I know, I know. Again with the scale thing. But honestly, I think it's the one thing that causes people to get discouraged. It lies. And often. It isn't your friend. But sadly, if you are trying to lose weight you sort of become addicted to it. Like that toxic friend that you've known your whole life. You know she's bad for you. You know she brings you down yet you can't seem to move on with your life without her. I say this because I'm guilty as charged.
This week I did nothing but cardio to shake it up a bit. I was hoping to get off this plateau I hit a while back. Plateau meaning the number on the scale. I weighed every. single. morning. To no avail. The scale literally ready 153.2 every. single. morning. However, I didn't let it discourage me. I'm past that. I've been doing so well with my calorie intake and training that I said, "So what?" That's hard to do but I didn't come up with that on my on. In fact, my four mile run yesterday set a personal record for 5k and for four miles.
On Lose It! I follow a girl who weight trains nearly every single day of the week. She lifts heavy and long. So much so that she's burning about 600-700 calories in an hour and a half session. She weighs 135 but has built beautiful muscle. She was once addicted to the scale as well, wrapped up in an ideal number in weight rather than focusing on how she felt. Those last few words. We're going to dwell on those today.
Focus on how you feel, not the fact that the scale isn't showing a drop. Not the fact that you aren't weighing your goal number. Any combination of that. Focus on how you feel. Do you feel healthier? Do you feel skinnier? Are your clothes fitting better? Do you have more energy than every before? Are you still motivated because you feel your body changing but aren't seeing it equate to a reduced weight? GOOD! Keep at it! So many times our bodies change right in front of us and we never even realize it because we are caught up in the ideal body image that frankly, may be unreachable. I'm not trying to be Debbie Downer. I'm trying to be realistic. As we get old and our bodies go through certain changes so it's possible you may never weight what you weighed in high school. (That's more for myself than anyone else.) And that's ok!
All of my jeans that I know fit comfortable are in the dirty laundry. I'm so far behind it's ridiculous but my health, my husband and my son come before a clean house and laundry. Anyway, I had to resort to the jeans that I knew don't fit so well now days. They are the jeans I could wear 10-15 pounds ago with no problem. They are the jeans that I figured I'd have to squeeze into this morning and constantly pull up all day because they really don't fit so well. They are also the jeans that I'd need to wear a larger shirt with to hide the muffin top. *gasp*
They are the jeans that fit surprisingly well this morning. They are the jeans I won't have to keep tugging on because my muffin top pushed them down too far. I'm not saying the muffin top is gone. By any means. I'm just saying the scale hasn't budged but the pants are fitting. I'm only down about 3.8 pounds total but the clothes are fitting better.
I really wish I had measured my waist, hips and thighs before I started running and logging my food. That way I'd have a true picture of my success to far. If you are just beginning I strongly urge you to measure. And do it about once a month. That way, if you don't see the scale moving you can see if the inches are. It could make the difference between you staying strong and quitting.
I'll leave you with a powerful statement I read yesterday from a blog link posted by the girl I mentioned earlier. It isn't her blog. She just posted it for people like me.
"Train for a LOOK not for a number."
If you feel better than ever, your clothes fit better than ever and you are stronger than ever then stop stressing over the scale. Do not give up. Every single workout it totally worth it.
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