Why I said bye-bye to my scales.

Guess what? It's my anniversary. Not your typical anniversary though. It's been ONE year since I got on my scales and felt my stomach hit the floor. A feeling I was ready to wave bye-bye to, for good. For me it does not create a positive body image.  It highlighted things I didn't accept about myself. We all have our body types, our DNA, our genetics -  the things that make us unique. We are what we are.   I am blessed with this body, the three children it's carried, the breath is gives me to go on about life and build cherished memories. And I'll never weigh 130 pounds, unless I ate air for my three meals a day! 
The final straw for me was when I had gone on a trip to Australia for 5 weeks last summer. I simply adore Australian food, and any overseas expat will tell you that they totally gorge on all the scrumptious things they miss being overseas -  the bakeries, the cheeses, the Cadbury's chocolate made in Australia. Not to mention the consumption of wine at the constant catch up's with loved ones.  I also didn't have access to my usual exercise routine, so working off that gorgeous food went to the wayside. I got home, and right back on my lifestyle program, as I have done for 7 years now and have embedded into my life. I even joined a boot camp on Groupon. Moving along, I worked my butt off for about 2 weeks and got on those scales. It took me days to sike myself up.  I had put on 4 pounds. My heart sunk, tears streamed out of my eyes and I sounded so utterly pathetic to myself. I called my husband in tears. He thought something severely catastrophic must of happened to call him in such a panic. "I put on 4 pounds". It sounded like such a first world problem. And that's when I realized it was out of control.
There are times in life where we have an unhealthy relationship with something or someone, and you need to detach yourself from that thing or person. That was the scales for me. It's not healthy for me, it brings me down, it detracts from the awesomeness in my life.
A year later, and it's been the best darn year in respect to my body image. It's a part of how YummoMummo got started. I really wanted to celebrate myself, have fun with myself, highlight what I loved about my body. Celebrate my delicious pear shape.  I started to accept the things I could not change. I'm not a lover of my legs but instead of shaming that, I celebrate ways I can elongate them,  wear what's right for my body type.

This summer I put a photo of myself on Instagram in my swimsuit. Gasp. I never would of done that in a million years before.

Here I am sunning myself in Hawaii, on my 39th birthday. I found myself a great bikini for the summer that let me have some fun with a  season  trend (high-waisted bikinis) and suited my body type. I'm loving life! 

So here we are, a year later. 

On my anniversary. 

And a weight has been lifted from my shoulders, pardon the pun! 

I appreciate everyone is unique and the scales won't bring about panic for others that it did me. And I also appreciate that others have a weight loss journey that totally requires scales. My opinion is unique to me and not a reflection on what I think others should do.

It is important for me to maintain my weight. Diabetes is a big factor in my family so I am still very conscious to take care of myself in the present, to avoid future problems. I live by some general routines that are enough for me. I drink mainly water (the rare diet soda), a large portion of my diet are fruit and vegetables, I make sure I get my 8 hours sleep in at night, I go the gym 4 times a week as well as daily habits of walking and biking with the kids. And I go by my clothes. If my skinny jeans are feeling a little tight, I ramp things up a bit and it all evens out again.  As well, for women, there are so many factors that can play with the scales such as your period, hormones, water retention etc. 

Photo credit https://lifehandsyoulimes.wordpress.com

So there you have it folks. I hope you can appreciate I have dug a little deeper for you in this post and I hope it inspires you in your own life to change the things you can, and to accept the things you cannot. 

If you follow me on social media, you would have heard me announce that I am now a Global Ambassador for the Body Image Movement (BIM). I was doing cartwheels in my head when I found out. You will be hearing more about it in a future blog post so stay tuned for that. But the movement is teaching women a lesson we are slowly forgetting - to love ourselves from the inside out, and celebrate our awesomeness. That you are enough!

For the Kickstarter trailer for the documentary Embrace currently in production, click  HERE from your mobile device.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, so leave me a comment? 
* Disclosure - This blogpost is written on my perspective and should not be taken as word to do the same.