Dear Women of January, The Scale Cannot Measure Your Worth

Dear Beautiful Girl,

The scale cannot measure your worth. And yes, I called you a girl because whether you are thirteen, thirty, or eighty-three that same mean-girl voice inside your head is judging you. While you make your list of resolutions, undoubtedly as mine always does some form of “get in better shape”, “loose the baby weight”, “or get fit” will make it self present. Now before an angry mob of shake selling fitness gurus tells me that I should want to be healthy, let me make myself clear. I am absolutely all about being in a healthy weight range, feeding your body good fuel, and moving your body in a way that makes you happy and healthy. What I am not about is saying that your self worth is dictated by an arbitrary number that a combination of your inner mean girl and society have told you is acceptable.

Weight is kind of a bad judge of health.

So it has taken me decades to come to terms with this fact. Yes, on extreme ends weight is for sure a good measure of health. If you are severely underweight that is very dangerous. If you are severely overweight we know that causes a host of other complex health factors as well. But there’s a HUGE gray area in the middle. Any particular number does not define health, beauty, strength, stamina, muscle tone, or any other factor. It’s a tool nothing more. And you, honey, are worth more than a tool.

Every BODY is different.

In my unhealthy goals that center around weight I see a number that doesn’t account for my life at all. I don’t consider my age, my body type, the fact that I’ve been pregnant numerous times, the medications I take, my life style, my body composition, my diet, my overall anything. I think it’s that way for a lot of women. We see ourselves as individuals in so many ways, yet we apply this copy + paste technique to our body image and get frustrated when it doesn’t work. But one way most women are alike unfortunately, is their disdain for their own bodies. Body image issues affect over 90% of women according to leading researcher Brene Brown.

Reframe Your Goals.

Sweet sis, if you don’t love yourself at 175 lbs you aren’t going to magically have a dream life at 150. Weight isn’t magic. I’ve played that game and I can promise you that you’ll loose more than weight. Your self worth can never come from an external source. Not a scale, not a mentor, not a man, not even that sweet baby you’re rocking while you read this. You matter because you matter because you matter. End of story. Beautifully created to do wonderful things. Treat your body with such respect, and I bet it will surprise you with all that it can do back for you!