Stepping away from the scales

This week is change the way you see, not the way you look week at Operation Beautiful.com. For those of you who that have not heard of Operation Beautiful before, you are going to love this. The goal of Operation Beautiful is to post anonymous notes in public places for other women to find. The point is that WE ARE ALL BEAUTIFUL. You are enough… just the way you are! 125 of the best notes ever received have been published in a book, Operation Beauty which was released today.

Caitlin, the editor of the website has invited health bloggers from all over the world to share their own stories and experiences with body image, healthy balance and self-confidence.

Here is mine, ahem…

My husband used to tell me that the number on the scale would determine my mood for the entire day, and I guess it did. I remember once being in a very busy department store whilst on a trip to Seattle and seeing a scale in one of those bathroom displays and actually stepped on it. My husband begged me not to and for good reason, the number that I saw was not less than the number in my head, and I was a mess for the rest of the day.

When I think about that day, it makes me “eesh”, not only could I not walk by the scale in my bathroom without weighing myself, now everyone in that store knew that I couldn’t even walk by the bathroom department without stepping on a scale!

In high school I watched helplessly as anorexia nervosa nearly destroyed one of my very close friends. I consider myself very fortunate because my weight obsession stayed just that, I was never a dieter or binger, but it did stay with me through my 20’s and well into my 30’s.

So what changed? For me it was having a daughter. I don’t want her to grow up and fear numbers, the size of her clothes, calories and the bathroom scale. I know that I can’t control how the media portrays beauty and body image or the standards that are set by society, but I can be a positive role model for her. I eat a well balanced diet, I exercise and I enjoy life. I haven’t thrown away my bathroom scale although I should; it has been broken for the past couple of years. I now judge my weight by how my clothes fit and how my body feels. I do still weigh myself but now it is once a week, Friday morning at the gym and it is only for training purposes.

I don’t have the body that I had in high school and nor do I want to; I am fitter and stronger than I ever have been. The curves that I have now are from hard work, squats, lunges and push-ups. Oh, and I am proud of them!