possible to live without it? Also yes. Not just live but thrive and take a powerful

[00:04:04] [SPEAKER_00]: step forward in reclaiming your life from diet culture. It starts with awareness. Understanding

[00:04:10] [SPEAKER_00]: the role your scale may be playing in your life and the power it may have over you.

[00:04:15] [SPEAKER_00]: Then, it's a matter of acknowledging enough is enough and deciding how you want to get rid of your

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: scale. Do you want to throw it out with trash? Smash it to smithereens with the sledge hammer

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: that could actually be super therapeutic. Remove it from your home and your life and give yourself

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: full permission to start living, eating and being without it. Trust me on this one,

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: you will not regret your decision. And when you're toying with the idea but not sure if you're

[00:04:42] [SPEAKER_00]: ready to let it go, keep your wise in mind as your motivation. Here are just a few reasons why

[00:04:49] [SPEAKER_00]: you would benefit from getting rid of your scale. More mental space to focus on the things that

[00:04:54] [SPEAKER_00]: really matter in your life. More clarity around how to listen to your body, the capacity to

[00:04:59] [SPEAKER_00]: enjoy freedom with food, increase ability to treat yourself with a respect and kindness you deserve.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: The ability to model body respect and kindness to your children and stopping diet culture

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: from entering into another generation. There's no better time than now to take this brave step

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: forward to making peace with food, and your body and reclaiming your life from diet culture.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It starts by creating the change you want to see for your own children. You don't have to wait

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: until you've reached a certain weight or clothing size to break up with your scale. You can do

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: and start enjoying the freedom that comes with separating yourself and your worth from a number.

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Don't I need weight control to be healthy? One of the common pushbacks I get from this idea

[00:05:44] [SPEAKER_00]: of surrendering the scale has to do with weight control for the sake of being healthy.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it necessary to monitor your weight in order to be healthy? While there are many differing

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: opinions about this, I would argue that ongoing weight monitoring is not necessary to maintain

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: health, at least not health in the sense that encompasses all aspects of your well-being,

[00:06:06] [SPEAKER_00]: including physical, emotional, and mental health. Because truly the number on the scale doesn't

[00:06:11] [SPEAKER_00]: reflect anything about you as a person, including the status of your overall health.

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Watering down health to weight alone is a diet culture tactic that keeps people trapped in

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: a narrow view of what really matters. But look at it like this. If weighing yourself and

[00:06:27] [SPEAKER_00]: stressing over your weight is creating more stress and anxiety for you, is that helping your health?

[00:06:33] [SPEAKER_00]: In reality, the stress you might feel around your weight is far worse for your physical and

[00:06:38] [SPEAKER_00]: mental health. So when you think about needing to weigh yourself for health reasons, be sure to keep

[00:06:43] [SPEAKER_00]: the big picture in mind. What do you feel like you're achieving by monitoring your weight?

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: Is it bringing added stress into your life? Are you compromising your mental health

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: in pursuit of your physical health? Remember, there is no health without mental health.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: You no longer need to measure your worth or health by a number on the scale. And by living this

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: out, you will teach your children to do the same. You just listen to part two of the post titled

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Weight Tracker, why I ditched the scale for good and you can too by Crystal Cargas of CrystalCargas.com

[00:07:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and I'll be right back with my commentary. Dr. Neil here for my commentary.

[00:07:24] [SPEAKER_00]: Today's author Crystal made some really strong points about the potential issues with relying on

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: that number on a scale to determine our health status. The other issues that the scale can actually

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: be pretty inaccurate when it comes to measuring body weight. Even though that's its sole job,

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: there are inaccuracies that can occur. For example, if we weigh ourselves wearing different clothes each time,

[00:07:48] [SPEAKER_00]: that's going to give us an inaccurate measure of any changes to our body weight.

[00:07:52] [SPEAKER_00]: This is because our clothes can add up to six pounds to our body weight. And if we

[00:07:57] [SPEAKER_00]: wear ourselves wearing jeans in a sweatshirt one day and shorts in a t-shirt the next,

[00:08:03] [SPEAKER_00]: any changes we see on the scale could be just because of the change in clothes. That's why

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: it's recommended we always wear ourselves wearing the same clothes or wearing just our birthday suits.

[00:08:15] [SPEAKER_00]: What if we wear ourselves at different times each day? If we weigh in the morning one day

[00:08:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and then wear ourselves in the evening another, any differences on the scale could be due to the

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: fact that we weighed ourselves on an empty stomach after having used the bathroom like in the morning.

[00:08:31] [SPEAKER_00]: And then the next time after dinner like when we wear ourselves in the evening. These are just

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: some of the reasons the number on the scale could be inaccurate. And that's why we can't let it

[00:08:40] [SPEAKER_00]: make our break us and the pursuit of our goals. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for

[00:08:45] [SPEAKER_00]: listening every day. I hope you have a great rest of your day and I'll see you back here tomorrow

[00:08:49] [SPEAKER_00]: with your optimal life awaits.