Could you go a year without dieting?

Two months ago, I bought a scale. It may not seem like a radical purchase, but it was for me.

I hadn't owned a scale since college, when I lived with a succession of roommates in some stage or form of eating disorder. I hadn't weighed myself in years, hadn't even peeked at the number while the doctor jotted down how many pounds I'd gained or lost since my last visit.

My son had no idea what a weight scale was. Of course, he's been weighed at check-ups himself, but he looked confused to see it in our bathroom, to consider that I might have an actual weight to measure, too. He asked me how to work it and then begged to know exactly how many pounds I am.

I squirmed at that question, and he wouldn't stop. The more he pleaded to know, the more it was obvious I had a huge hang-up with the number. The funny thing is, I tossed my scale and stopped peeking at my pounds in an effort to release my hang-up with the number I saw pop up. I wanted instead to feel my body, judge it by how I felt running or in jeans or moving through my day. I had a vague sense of what I weighed but I really did not want to know anything specific. I told myself that was healthier -- at least for me. Along with that, I developed a disdain for diets, particularly the commercial kind I'd been on so many times. I chose to enjoy intuitive eating, letting my body tell me what it needed, and intuitive measuring, letting my brain (and last year's sequin skirt) tell me what I weighed.

It worked. Until it didn't. Or maybe it worked while I was exercising a lot. Then when I chose to cut back on that for all sorts of reasons, I realized I was feeling not so hot in my bod anymore and maybe, just maybe, it was time to look past the veil I'd placed over the scale.

I bought a scale. I joined a program. I began dutifully typing into the app on my phone what I eat each day. I took a long hard look at the numbers on the scale. Then something unexpected happened, the more I measured out tablespoons of olive oil and plugged in the pounds down (and sometimes up), the less I cared about the numbers and the more I enjoyed each bite of food. It became formulaic. It was no longer emotional. For one week, I weighed myself several times a day, just to watch what popped up. I felt a release to realize that I might wake up feeling amazing one day and be up a few pounds or feel icky and be at my lowest weight yet. I felt I'd let go of not just from THE NUMBER, but from judging myself based on that number. I could honestly say (finally), I feel happy with my body because I am paying attention to it and treating it well -- simultaneously.

This is clearly not the formula for everyone. I am still close with one of those eatin-disordered college friends and just yesterday, she told me that she will be her healthiest if she never steps foot upon a scale or limits herself to one carefully measured cup of pasta again. I applaud her for knowing that, I love her for being honest about what it takes for her to really care for her body, especially since she's put that body through an awful lot.

I thought of this all as I read about Catherine Shaffer's "A Year Without Dieting" journey that featured on BlogHer and felt so perfectly, ironically timed to my dive back on to the scale. Catherine honestly outlines why she opted out of dieting after struggles to lose ten pounds she gained while taking medication, how challenging that process was, and what she gained when she stopped trying so hard to lose weight.

Shaffer notes what we all do when we are focused on our body image -- that you can't escape it in commercials, movies, conversations with your girlfriends. She also is pretty blunt about why we're lured into restrictive weight-loss programs over and over again.

Fundamentally, the idea of a "diet" to reduce body fat is not wrong. The math works, and the medical principle is valid. However, it is also well-known that a large proportion of people who go on diets experience a rebound effect and regain the weight they lost quite fast. A lot of people go through several diet cycles a year. You start in January, with a "New Year's Resolution," stick with it for a month or two, get busy or bored or frustrated and begin overeating, then repeat the cycle once or twice more until the New Year rolls around again. I believe the misuse and overuse of "dieting" has contributed significantly to our national obesity "epidemic," and that more attention should be paid to overall health and healthy eating for maintenance rather than the constant drumbeat for weight loss-particularly unrealistic weight loss.

That constant drumbeat -- haven't we all felt it? I really heard what Shaffer was saying there. And I related when she went on to explain, despite wanting to throw up her hands at the whole dieting process, it was surprisingly difficult to carry out her self-imposed ban. She writes on her blog So Shiny she had "wrestle with my resolution" on a daily basis.

At the year-mark, however, much of that seems to have lifted. Shaffer lists the benefits of twelve months without dieting, including a greater acceptance of herself, more time to focus on her loved ones, normalized appetite, and a big old detox from those skinny-centered messages.

And yes, she lost some weight. And did it effortlessly. But only after gaining some first. More importantly -- and the point I like the very best -- is that Shaffer says she built up a great deal of energy. When she describes this, it sounds empowering.

And healthy.

She writes that she likes what she sees in the mirror. Only the author knows how much of that formula is the diet detox and how much is weight she released. But even as she continues her journey beyond the year-mark, I feel like I get where she's been. With my own way of getting honest with myself, really looking at my body, and finding ways to fuel my own upped energy, perhaps, even as I keep stepping on my own scale, we are getting to a similar place.



Do you relate to Shaffer's story? What would it take for you to go a year without dieting?



More on Shine:

• Make over your body image from the inside out
• How to take the guilt out of your relationship with food
• How often do you talk about fat?
• Gretchen Rubin on the power of choosing yourself first
• Up for a challenge? America's toughest fitness classes