Why "Screw The Scale" Is Easier Said Than Done

First off...I think the hashtags on Instagram; "screw the scale" and "gaining weight is cool" are great. I think they offer a good message and inspire women/men to embrace their bodies. These movements have received a lot of recognition and attention from the media worldwide. I occasionally enjoy reading people's stories on how they have moved passed the number on the scale and have embraced weight gain.

However, I am here to tell you that it is okay to not agree with these hashtags or feel the same. In fact, I feel like a lot of people feel pressured to make these posts for the sake of engagement and likes. I want to think that people who make these posts really aren't affected by the number on the scale and really don't care about their weight. However, I am not really sure that everyone is truthful about it.

I was not truthful about it. For a very long time I tried to keep up with the newest hashtag movements and transformation pictures on Instagram. I tried to post what I knew others wanted to see, what others wanted to read and believe. However, most of the times I didn't feel as confident as I said I was in these posts. I was affected by the number on the scale. I still struggle with the scale and numbers. I don't weigh myself often because it is very triggering for me. Also, for a long time I did not think gaining weight was cool.

For 5 years I struggled gaining weight and I could have never admitted that gaining weight was cool. It took me years of therapy and years of building a healthy relationship with my body, mind and food to understand that gaining weight was necessary for me to live. I never once considered it a "cool" thing to do.

Therefore, I occasionally struggle when I read a lot of these transformation posts and posts regarding these movements...because I am not sure how truthful they really are. I hate to be the devils advocate but gaining weight and not worrying about numbers is way easier said than done. Trust me, it is really easy to write up a caption on how you don't care about numbers/weight and click "post." However, it's not as easy to actually step on a scale and read the numbers.

I have distanced myself in engaging in these types of posts/transformation pictures because I no longer see a purpose in trying to create content for the sake of engagement or popularity.

I began to feel inadequate because I wished to feel like some of these people who wrote passionately in their captions about how they never used the scale and no longer were affected by numbers etc. I began to really beat myself up that I didn't have this very same great transformation like so many people. I believed that my transformation was not good enough to post and that it would never get the same media attention as other's got.

And that's when I knew I needed to stop altogether.

I think some light needs to be shed on the truth of these movements and not just the good. I think that someone needs to speak up and say that it's okay if you don't agree with these messages or feel the same. Like I said earlier, I think these popular hashtags have meaningful positive intentions. However, my advice is to read them cautiously because who knows how much that person is struggling in real life.

It is easy to look happy and carefree on Instagram because it isn't real life.

xoxo,

Sarah