#81, Befriending the Bathroom Scale, Part 2

What I want for you is an easy, seamless, powerful weigh-in routine. I want you to be able to use that data without getting lost in the weeds of mind drama. Most of all, I want you to be able to keep taking strong healthy action in your journey. In order to do this, I am going to go over some aspects of a powerful weigh-in routine that will keep you positive and focused on your weight loss and committed to moving forward. 

The Weigh-in Routine
1. Decide When
As we discussed in last week’s episode, pick a time of day for your daily weigh-ins and a time of day plus a day of the week if you do a weekly weigh-in. 
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If you need help making this decision, go back to last week’s episode where I break down the pros and cons of daily and weekly weigh-ins. 

2. Fix Your Mindset 
Decide what you will think before you see the number. This is so important. Look back on the past day or week and consider your food choices, exercise experiences, and your amount of water drank and hours of sleep. Remember all the things you did to support your weight loss. List 10 things you are proud of yourself for. List 1 or 2 things you know you would like to work on (without even knowing what the number on the scale is).

​3. Make a plan.
At this point you already have enough information to make a plan. It is so important to do this before weighing in because you don’t have any emotional input at this point. You are making all your decisions with your prefrontal cortex without anxiety from that lower brain. If you don’t do this before, you will either be too harsh if the number is up or too lax if the number is going down. 

Write down what you will think if the scale goes up and what your plan will be for the following day or week. 

Write down what you will think if the scale goes down and what your plan will be for the following day or week.

Please note: if you are weighing in daily then your plan might be making little or no change to your eating and self-care plan. Your plan for going up or down is simply to stay the course with your habits for the week. However, you will want to tweak your game-plan if it has been a week or so and you are not getting the results you want. 

4. Post an Affirmation
Post or have in hand an affirming message or verse that is true about you no matter what the number on the scale says.

5. Weigh-in
Weigh Yourself and write down the number.

Repeat your affirming message and circle the plan you will follow that you made in advance (scale up or scale down). 

Pray a prayer of gratitude to God for all the ways He is strengthening you and teaching you in this journey. 

6. Commit to Your Plan
Write down your thoughts or your commitment to your plan for eating and caring for yourself the following day or week. 

Let me rehash those steps by walking you through my own daily weigh-in: 

1. I have picked a time of day to weigh myself. I weigh myself daily right after getting out of bed and using the restroom. 
2. I fix my mindset, congratulating myself for taking care of my body and being consistent with my habits.  I remind myself that I’m a powerful and loved daughter of the Almighty God. 
3. I have a plan. I have a protocol in place for the way I eat, move, and do self-care and my game plan is to keep sticking to that protocol whether the numbers go up, down, or stay the same. My plan also includes that if the number on the scale changes significantly I will evaluate hormonal fluctuations and any specific foods I’ve been eating. I have a plan in place to evaluate my bathroom scale data every three weeks. I actually don’t change my protocol at all for three weeks at a time. I’ve learned from experience that it takes at least that long to know what is working and what isn’t. 
4. I have an affirmation posted in my heart. Galatians 5:1, ESV says, For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. I spent too many years enslaved to emotional eating. I also was enslaved to that number, letting it set the course for my mind and heart instead of simply tracking it as data. 
5. So, the number gets written down. If the number has went up or is trending upward I remind myself to stay calm and that I’m doing great things and need some more information. Honestly, at this point, if I’m following my protocol then the number trends slowly so I make small tweaks when needed to how I eat. 
6. I recommit to my plan for eating, moving, and self-care every morning as I write my meal plan in my planner and schedule things like exercise into my day.. 

Don’t worry, that whole thing takes a couple minutes at most. And, I have found it incredibly valuable. I have so much more peace as I eat and take care of myself. I don’t have this spirit of fear hanging around, wondering if the number will be up or down tomorrow based on what I’m eating. It is a much better space to be living in, I promise. 

I sure hope this was helpful. For the women I work with, I encourage them to look at their weight loss journey through the eyes of a scientist not a judge. My hope for them is that they will be filled with curiosity, using the scale to figure out their body’s rhythms and cycles and how it reacts and interacts with their eating, drinking, and movement. 

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