How to Make Progress Beyond the Scale
When I embarked on my health and fitness journey, I was doing it for all the wrong reasons. I had the mentality of wanting to be as thin as possible - the progress on the scale was all I was interested in seeing. This stemmed from years of low self-esteem, negative self-talk and never feeling like my body was ‘good enough’.
Growing up, I was a competitive dancer and an elite soccer player. This, as you can imagine, required two very different body types. Dancers are often seen as tall, thin and elegant. Soccer players are seen as short, stocky and built. My body type was more the latter.
High school was the time when thin was in - and I wanted to be in. I started exercising more outside of dance and soccer, and restricting what I was eating. I became a pescetarian (someone who eats only fish - no other meat products) - using the excuse of caring for animals. But in reality, I thought it would help me get skinnier.
The scale started going down, which was exciting for me. It became like a game. I would ask myself, how could I lose a little bit more every day? Could I do more cardio? Restrict my calories even more?
I checked in on the scale multiple times a day. If the number went down, I celebrated. If it didn’t go down - or even went up - I would punish myself with more exercise and less food.
If this sounds extremely unhealthy - that’s because it was. I couldn’t see this at the time though, and I convinced everyone around me that I was doing things “the healthy way”.
Fast forward to university and my habits got even worse. I became obsessed with running. I would do 1 hour of sprint intervals followed by 1 hour of steady state cardio. Yep, that’s two hours of cardio a day, 6-7 days a week.
I was eating as little as 1000-1200 calories a day of only “clean foods”. There was no straying from my strict diet - no junk food or anything that I considered to be unhealthy.
My unhealthy “health” habits started to take their toll. I had reached the lowest weight I’d ever been, but I also had these unusual symptoms:
- Hair falling out in clumps.
- Sick every other week.
- Lost my period for a year.
- Random injuries that weren’t going away with rest.
That’s just naming a few. You can imagine I finally knew something was wrong, but I was so stuck in this terrible mindset that I didn’t know how to break out of the cycle. Those around me started to suspect something was also wrong, but they didn’t know how to approach the subject with me.
I finally started to see a therapist to talk about what I was going through, even though I was still very much in denial.
It was 1.5-2 years of therapy before I was finally able to pull myself out of my restrictive dieting and overexercising mindset. It was difficult work for me and involved a lot of trial and error. Eventually, I stopped dieting, started turning to healthier coping outlets and pulled myself out of the vicious cycle. It took me deciding for myself that the cycle needed to end.
Lifting weights and getting strong became a safe haven for me and essentially saved my life.
I wish I could say that my story is rare and totally unrelatable; but sadly women everywhere are starting and continuing down this same path. Millennial women in particular seem to be adversely affected by this mindset. This is why it’s my passion to stop the cycle.
I see women around me starting and continuing down this same path, which is why it’s my passion to stop that cycle. I help millennial women learn to love lifting weights and live a healthier, balanced lifestyle while ditching the scale and the obsession with weight loss.
I empower women to become their strongest selves through weightlifting and movement practices while also learning how to honour, trust and respect their bodies. Instead of focusing on the weight you think you need to lose, I help you focus on the weight you can lift to get stronger and feel more confident in and out of the gym.
When you ditch the scale and the weight loss mindset, you can still measure progress! I use 5 non-scale victories with my clients to determine progress. Wanna know what they are?
Let’s dive in.
- Improvements in Strength and Recovery
Building and maintaining muscle mass is important for your overall health - and it’s the key to longevity. When we have adequate amounts of muscle on our body, it helps to improve hormone regulation, insulin sensitivity and helps prevent injuries.
You can see these improvements when you’re increasing your weight load from week to week, or feeling more confident with the form and execution of your movements.
You can also notice everyday activities become easier - suddenly carrying all the groceries in one trip isn’t so difficult I know we are all guilty of doing this).
Your body will also start to feel less sore over time and have the ability to optimally recover from your training sessions.
- Improvements in Biofeedback and Healthy Habits
Your health and fitness journey should give results not only in how you look on the outside, but how you feel and how your body performs on the inside. What biofeedback markers can you look at to measure progress?
a) Sleep - Are you getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night? Do you have a wind-down routine before bed and a morning routine to get you going for the day? Do you set boundaries with devices and screens - turning them off at least 30 minutes before bed and waiting at least 30 minutes before turning them back on in the morning?
b) Energy - When making progress, do you find you have improved energy throughout the day? Are you still feeling energized by 3:00 pm or are you needing to reach for another cup of coffee? Are you noticing an increase in your energy levels after exercising or getting in your movement for the day? Do you have the capacity energy-wise, to get done your to-do list and not feel completely drained afterwards?
c) Stress Management - How are you handling your stress right now? Do you have stress management practices or stress outlets in place? Are you coping with your stress in a healthful way? Are you taking the time to slow down instead of adding more to your plate?
d) Nutrition - Are you fueling your body with enough food to support you through your day? Are you prioritizing protein with every meal? Are you incorporating micronutrients like fruit, vegetables and fibre into each meal? Are you listening to your hunger and fullness cues?
e) Hydration - Are you consuming about 1 ounce per pound of body weight per day? (If you’re nowhere near that - don’t stress! Start small and work your way up.) Are you replenishing your body with the liquid that’s lost through sweat and going to the bathroom? Are you consuming electrolytes to help with fluid balance?
- Improvements in Mindset
Mindset plays an important role in your health and fitness journey. It has the power to make or break your progress. Ask yourself:
- Am I able to look at roadblocks as speed bumps and find a way to keep going?
- Have I started to let go of having control over everything?
- Am I more willing to adapt and change things on the fly?
- Am I more aware of my habits?
- Am I acting more in alignment with the goals I have for myself?
- Improvements in Your Relationship with Food and Your Body
An unhealthy relationship with food and how it affects your body can tie you up in a cycle of guilt, shame and fear. When you feel like you’re eating “good food”, you could have a more positive view of your body as opposed to when you eat “bad food” and you tend to see your body in more of a negative light.
When you remove the labels of “good food” and “bad food”, you can remove the negative connotations - also acknowledging that certain foods can make you feel and look differently because of your body’s ability to digest them. In that case, listen to your body when you know a food doesn’t serve you or doesn’t make you feel your best. It doesn’t mean you’re restricting if you choose not to consume a certain food, however it does mean that you’re respecting and honouring your body.
- Improvements in Body Composition and How Your Clothes Fit
This is one of my favourite ways to measure progress beyond the scale. Take me for example. I have stayed relatively the same weight for the past 4-5 years, HOWEVER, my body composition has changed and transformed. I know I’m physically stronger, I feel stronger, I look stronger and my clothes fit me better than ever before. If I had based my progress on the scale alone, I would’ve felt like I hadn’t made any progress.
Weight loss does not equal happiness.
Being skinny does not equal being healthy.
Reaching your “goal weight” will not make you automatically happy.
Ditch the guilt, shame, self-hate and that damn scale.
Instead, focus on the journey of improving your health and wellness. Find joy in taking better care of yourself, implementing healthier habits and partaking in movement that brings you joy and improves, not just your physical health, but the quality of your life as a whole.
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