I want to be transparent. This post is inspired by the fact that at my OB appointment this week the term “accelerated weight gain” was used + all of the pregnancy weight conversations had with my MKE Moms Blog Tribe since then.

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When you step on the scale and you see a number you don’t want to see or aren’t expecting to see, it can literally take your breath away. Or maybe make you breathe harder and send tears straight to your eyes. Or maybe you just roll your eyes and sigh. With any of those reactions, I want to tell you – it doesn’t have to be that way.

Okay, of course I can currently expect my number to rise due to the fact that I am pregnant, but I had this expectation in my mind of how it would do so. Slow and steady, not tipping the scale in the slightest, just as it had the first two times around. Wrong. I was wrong. At just about 15 weeks pregnant I am just about 15 pounds up – which is more than double where I was at with Maven or Sylvie. Hence the “accelerated weight gain” discussion. It was pleasant and un-accusing, I swear. The discussion was more worry on my part that the weight gain could indicate gestational diabetes or something else unhealthy, but surely the term didn’t go unnoticed.

Of course I told my husband immediately who replied, “You look beautiful. Let’s be healthy together.” And also my friend Amy who is two weeks further along than me and she empathized that sometimes we just need to have a pep talk ready for ourselves to be more self-loving, or if we can’t, have a friend on hand to do so for us. And finally, I expressed that I would celebrate this accelerated weight gain news to my MKE Moms Blog Tribe by having a mocktail and horizontal night on the couch while binge watching something on television.

I didn’t want to wallow in the weight though. I am trusting and listening to my body to have a healthy pregnancy and am so confident I will dedicate myself to becoming stronger than ever before after having this little babe. The thing is: The facts and the number may not change, but you can change the way you feel. As my friend Lauren wrote to me this week – let the numbers on the scale just be the numbers. She just birthed her second child, a beautiful baby girl, and told me she didn’t even track the weight in her pregnancy this time around. Let the numbers on the scale just be the numbers. And while it does take so much self-encouragement to let those numbers be, I highly recommend we all take her advice and actually do just that. Focusing on health and happiness is far more valuable.

I want to raise my daughters (*children* in case I have a boy) to know and live in self-love. I don’t want them to ever hear me criticize myself or ever think they are anything defined by a measurement of weight. We are worth so much more. Which is why I think we need to use a new scale to measure ourselves.

This is my suggestion: No matter where you are at in your life, no matter your actual number on the scale, your weight loss goals, your health status or your pregnancy status, think let the numbers on the scale just be the numbers + use a wellness rating instead.

If I asked you to rate your overall wellness on a scale of 1-10, one being absolutely unwell to 10 being the most well/ healthiest you could be, what number would you give yourself? Think about it. Truly. Rate yourself. What are the areas that would allow you to rate yourself higher?

Here are some areas you could consider:

• Sleep
• Exercise
• Dining out
• Fruit and vegetable consumption
• Stress levels
• Hobbies (that bring you joy)
• Expressing yourself (i.e. journaling, art, etc.)
• Speaking with a counselor
• Faith
• Level of self-love
• Dedicated “me time” for rejuvenation
• Volunteering
• Fresh air or outdoor time
• Reading or listening to inspirational books/messages/etc.

I think we should focus on moving our way up the wellness scale one number at a time, rather than get overwhelmed with the endless list of total ways we could be healthier. Now that I’m coming out of the darkness that is AKA the first trimester, honestly, I would rate myself a 7. I don’t have any judgement on the rating because I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, I just know I definitely have room for improvement. But, now that I am feeling less nauseous and zombie-like, I am focusing on getting back to exercising 4-5x a week. I know that if I stay committed to doing so, my number will move up on that wellness scale. And it’s already working. I’ve been steady in my workouts for a few weeks now and honestly I feel so good because of it. So maybe I’m now an 8. {See, it works!}

If we feel well, we live well. And that is very important.

I may just be preaching this message to myself, or maybe you need to hear it too: Whatever the number on the actual scale is – forget it right now. Rate your wellness and pick a step to move your rating up by one.

Be sure to let me know how it goes. I’ll be here cheering you on, or I can surely be the one to give you a pep talk and remind you to let the numbers on the scale just be the numbers.

XO