We’ve all done it. You step on the scale that you can’t seem to quit, only to see you’ve gained a pound or two and completely freak out. You starve yourself for the next day and put in an extra 30 minutes into your already hour-long workout. Over a pound. Why? As women, this is something that is engrained in us since we were young. The scale tells the full story…
Or does it? Yes, weight is one tool that can be somewhat useful, but not in the way that we have been taught. The only reason I would step on a scale is to determine if something deeper might be going on in my body. It is a tool, paired with other tools like symptoms, basal body temperature, etc. It can help us determine if we need to investigate if there is some dysfunction in the body. But there is so much more to weight than just how many calories we consume and how many we burn. Is skinnier really better 100% of the time? I argue no. Weight is not THE indicator of health. There is so much more to health than weight.
Fat is actually a place where the body stores toxins that would otherwise go to your vital organs and could kill you. So while it is bothersome and may seem undesirable, sometimes it is a necessity to continue life! Your body was created to be so innately intelligent that is is constantly adjusting and correcting to protect you. Sometimes your body needs a place to store toxins until it has the resources and energy available to be able to address those toxins. This is just one aspect of weight gain. It has a purpose, and a vitally important one at that.
You may think, “but I’ve cut calories before and worked out harder and looked and felt so much better!” In the short-term, yes, you can feel better from calorie restriction and increased exercise. Stress hormones can make you feel really good…until they don’t. If you were running from a bear, don’t you think your body would put out more energy and mental clarity to escape? As a bear is a stressor, so is undereating and overexerting yourself. Your body views these two things as the same as far as stress goes. Our response to stress was never meant to be an ongoing thing though. You run from the bear, you escape (hopefully)…stress over. Long-term stress is a whole other thing. And it just so happens that we live in an extremely stressful world.
Have you ever thought of the long-term effects that this has on your metabolism? And to your metabolism, also to every system and process in your body? Stressing the body in this way will SLOW DOWN YOUR METABOLISM, stress the adrenals, and lead to WEIGHT LOSS RESISTANCE, all with a litany of other downstream effects that you probably don’t want (unless you really like doing things the hard way).
There are SO many other things besides calories that influence your weight, including:
- STRESS of any kind (mental, emotional, physical, internal, external)
- Blood sugar dysregulation + insulin resistance
- Mineral imbalances: can lead to water retention, low-functioning adrenals and thyroid + can even effect how well glucose gets into the cell (or doesn’t)
- Toxins: the body stores toxins in the fat tissue to protect you from damage to your major organs + tissues. Your body is literally saving your life doing this, yet we curse our bodies + stress them more by cutting food and upping our workouts.
Here are 10 easy ways to approach weight in a healthier way:
- Learn to listen to your body. When your body is telling you to slow down, DO IT. A good way to learn to listen to your body is by tracking your body temperatures + pulses. This will give you a clue as to how your meals + workouts are affecting your metabolism
- Remove processed foods
- Focus on getting a balance of macros from quality whole foods (this includes carbs!)
- Balance your blood sugar. Eat at regular intervals throughout the day (again, being sure to get a good balance of macronutrients) to stay off the blood sugar rollercoaster.
- Assess your mineral status (I like the HTMA for this!) + work on increasing and/or balancing minerals.
- Optimize your digestion and learn how to eat in a way as to minimize future damage
- Support the adrenals + mitochondria to ensure your body is producing adequate energy and not running on fumes
- Optimize drainage pathways + detox. ALWAYS work with a practitioner on this, as there is a very specific order of operations, so please don’t jump into something without proper guidance.
- Rest! If you tend to over-exercise, experiment with less intense movement and/or take rest days
- Work on unresolved traumas, as they can really limit the ability to physically heal
I often wonder if I would have done things differently in my past if I knew everything that I know now. Who knows. But what I do know is that I am now putting in a lot of hard work to correct all of the pain that I put my body through in pursuit of thinness. Don’t hear me say this as that I believe that being overweight is healthy either. It isn’t. What I am saying is that there is so much more to actually being healthy than what you look like on the outside. Shift your mentality about this and the way you view your own weight and you can truly change your life for the better. As with anything, make changes slowly and take time to truly observe how it feels. In doing so, you become much more attuned to what your body is trying to tell you. It knows what to do if you will just stop and listen.
XO Allie
