Is it that the mind loves numbers or that we find numbers an easier way to validate what we can’t ascertain for ourselves?
7 Years of being a naturopath and I say this to every New Client:
“We won’t use weightloss number as the primary marker of how well your body is progressing or make it the primary marker of health recovery. Instead we will use the clearing of your stool, energy levels, sleep quality, ease of movement and upbeat mood as primary markers.”
Not because Clients don’t lose weight, each & every one of them has from 5-27 kgs. Weight loss is a given in a naturopathy regime.
But it is NOT the best Primary marker of health recovery.
Yet, we obsess over weightloss numbers! And the reality is that no matter how much I have understood it as a part of my training & practice, I too still find myself standing on the weighing scale every now & then.
Why do weight loss numbers captures our Psyche ?
1. An immediate validation of ‘progress’ . Yes, who can argue with that. Can looking in the mirror and observing your body, or feeling the difference in your bodily and mental states not also do that? Or is it that the latter 2 are a lot more difficult vs standing on a weighing scale?
2. Weight is NOT the most talked about attribute in a social setting, physical appearance (how you look outward) is.
The standard way of looking & talking about beauty: body size, skin tone, hair etc still seems to rule the roast. And if you look good, then who really is asking your weight? People are most likely to notices changes in physical appearance rather than the kilos you dropped.
It is also a naïve assumption, hopefully by now we all understand that, that weight drop equally shows up in physical attributes. Some even after losing 20-25 kgs look like they might have lost 5, while some look shrunk after losing 3-4 kgs!
Yet we obsess about our weight number!
3. Medically/Clinically or if you are an active athlete, then looking & monitoring weight numbers have a specific reason. They matter if you are clinically fat/obese or diagnosed with weight related diseases: Diabetes being a good example.
But beyond that what does ‘your weight number’ really say about you?
Related Blog: Fitness Gadgets: the new addiction
