Beyond the Scale: Measuring Success in Intuitive Living
So you’ve spent years tracking your weight / inches around your waist etc. etc. as a measure of your self worth - and now you’re ditching diet culture. So how do you know if you’re successful?
So you’ve spent years tracking your weight / inches around your waist etc. etc. as a measure of your self worth - and now you’re ditching diet culture. So how do you know if you’re successful or not?
First things first progress > success is the metric here so it’s not super cut and dry. And there is no pressure to be “successful” as it were. Speaking as someone who was in the gifted and talented club in primary school (what was the purpose of that really?!) and so tied my worth from a young age to achieving things I take great pleasure in not having to quote on quote achieve anything.
Sometimes the greatest achievement is not achieving anything, and being okay with just being.
And knowing that my opinion has no bearing on your sense of success, you do you.
But say you want to see progress - what do you measure -
1.How do you feel? Maybe it’s less stressed, or more in control. Maybe you’re feeling more - and whether good or bad that’s still an achievement if you’re someone who’s long repressed emotions.
Ask yourself how am I feeling? Has this changed? Maybe you wanted to feel a certain way or deal with certain emotions? Whether you like to journal, discuss with friends or just reflect notice if your mood has changed?
2. Taking a look back - “I can’t believe I used to…” Sometimes we don’t see progress until we compare where we are now to where we were. How did you feel when you started exploring Intuitive Eating, how does that compare to where you are now?
Do you approach food and movement differently?
Has your outlook around food changed?
Are there any food rules / diets you used to explore that you now don’t?
3. Movement goals - setting goals such as completing a 5K fun run, joining a yoga class or attending your first surfing lesson are all movement goals that aren’t to do with the scale. Maybe it’s something competitive, or something social like trying a sport out of your comfort zone but is there something you can aim for?
4.Social situations - Maybe you used to avoid social situations because of food, or diet talk or worrying about how you looked. But now you’ve started socialising more, or maybe you’re more comfortable in social situations. These things can seem small but are big markers of progress.
5.Others’ comments - maybe they don’t bother you, or you can take them in without internalising them. It’s a real sign of progress when you can set a boundary around others’ comments or discussions.
6.Diets aren’t enticing anymore? - you see an advert for the latest not a diet diet company and think that sounds like a diet, or that just doesn’t sound great. Gone are the days where a celebs 12 week transformation makes you want to run to the gym, and weighing your food.
7.Less guilt, more satisfaction - are you more satisfied with what you’re eating? Are you experiencing more comfortable fullness - or just less guilt.
The main thing is you’ve moved away from measuring success by a standard, a number, a look etc. into what you think success is. Why did you start this Intuitive Eating journey? Maybe it is something specific like to feel more relaxed around food in social situations, or to avoid dieting… in which case you have a metric if you want it. If it’s to explore your relationship to food, there’s nothing to measure unless you want to add something.
Remember Intuitive Eating is a journey - there is no failing, only learning. So let's celebrate those small wins! Or those “mistakes” that led us to know ourselves better, or where we want to be in the future with food and movement.
And if you need help, just click that Work with me button.
