Many of us have been on diets in our lives – setting that target weight, counting the calories, doing the weekly weigh-in to see how much we’ve lost. This can cause excitement at first as we see the weight drop and our enthusiasm helps us to keep on the diet.

But sometimes we get to the stage where even with dieting and exercise, the weight isn’t coming off as fast as we’d hoped. That’s when the negativity starts to set in and maybe a blame game starts between the mind and the body.

You can blame your body for not losing the weight – you can say to it “I’ve eaten less calories, I’ve been exercising, how dare you not be the target weight I set for this week!”. There may be a sinking feeling as the time approaches to get onto the scales – the outcome will determine your mood and how you feel about yourself. If it’s not good, you may feel angry and upset, even feeling like a failure because you’re dieting and nothing is happening.

It’s almost as if the weighing scales create a chasm between the mind and the body. The mind says “I’ve done my part with denying myself nice food, I’ve made myself go to exercise classes, now, you body, must show me you’ve done your part by losing the weight“. And woe betide if the weight has gone up, how could that happen!

In addition, after putting ourselves through a diet, many people put the weight back on as soon as they stop. So we’ve gone through the “mental torture” of denying ourselves food and of continually checking our weight and then it all goes out the window.

Instead of putting the emphasis on the weight scales, why not ignore them and concentrate on how you feel on a diet? Maybe you feel better within yourself because of eating healthily or your clothes feel slightly looser. This becomes more about focusing day to day on how you feel as opposed to “I must weigh this amount on the day I weigh myself”

This also starts to connect the mind to the body – they can become friends in the goal to help you feel and stay healthy. Learn to listen to your body about what foods to eat and what it needs. People sometime naturally stay away from certain foods and that’s because on a subconscious level the body is saying those food aren’t good for it.

Don’t let the weighing scales dictate how to feel about yourself. Focus on making healthy eating and exercise a part of your life and do it at your own pace. Maybe take the good parts of a diet and incorporate them into your life.

Instead of watching your weight yo-yo up and down, aim to deepen the connection between your mind and body. Throw the scales out of the window! Intend to create a lifestyle where you eat better and exercise all the time, not just when you’re on a diet. Heal that chasm between the mind and the body and start to feel good about yourself all the time.