The dreaded LBS (pounds) acronym is everywhere, on every magazine. It’s an obsession that needs to stop because we are transferring these behaviors to our younger generations. Our daughters are watching us and so are their friends. We talk about it over the cell phone with our girlfriends, over our meals and even at sporting events. The little ears that are around us are listening and forming these misconceptions about their bodies.

I can’t tell you how many times I am sitting at a table at a restaurant and I overhear (you know when we’re loud) women talking about immediately going to the gym again, or “Voy a empezar la dieta manana”. I find it amusing, because the Latina in me wants to jump into their conversation and “school” them, but I breathe and go about my day.

My purpose is to make sure we understand that this “obsession” with the scale needs to STOP. Here’s my personal story. I weigh 124-126 lbs. at 40 years old and I’m 5’01″ (but I’ll swear I’m 5’03″). If you enter these metrics into some body weight/height calculator, I’m considered a bit heavy for my small frame (I gasp). But do I believe I should be 109-112 lbs? (Not this Latina foodie.)

Now here comes the fun stuff. My body fat is 13%, which is considered LEAN for women. Hence, my point…THE SCALE LIES. I do not count calories anymore, I go off my tummy rumbling and fueling my workouts with balanced meals and taking my vitamins and supplements, which we all need.

How can we make some easy changes? STOP weighing yourself constantly. Weighing yourself every day causes negative feelings that can lead to scenarios like the following. You restrict your daily food intake to one meal and cafe. You swear you can survive on 500-700 calories like some ridiculous programs put you on. Sure, you might drop a few pounds for a while, but you feel miserable and it makes you cranky. The minute you decide to eat more because you’re starving, you binge and feel miserable again. Then when you return to eating like a normal human should, you gain back double the weight. A vicious cycle!

Start your day by planning out your meals (like we do for our kids), and take some “mami” time and get a great workout in. Why is it so hard to be positive about being a woman and moving about the world as God intended? Celebrate the amazing creatures that we are. Get your good “mojo” flowing, so you can function and feel balanced. You will start making better decisions and it will reflect in your body.

Work with what you’ve got! Y Muevete. Curvaceous curves? Appreciate your curves and accent them with some lean muscle, eat smaller meals throughout the day and train smarter. Skinny fat? Pick up some weights, eat appropriately and watch those sexy muscles “pop”. Stop guessing, get some great guidance, and you will see changes.

Change your ingredients when you cook. Make brown rice with low sodium chicken broth. Get rid of the MSG filled complete seasonings and use each spice separately with fresh herbs. Make fresh Sofrito, do not use ingredients from preservative filled bottles. Eating clean requires some minor adjustments in preparation, but we are Latinas that can make any food taste good. The consequences of making better choices will be that your clothes will start fitting you a bit looser, your body fat percentage will drop and you will begin to gain some lean muscle. You need to learn what will work for your body and be patient, because when it clicks it’s magical. You still need a long-term plan to learn it, breathe it and live it.

Ladies, be mindful that we have daughters that watch us and hear us talk about food and weight. Make sure you always stress how beautiful they are and why you have made the choice to live a healthier lifestyle. Not to lose weight, but to be healthy overall. The significance of using positive words will make a difference regarding their self-esteem.

I choose to teach my girls about making better food choices, so that they have more energy, so that their brains can work better and so that they can perform at their best. I teach teenage girls that they are still growing into their bodies, that they can make simple changes and choices to feel better. 

In my pregnancies I gained 42, 52 and 60lbs, and I did not go home looking like Heidi Klum after any of them. I wore my faja (girdle) religiously. I worked it off the good old fashioned way. Fueling up with great food, sweating it off at the gym with my awesome trainer or at the garage with my G-mama’s fitness program, and surrounding myself with supportive family and friends. It really was that simple but it took time. And it was worth it.

Enjoy your journey and embrace it, it will be the only way to finally make a change and get off THE SCALE THAT LIES TO YOU!

Stay Strong, Stay Focused & Stay Motivated.