{if reading about weight and body image is triggering for you, you might want to skip this post.}
i have a confession to make. a week ago today, i re-downloaded noom, the weight loss app i used to drop nearly 40 pounds in 2022. noom claims to use psychology to help you rethink the way you eat (and lose weight in the process), but the reality is that just like any and all weight loss trends, it’s a diet. with noom, you log what you eat each day, track your steps; track your water intake and your exercise habits. you also track your weight, that is, the number that appears when you step on the scale each morning.
prior to downloading noom the first time around, i had never owned a scale. i didn’t want to know what the number was on a daily basis, or ever, really. i despised the fact that every time i went to the doctor’s office—whether for my annual checkup or for a lingering cough—the first thing they did was clock my height and weight (yes, i know you can decline this, but that feels like its own exquisite torture). the scale was my enemy, or i suppose, the number on it was.
but noom told me that marking the number on the scale was an important part of the process. i just had to get over the hump. it assured me that little by little, the number would go down, and the things i’d logged as long-term goals—confidence in my body, confidence in myself—would go up.
for nearly a year, i faithfully logged nearly every bite i put into my mouth. i learned about green foods—foods that are low in caloric density—and all the ‘healthy’ swaps i could make to ensure the majority of my diet was full of greens.
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