Will I Be Fat When I Die?
This notecard is tacked beside the desk of a petite elderly woman who has just moved into assisted living. This woman is brilliant, had an impressive career, and lived an independent, wealthy, enviable life. When I saw the “127 Pounds” beside lists of books she wanted to read and pictures of places she’d visited and lists of goals she had for herself, it broke my heart a little bit.
Why the Scale Will Always Derail You
If you are a die-hard scale devotee, I understand how important that ritual is to you right now. It helps you feel like you’re in control. You’re almost a little addicted to the drama of discovering today’s number. You can’t imagine going through a day without knowing the “truth” about what’s going on with your body. I completely get it, because I lived that way for years. The damage of weighing myself really crystallized for me one day about 8 years ago, and the impact was so dramatic that I haven’t been tempted to weigh myself since.
But I have to lose weight for my health!
There’s a lot of evidence that losing weight and keeping it off isn’t possible for most people -- you really need look no further than your own experience, most likely. And each attempt to lose weight messes with your metabolism and appetite over the long term -- it’s not a benign act. Let’s talk about why focusing on weight loss derails you from your actual goals.