To Weigh, or Not to Weigh: That Is the Question Intuitive Eating and Relearning How to Trust Your Body (March, 2015)
The weight loss industry teaches us that attention to the numbers on the scale is the primary way to be successful – or not – with regard to weight loss and management. Research has proven time and time again that this scale-driven approach increases disordered eating and obsessiveness about food and body image.
Currently, just as researchers are starting to ask whether or not counting calories is an effective approach to successful weight-loss/management, the scale-driven approach has been questioned. I am pleased to say that attention is currently being drawn to what is referred to as “intuitive eating.” This is also known as the “non-diet approach” because it promotes food selections based on the individual’s hunger and fullness signals, body acceptance, cravings, and even what sounds good to him/her. This approach is the philosophical basis of my practice.
Recently in the Journal of Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a review was published showing that by eliminating all food rules, the individuals in the study were able to maintain or lose weight. When the focus shifted to developing a healthy relationship with food, the individuals were able to have more positive moods, decreased anxiety and depression, increased self-esteem, and improvement in their overall body images. They also had a decrease in their total cholesterol as well as decreased LDL, the unhealthy type of cholesterol.
I will admit it is scary to give up the scale, however when I share with clients the findings of these various studies and their resulting benefits, often times my clients are motivated to make changes. For clients who are very attached to the scale, not only do we discuss how the scale has served them, but we also consider what they hope the scale will provide for them the next time they use it. The only clients that I “blind weigh” (meaning that I weigh them with their backs toward the scale so they can not see the numbers) are those who must be medically monitored.
While I discourage my clients from utilizing the scale, I help them learn how to work from within, i.e. intuitively. The example I like to present revolves around babies. When we were babies, we didn’t know anything about scales. We were permitted to eat when we were hungry and stop when we were satisfied. In other words, babies naturally listen to their bodies – they are intuitive about their eating.
By learning how to listen to what your body needs, you learn how to differentiate between physical hunger (based on the needs of the body) and emotional hunger (based on feelings). “Diets” impose rules with precise types and quantities of permissible foods while labeling foods as “good” or “bad.” Such regimentation can make the individual want to eat more. Guilt and shame increase if the “willpower” decreases leading the client to believe that he/she has failed.
My goal for my clients, therefore, is to put reliance on the scale on the back burner and learn how to fuel their bodies while relearning ways to find pleasure in eating for life-long benefits. So to weigh or not to weigh? I would bet we can arrive at the answer…intuitively.
References
1. Scritchfield, Rebecca. “Intuitive Eating and the Case for Not Weighing Yourself.” U.S. News 15 October 2014.
2. Schaefer, J., & Magruson, A. (2014), A Review of Interventions that Promote Eating by Internal Cues. Journal of the Academy & Dietetics, 114 (5), 734-760.
3. Beate, H., & Blechert, J., & Hautzinger., M., Matthias, E., & Herbert, C. (2012).Intuitive Eating is Associated with Interoceptive Sensitivity. Effects on Body Mass Index. Appetite, 58(1). 22-30.
4. Resch, Elyse and Evelyn Tribole. Intuitive Eating, New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2012.
