(Originally posted on my Instagram)
When I went to the GP last week, the doctor wanted to do a bunch of routine exams as it had been a while. Bloods, bp, height, weight etc. Fine. No problem.
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At least no problem until I got on the scales and my well-meaning doctor started this conversation …
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Doc: I’m sure you weigh yourself every morning anyway given what you do for a living
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Me: Oh god no! I haven’t weighed myself for years
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Doc: oh. I guess you don’t need to because yoga helps keep you thin and fit
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Me (External, lost for words me) …
errmmm no I really don’t believe that scales are that conducive to our health or happiness?
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Also me (internal, outraged, 2 hours later me): …
I don’t even know where to start with what’s wrong with this conversation.
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1. I work in the ‘health and fitness industry’ so you assume I must be obsessed with my weight/size? Thanks, but after years of actually being obsessed about just that and suffering with disordered eating to boot I’m actually trying to save the world from that mentality!
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2. So you think one of the reasons I am doing yoga is to look after my figure? No no no. Yoga looks after my mind! Yes I am stronger and more flexible and my body has changed as a result, but I couldn’t care less. Yoga has also helped me get stronger mentally, started my journey to come off my head meds, helped me trust my body and my mind and my intuition, and has helped me get over so much trauma! So no. I don’t do yoga to stay ‘thin and fit’.
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3. So people who aren’t ‘thin and fit’ should weigh themselves every morning? I think every individual on this planet has something better to do than obsess over the number on the scale. Have you heard of #haes or #bopo – or #fatstigma and #thinprivilege for that matter?! You can be any size and shape your body wants to be, and still be happy and healthy. And I think happy and healthy is way more important than ‘thin and fit’.
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By the way – it’s not my doctors fault. She was one of the best GPs I’ve seen in a while (above conversation aside). She meant well. But this is the message we all hear in society and through the media and it is wrong. We don’t need to strive towards becoming ‘thin and fit’. We can be successful and amazing and live a meaningful, happy life in whatever sized body we are in. Don’t be a slave to the scales. Numbers do not define us – our achievements do.
Find out more information on health coaching and my approach, and please do get in touch if you have any questions.
