Me, My Scale and I

Judy's transformation

I met Judy at Gold's Gym a little over a year ago.  She was aware of me and my journey and I was aware that she was hitting the gym every day and that she loved to play racquetball.  I remember last Christmas wanting to give my supporters a thank you card from me. I didn't know her name so I had written "racquetball girl."  I gave her the card, asked her name, and then wrote her name in my locker so I would never forget.  That's Judy - a pretty unforgettable lady.

Today I want to write about the scale and my relationship with it.  But I want to handle a couple of things first.  Oftentimes, people ask me if I'm writing about them?  I am not!  What I write about is what I am dealing with or what I have figured out for me.

There's a story about a young preacher who always prayed for the town alcoholic to come to church.  Finally the alcoholic came and the preacher put aside his planned teaching and taught about the perils of alcoholism.  At the end of the sermon, the preacher was shaking hands in the vestibule.  The alcoholic said, "I came to church today to learn HOW to get out of what I was into.  All you did was put me further in.  I can tell you anything you want to know about alcoholism."  From then on the preacher decided to teach the HOW of living abundantly.  I would never want to write anything to make you feel worse about yourself.  I would hope that what I write might help you learn how to handle a similar situation and prevail.

Secondly, I like to show you pictures of me or my friends - REAL people with REAL results.  Not stock photos that are used to promote gyms.  Hence, the photo of Judy above.  She's lost well over 100 pounds.  She did it by way of proper nutrition and exercise.  AND it took time.

 My relationship with the scale is complicated.  When my trainer first told my husband to get rid of our scale at home so that I would only weigh once a week at the gym, I thought about the scale about 30-40 times a day.  Now, I only weigh in once a month and my non-weigh in days are actually excellent days.  But when it gets to the day before the weigh in day I am filled with anxiety.  And that's even with all the times I have encouraged others that "It's only a number." It still gets to me.

I was talking with someone the other day who is unable to exercise right now.  Their number on the scale has not changed, yet their pants wouldn't fit around their waist anymore.  She needed larger pants.  And I said, I've only lost 2 pounds in the past four weeks, yet my pants are falling off my waist and I need to go down in size.

Shouldn't that be something to rejoice about instead of the number on the scale!  (The answer is yes.)

Survey I took on the "weight" number

Thank you to those of you who took your weight five times in the same day.  What we see is that in the course of ONE DAY our weight can change by 2 to 4.5 pounds.  I think when you look at it that way, you have to see more clearly that it truly is JUST a number.  It also helps you see that perhaps you pick the same time of day to weigh yourself (if you are tracking.)  My time is first thing in the morning after breakfast but before coffee and it's at Gold's Gym (and it's only once a month.)  I used to get so disappointed knowing that my weight was a certain number and then going to a doctor appointment mid-day.  I'd be fully clothed but no shoes and my weight would be 2 to 3 pounds heavier than I knew it should be.  That used to really bum me out.  However, seeing my little social experiment above, I now see that's pretty par for the course.

So again, I tell myself do not let the number on the scale "get to you."  Use it instead as a measurement.  Do you want to know what is an even better measurement?  Judy and I have both had recent blood tests.  Judy was "shouting from the rooftops" that her cholesterol was in the normal range.  A first for her in a very, very long time.   The same thing happened to me.  My latest victory is that it is taking less and less thyroid medicine to regulate my thyroid.  I'll take LESS medicine ANY day.

Do not weigh every day if it steals your joy away!