Non-Scale Goals

There’s nothing like stepping on the scale after days or weeks of hard work to lose weight, then looking down to see a number and feeling immediately defeated. This crushing disappointment, If it does motivate you, is probably negatively. You may further restrict, reduce calories, double-down on food rules, increase your exercise, or “punish” yourself some other way. It might make you question everything you’ve been doing, feel shame for not doing “good enough” or send you straight to the internet to start looking for the next thing to try. What if you shifted your focus to non-weight or non-scale goals?

What would it look like to take the focus off the number on the scale? This is something I encourage my clients to do for a couple of reasons. First, because weight is not something within our power to control. Second, because I believe that sustainable, long-term health will happen when we focus our efforts on how we feel, not on a number on the scale. Today on the blog we’re talking about non-scale goals: why they’re more helpful than weight-loss goals and eight steps to setting them. 

Weight is Not In Your Control

Diet culture and the health/weight-loss industry want you to believe that your weight is completely within your control. They especially benefit from you believing that purchasing their product is how to achieve your ideal weight. They make money by convincing you that you can control your weight. 

The truth is: weight is not fully within our power to control. Here are some factors that impact your weight that you may have little to no control over:

-Medication side effects

-Genetics

-Life circumstances

-Stress

-Hormones

-Aging

-Injury

Additionally, human bodies are not designed to diet. From a biological perspective, when your weight is suppressed to below the range that your body feels comfortable (not necessarily the weight that our society or your mind deem acceptable), your body fights back. Our bodies are wired to adjust to starvation by shifting metabolism and hormones to conserve energy. This usually results in weight gain as the body tries to get back to homeostasis or prevent further weight loss. 

But Sometimes Weight Loss Happens

It’s possible that if you manipulate your diet and exercise enough, you may experience weight loss (temporarily). But the ideal scenario is that your eating pattern or movement habits change because you’re living your ideal life and a changing body is simply a by-product of a life lived in line with your values, not the single motivating goal of the changed habits.

Developing health patterns and habits that you enjoy, that fit in realistically to your regular daily life, and are aligned with how you want to be living your life will yield positive holistic (mental, physical, emotional, social) health outcomes that will be sustainable. 

Often I see people who have made some small changes to their habits that resulted in improved health, but because they were singularly focused on the scale, they overlooked their benefits elsewhere and lost interest in continuing those healthy habits. It’s a shame that culture and industry have placed so much emphasis on weight, when the research shows that health is actually more closely correlated with health behaviors than weight. 

8 Steps to Setting Non-Scale Goals

Prepare

1. Consider (I recommend journaling) what you are hoping to achieve by making healthy changes. Think about how you want to feel. Think about what you want everyday to look like. Think about how you want your thoughts patterns to change. Think about what other health metrics are important to you besides your weight (cholesterol numbers, blood pressure, blood glucose, # of active minutes per day, etc.). Some examples on non-scale goals include: To be more attuned to hunger and fullness cues; To stress less  about food; To feel more comfortable in your body; To eat a variety of foods. 

Start goal setting

2. Be specific and measurable. For example, instead of “I want to exercise more,” you can set a specific # of times or minutes and the frequency. “I want to walk for X minutes, X times per week.” Instead of “I want to drink more water,” you could say, “I want to drink my full water bottle 4 times each day.”
3. Be realistic in what you want to accomplish. Start small. The best positive reinforcement comes from meeting small goals, feeling proud and successful, feeling the benefits of the changes, and then setting a new goal (or committing to continuing this habit). Instead of going from 0 to 60 minutes of movement each day, consider starting your goal at 5-10 minutes per day. 
4. Be actionable. If one of your goals is related to a feeling (I want to feel better about my body), then pick an action that you can do on a regular basis to help you achieve that. For example, I will say my body acceptance mantras in the mirror every morning. I will write a thank-you letter to my body every Sunday. I will get rid of one too-small item of clothing each week. 

Get after it!

5. Track how it’s going. Whether you use an app, a paper checklist, automatic reminders set on your phone, or a journal, keep track of how you’re doing with the goals you set. If something is never happening like you planned, consider what you may need to change. Does the goal need to be modified? What do you need to do ahead of time to set yourself up for success? 
6. Reflect on how you’re feeling. Remember, it’s not just about checking something off a list. We want to figure out, “Did this make me feel better? Is my mental health better? Are my physical health metrics better?” Journal your own thoughts and feelings, and consider setting a follow up appointment with your provider to assess the health metrics again in 6 months or so. 

Reassess

7. Reassess your goals. Modifying your goals, scratching something off the list, bumping up your intensity or frequency- all are OK! Remember, you’re not a mystic crystal ball future-reader. You can’t predict exactly which habits are going to fit in perfectly with your lifestyle, which ones will have the exact outcomes you desire, and which ones will be unrealistic. This is a journey of “try and see.” 
8. Rinse and repeat. Throughout your lifetime, your body will change. Your circumstances will change, your abilities will change, your time availability will change… and so your health habits will change, too. Setting, keeping, assessing and modifying health goals will become a process you are familiar and comfortable with. 

Make Peace With Your Body Being Outside of Your Control

Go back and read step #8 again. I want to drive this point home: so much of your life will be ever-changing. Establish the practice of setting goals within your control instead of measuring your health satisfaction by a number outside of your control. This sets you up for long term success and positivity in your health journey. If you have family, friends, colleagues or healthcare providers who push weight loss recommendations on you, here are some tips on how to navigate that.

Need Some Help Setting Non-Scale Goals?

Do you feel lost or like you don’t know where to start if it’s not with your weight? I’d love to partner with you. I’ve worked with countless clients exactly in your shoes. They’ve been on the diet circuit for so long, going through frustrating cycles of hope and discouragement. There’s nothing I love more than having a goals-setting session with a client and seeing their face light up as they reflect, set goals, and leave feeling confident and excited to get started. I’m a non-diet, weight-inclusive, intuitive eating Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and I would love to help. Contact me here.