Eating · Structure & Agreements
Blind Weights — Psychoed & Contract
Not knowing the number is a skill, not a deprivation
Most ED programs weigh clients backward on the scale — the number stays with the treatment team, not the client. This isn't secrecy; it's removing a variable that reliably drives the disorder. This page explains the why and formalizes the agreement.
Why blind weights
- The number, whatever it is, gets used against recovery
- A drop becomes 'proof' to restrict; a gain becomes a reason to restrict too
- The scale hijacks the day for hours after weigh-in
- Weight fluctuates 1–3 lbs daily from fluid / GI / hormones — noise, not signal
- The team needs the trend line; you need your life back
The agreement
- I weigh backward, or my clinician / RD weighs me
- The number is not shared with me during acute treatment
- I don't weigh at home, at the gym, or at doctor's offices
- I don't ask indirectly ('am I gaining fast?', 'what BMI?', 'clothing size?')
- If I need to know before it's clinically appropriate, we discuss it first
When (if ever) the team plans to unblind weights
What I'll do the day of weigh-in to protect the rest of it
Not knowing is a skill, not a deprivation
Tolerating not knowing the number is one of the most important exposures in ED treatment. The urge to know is the disorder. The capacity to not know is recovery.