Obsessed with you your weight? Aren’t we all? And who could blame us, with perfect (photoshopped) men and women looking up at us from every magazine cover? When it starts to make you feel depressed or pressured, it’s time to take a step back and realize that there are many reasons NOT to obsess over your weight.
1. Stress, cortisol, and weight gain go hand-in-hand.
You heard that right. All the obsessing, the stressing, the agonizing of an extra pound here or a skin fold there, is actually counter-productive. Your body produces a hormone called cortisol in response to stress. This hormone is produced naturally and plays a vital role in your body, unless there is too much in circulation due to constant higher levels of stress. Elevated levels of cortisol lead to increased hunger cues and visceral fat (belly fat).
2. Weight is just a number.
Your scale can only read one number. Scale weight is such an emotional number—it can be very discouraging when it won’t budge. It’s also a number that fluctuates daily, based on things as trivial as water intake. You shouldn’t compare your weight to anyone else’s. First of all, is anyone really honest on their driver’s license? Second of all, your bone density, muscle mass, and water weight all affect your body’s natural number.
3. A pound of muscle and a pound of fat are not the same.
This is the best reason for throwing your scale out the window, if I’ve ever heard one. A pound of fat actually has a much larger volume than a pound of muscle, taking up a larger amount of space, and consequently making you appear larger. A pound of muscle, although it weighs the same amount, will give you a leaner, harder, more toned look.
4. A healthy weight is relative.
Years of training and dieting will never make you a size 0 if your body cannot physically be a size 0. Some frames just won’t allow it...and that’s okay! If you have curves, you’ll always have curves. If you got rid of them, you’d no longer be healthy—and shouldn’t health be our true end goal, anyway? Don’t work out to be skinny, work out to be the healthiest you can be, however that looks on your body. Every body is different. That’s what makes us unique, different, and beautiful.
5. You aren’t the only one.
According to a survey conducted in 2014, 45% of Americans worry about their weight all or some of the time. The United States contained 318.9 million people in 2014. This means that roughly 1.5 million people are also obsessing over their weight. Find a support group. Work out together, report your diet to each other. Reach out to one another for support. Realize that while your scale says that you gained a pound rather than losing one, no one else noticed. Give yourself a break, but keep on working. Consistency is key, and if you stick to a healthy food and exercise plan, you can make it!
Emily Wiley
iFit Trainer
WARNING: This post is not intended to replace the advice of a medical professional. The above information should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or medical condition. Please consult your doctor before making any changes to your diet, sleep methods, daily activity, or fitness routine. iFit assumes no responsibility for any personal injury or damage sustained by any recommendations, opinions, or advice given in this article.
