Is there always a love-hate relationship between the two?
Actually, forget love-hate. Some mornings, it is mostly hate.
You wake up feeling perfectly fine. You slept well. You have energy. Life is good.
Then you step on the bathroom scale.
Up 1.5 pounds.
Suddenly, life is not good.
You start investigating.
Was it that rice yesterday?
The two cookies?
Was it because I ate dinner at 8:30?
Maybe I am retaining water.
Maybe the scale is broken.
We will question everything except the possibility that our body weight simply fluctuates. And then comes the comparison.
Someone loses 15 pounds and posts a beautiful before-and-after picture.
Immediately we want to know:
What did she eat?
Did she stop carbs?
Is she fasting?
How many steps does she walk?
Never mind that she is a completely different human being with a different body, age, lifestyle, genetics and metabolism.
We still think:
If it worked for her, maybe I should do it too.
Women have been taught to pay attention to their weight from a very young age.
Be thin.
Don’t gain too much weight.
Lose the baby weight.
Get back to your pre-pregnancy weight.
Lose weight before the wedding.
Lose weight before vacation.
Apparently, our bodies need to be constantly preparing for an event.
And after children, things can become even more interesting.
For years, we took care of everyone else. Then one day we look at ourselves and think:
When did this happen?
So, we decide to lose weight.
Monday, obviously.
Because apparently no woman has ever started eating healthy on a Thursday.
We download an app.
We count calories.
We eat a salad while staring lovingly at someone else’s French fries.
We suddenly become interested in protein.
We walk 10,000 steps.
And after doing all this for three days, we step on the scale expecting a major announcement.
Down 0.4 pounds.
Excuse me?
This is especially frustrating because weight becomes harder for many women to manage as life changes. Pregnancy, hormones, menopause, aging, stress, sleep and lifestyle can all play a role.
But somewhere along the way, I think we started giving one little number too much power.
A number can tell you what you weigh.
It cannot tell you whether you are strong.
It cannot tell you whether you slept well.
It cannot tell you whether you are taking care of yourself.
And it definitely cannot tell you whether you look beautiful.
Maybe the goal doesn’t always have to be: How can I become smaller?
Maybe sometimes the better questions are:
Am I healthy?
Am I active?
Do I have energy?
Am I eating reasonably well?
Do I feel comfortable in my body?
And perhaps most importantly:
Am I living my life, or am I constantly waiting to lose ten pounds before I start enjoying it?
Be active.
Lift the weights.
And sometimes, eat the cake and that cookie too if you want!
Take care of your health.
Be yourself.
And please don’t compare your body with someone else’s because you have absolutely no idea what her body is doing.
Half the time, we don’t even understand what our own body is doing.
And maybe tomorrow morning, don’t step on the scale.
Give both of you the day off.
Signing out,
Sana
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