I haven’t weighed myself for a year. I know that because the last time was New Year’s eve, 2014. And I weighed 159 lbs then.

This morning, I woke up, wasn’t even really thinking about weighing myself, but jumped on the scale since it had been a year, to find that I weighed 158.6 lbs.

I actually laughed out loud at the utter perfect irony of weighing virtually the same thing I weighed this time last year. I loved it.

And the reason I loved it so much was not because I was down 0.4 lbs (Loooololol) but because despite the fact that I am sure there were times in 2015 that I weighed in the 160’s and probably times I weighed less, the sheer angst of witnessing the DAILY ups and downs had I weighed myself every day would have been super sucky.

I just thought, gee, I’m so happy that I didn’t mentally give my power over to the scale this year, like I had done so many times in the past.

The last 4 years have been the first time in my life I have maintained my weight. Not that weight itself is the most important thing—in fact, it says little about your level of fitness and says zero about your worthiness—but the relief of knowing that the way of eating I’ve curated over the last 4 years allows me to not have to buy a new wardrobe every year is priceless.

Plus, one lesson I learned a long time ago was that weight means very little so I don’t really have a number in mind that I should weigh or what’s a “good weight” for me, or what’s even just good, or bad, or right, or wrong. It is what it is. Do I feel good? Does my body perform in the gym? How’s my energy? Can I still zip up my jeans? Those are the things I pay attention to now.

I trust my process, and while daily fluctuations in weight are inevitable, spending my finite mental energy stressing about those shifts every single day is pointless. In fact, it might be that stress itself that keeps me from being able to get results!

I used to think that the people who thought about food the most were the leanest.

I thought, it’s the people who aren’t conscious about food that end up eating everything in sight, unable to stop themselves.

I have to tell you–I am changing my tune on that. I think there’s a bell-shaped curve when it comes to conscientiousness around food.

In the last month, I received several emails from women with very similar stories: fairly lean and fit, expressing their need to lose 5-10 lbs and looking for tools to stop being so obsessed with food. I also fielded several questions on Twitter from people asking things like, “which is better: oat bran or oatmeal?” and “whey protein or rice protein at night?” and, “should my post-workout carb be berries or a banana?”

All perfectly acceptable and interesting questions. All completely justified inquiries.

BUT.

I wonder if all these minute stresses and the constant fear of messing up every second:

a) matter all that much when it comes down to actual sustainable results?

b) if the constant questioning and second-guessing and stressing is doing more harm than good?

I call this “Indecision Plateau” where you continue NOT getting results simply because you are THINKING ABOUT IT ALL WAY TOO HARD.

Want to know how I answer questions like these now?

I say: Do what will be sustainable first and foremost. What TASTES better to you: oat bran or oats? (the difference between the two is 30 cals and 2g of carb … think big picture!)

I say: What will make you stress THE LEAST?

I say: What will be the most effortless path for you long-term?

I say: What do you actually enjoy?

I say: Could having a few bites of chocolate earlier in the day–though not perfect–keep you from eating more and worse crap later?

I say: Can you trust YOURSELF to not blow up the second you turn the anxiety mode off?

Aaaaaaah, this stuff is tough, I get that! And yet, when you take away all the justifications and what-if’s and stress about making a mistake every second, doesn’t it just boil down to a choice? To learn and grow and give yourself the benefit of the doubt?

So much of this comes down to control—control mechanisms that we employ so that we don’t ever have to mess-up.

Trying to not mess-up is not only impossible, but could you even consider that there are benefits to getting as many mess-ups under your belt as possible? When you do, you practice taking the emotion out of it, and just get the lessons: “Oh, I really enjoy oat bran with peanut butter in the morning. It keeps me satisfied longer than a protein shake and I look forward to it.” and you get better as a result. <---THIS is a useful insight.

And you discovered that insight by asking not, “What is the best breakfast to eat to lose weight?” but instead, “What is the best long-term solution for me?”

This kind of introspection work and mindfulness requires trust in yourself. When you stop looking “out there” for all the answers and and start being an independent thinker when it comes to eating, you see that … you’ve got this.

And THAT is the most liberating feeling in the word!

I will be teaching my best tools and tactics for how you can learn to trust YOU 100% in my upcoming #AntiFragile2016 free training, which begins Tuesday January 5^th. Get all the details and enrollment info here.

#AntiFragile2016 is a free 15-day program, so if you already enrolled, it would be a huge favor to me if you’d forward this to a friend who you think could benefit. I’ll be discussing nutrition, mindset, relationships and even career, as they all pertain to self-trust and you being able to double-down on you!

Let me know if you have any questions! More to come …

Xo,

Jill