“If you force and deprive and shame yourself into being thin, you end up a deprived, shamed, fearful person who will also be thin for ten minutes.” -Geneen Roth
Your “natural weight” is the size your body settles upon when you’re living in sync with your intuition. Eating when you’re hungry, eating exactly what appeals to you (instead of “diet food”), and stopping when you’re full.
It’s a tall order for many of us that struggle with overeating. The “stopping when we’re full” part is usually the hardest. And that’s what Psycho-Spiritual Wellness provides tools for.
Today I’m talking about what your “natural weight” is, so that it can provide context for other articles. While I briefly just defined it — it also helps to define what it’s not.
Your “natural weight” is much different from a “goal weight.”
Natural Weight vs. Goal Weight
Many of us have a number in our heads of what we’d like to weigh. This “goal weight” could be a number we’ve never been, or maybe it’s a size we’ve experience before.
Regardless, a “goal weight” is not helpful because it’s a product of the mind, not your intuition.
Your body already has all the wisdom it needs to maintain a healthy weight. Mind chatter only adds a layer of difficulty to accessing your intuition.
Instead of focusing on a “goal weight,” it can help to transition your focus to reaching your natural weight in due time.
This shift towards flexibility and intuition allows us to stay level-headed when our weight fluctuates — because it will fluctuate, and that’s normal!
Body Flux is Normal!
We are human, and our bodies change all the time.
This fluctuation is easier to make peace with when you’re listening to your body and allowing nature to run its course.
When we’re dieting instead of eating what our body wants, our expectations shift. Instead of allowing our weight to figure itself out, we insist that it go down, and only go down.
This is one more way you can set yourself free by giving up dieting and listening to your body instead. It leads to so much less stress and frustration!
When you stop shaming and depriving yourself, you can be more relaxed when the scale spits out a higher number than the day before. You’ll know it’s normal, and things will take care of themselves in due time.
Of course, one of the kindest things you can do for yourself is to stop weighing yourself completely. Throw away the scale, is my vote.
Letting Nature Take Its Course
Your natural weight is the point where you feel good, mentally and physically.
You’re not obsessing over food. You’re not stressing over food rules.
Instead, you’re listening to your body to inform what and when you eat — for the most part. Perfection is not part of the process.
Say no to the scale. Say no to dieting. And say no to the false promise that thinness = happiness.
Let your body do its thang, while you work on the psychology behind overeating patterns instead. Win win.
Originally published on November 13, 2016 // Updated on November 14, 2020
i tried getting rid of my scales, gave them to my housemate upstairs. I proceeded to gain 20 pounds. At the time, I gave up dieting but I didn’t give up eating out of boredom, and to stuff emotions. I always felt like if I had kept the scales I would not have let myself gain so much weight. But I think after trying ‘no dieting’ along with feeling the feelings, I might after a while give up the scales, but I need to give it 6 months. I never knew how scary not have the scales would feel until i gained so much weight not having them. I gave them up without moving forward with the psycho spiritual ways of eating/being you talk about. I thank you for your blogs/vlogs because I already feel so much freedom and sanity so quickly! I will work toward feeling my feelings and even, one day, let go of the scales! Thank you.