Since we’ve launched BBalance, we’ve received incredible support from a diverse community of incredible people. And while we already know what we bring to the table, we think it’s equally important (if not more) to hear from our community, in an honest and transparent manner.
We believe in empowering you in a way that's unique to you. So we’re here to listen.
With this idea in mind, we spoke to one of our backers, Kurt Dixon, a 48-year-old private consultant in accountability coaching. We wanted to share his useful insight on how to give yourself the best chance at wellness, incorporating accountability into your lives, and keep a healthy relationship with the scale.
What are the tips to improve proactive health practices?
“Honestly, there are no tricks. Just my primary advice–create a schedule that puts you first and sticks to it. Don’t deviate from anything on that schedule. Prioritize you.
Everything outside of this self-care schedule can fit in around the things you need to do in a 24 hour day. With that, you will be consistent. Consistency establishes the self-care behavior as a natural habit,” said Dixon, when asked about his general approach.
What do we mean by accountability for our health?
Accountability includes everything that we do to stay focused on completing tasks and meeting our goals. The challenge is to eliminate the various distractions, pressures, and temptations in life to stay focused in a transparent and consistent way. When talking about personal health, accountability refers to taking responsibility for our daily actions that impact our health. By looking openly and honestly at our decisions, we can make adjustments and follow through on our goals to improve our daily health and wellbeing.
So can weighing yourself be a part of accountability?
According to Dixon, definitely.
“It’s one of the tools that helps keep track of your health. I like to call it a proactive health practice. A way to see the metrics that are keeping you or making you healthy.”
But as we commonly know, maintaining a healthy relationship with the scale can be difficult. So we asked Dixon for advice.
How does he recommend clients view their relationship with a smart scale?
“Schedule it! I like to view weight on the same level as glucose and blood pressure measurements. Know what to look for and how to correlate it with other metrics and the activities of your life. Once you are able to tie it all together, then it becomes a second nature behavior, like brushing your teeth in the morning. You never think about it, you just do it.
And that's what I teach my clients. I teach them to correlate the numbers to their habits. Not as a good or bad measurement. And it’s definitely not about comparing yourself to anyone else.”
But for some people it can be a bit more difficult. When measuring weight becomes an obsessive action, creates undue anxiety, or leads to disordered eating, the relationship with the scale is jeopardized. Creating a stress-free, positive relationship with the process of understanding your health data is at the heart of BBalance’s goals. We want to reinvent our relationships with our bodies, because weight is just a number. This is why Dixon is especially interested in the BBalance design.
"I like that it measures your weight without the pressure of getting on the scale. I have clients who still struggle with connecting the number to a full determination as to who they are. So, I LOVE the concept of this bath mat, it could potentially be a lot less intimidating,” Dixon exclaimed.
Dixon’s final thoughts on our smart bath mat
“I think BBalance could have a place with my clients, if it turns out to be a perfect tool. I look forward to seeing how it fits into a routine. The posture and balance data as well as it’s integration with other applications, like Apple Health and Google Fit, is an added bonus!”
And we totally agree— Let the numbers serve you.
We want you to feel like BBalance is here to encourage and help you, not judge you.