Monday, December 7, 2009

What the scale can't tell me

I'm seriously thinking about not doing my weigh in today. OK, "seriously" is too strong of a word. How about, I'm "considering" not doing my weigh in this morning. When I decided to lose weight, I also decided to check my weight and take measurements once a week. Monday is my day, so I should be up on the scale right now, but I'm mulling it over for now. I usually have a hard time not weighing myself in between the "official" weigh ins, so why am I hesitating today? Because there are some things that the scale can't tell me.

The scale can't tell me that I have exercised for 8 days in a row. Some of those walks were only 30 minutes, but a couple were an hour and I added a 20-30 minute video a couple of days as well. 8 days is not a lot to some people, but for someone who hasn't worked out regularly in years, it's a big deal. I felt great all week and I know it's because I was working out every day.

The scale also can't tell me that since Friday I've been wearing jeans a size smaller than I've worn in years! Were they tight? Yeah, a little. Did I have to lay on the bed and suck it in to get them zipped? Nope. Did they look painted on or did my thighs look like they were wrapped in sausage casing? No and no.

I know the scale is an important barometer of my progress, but it's not the only one. I am keeping track of my BMI and measurements as well and the scale can't tell me that since I started this journey, I've lost at least an inch and a half in each of these areas- my waist, my thighs and my hips. Of course I've lost 2 inches in my chest, but that's a topic for another day-ha ha!

The number on that scale shouldn't be the beat-all end-all. It shouldn't make or break my day, but sometimes it does. I don't want to get on the scale today and lose the feeling that I have right now. Feeling good is only increasing my motivation right now and I can't afford to lose that. If I haven't lost weight since last week, will that discourage me or will it fire me up to work harder this week? I don't know and I'm not sure I can risk finding out, so I'm putting it off for now. I'll probably end up on that scale today (it calls my name sometimes-I swear), but no matter what it says, I'm going to try really hard not to let it affect me too much either way because there are some things that the scale just can't tell me.

3 comments:

  1. LOL, I know the feeling. If you noticed, I haved posted a weigh-in in the last week or so just for that very same reason. I'm exercising, clothes are fitting better, people are asking me have I lost weight, etc.. so I don't want to mess things up. The scale does not tell us all our achievements and success. I'm thinking about not weighing again until the end of the month. We'll see what happens. :-)

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  2. Well, there's no rule that says you HAVE to weigh in. If you're feeling good, and you're obviously getting smaller (yay to smaller jeans!), then skip it!
    But, don't skip it too much - I find that when I stop weighing in, I lose a bit of my focus, and find myself sneaking in more food than I should be. The scale keeps me honest.

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  3. Hi! Thanks for becoming a follower of my blog, I love support! I am so happy you wrote this post, it's a lot of how I'm feeling right now in a lot of ways! (I actually just spelled that as weighs and had to delete it! haha!). Anyway, thanks for the support!

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