What Are Your Goals - And It Can't Be a Number

Imagine if your trainer asked you to get crystal clear about your goals, EXCEPT those goals can't have anything to do with numbers on a scale.  What would you say?  How do you want to FEEL?
"Because that's really it, isn't it?  When we start out on any fitness or health journey, whether we know it or not, we're chasing a feeling.  Maybe we desperately want to feel in control again.  Maybe we want to feel free.  Maybe we want to feel strong.  Maybe we want to feel accepted.  Maybe we want to feel seen or appreciated or valued.  But I guarantee you we aren't actually chasing the feeling of 125 pounds."

Perhaps a goal is to do a pull up!

I loved this because I had just written about "What was the best part of my trip to Bermuda?"  And all I could say is that it was a "feeling."  A friend of mine told me about this article she had just read - that I quoted above.  It's called You Weigh WHAT?! and can be found on gritandgratitude.com.

She asked her clients about their goal as stated above.  Then she took before pictures.  At the end, she took after pictures.  Every week she weighed them, measured their body fat and checked for change in inches (waist and hips.)  However, she did NOT let them see the numbers.    The program was designed to take the power AWAY from numbers.

"At the end of the program, every one of my challengers made remarkable visual progress!  Many of them were comfortably wearing their 'goal' outfit by weeks 3 and 4, so needless to say, come week 8 we were seeing some pretty dramatic changes in those pictures."  She mentions how in the before photos, she noticed looks of defeat and shame and even tears.  However, in the after photos, there were giant smiles!  They didn't need her confirmation, they could feel it in their bodies, in their clothes and in their daily interactions with others.

She shared the progress photos at the end with the whole group and it's just our human nature to want to know the "numbers" that go along with the photo.  She didn't tell them.  They each voted on the challenger they thought made the most dramatic change.  Once all the votes were in, she shared the pounds, body fat and inches lost with those challengers that wanted to know.  "Even after they SAW their own transformation, they let the numbers (even "better" numbers) steal that joy as quickly as it came."

DON'T LET THE NUMBER STEAL YOUR JOY!

I can't tell you how many times I would come to Ryan and tell him about the most excellent doctor appointment I had and how blown away the doctor was and how she would say "Keep doing what you are doing."  But then perhaps the next day I would "weigh in" and maybe only lose 1/2 pound and I would get physically angry.  (Drove him crazy.)  We should strive to NOT live like I was.

That doesn't mean I don't keep striving towards my goal; it means I don't let my mind try to trick me into thinking I'm not making progress because of a number!  Look at this before picture.  I think I've made some progress!  Keep at it folks.

Jan 2016 / July 2017

 I'll never forget Suzanne telling me to "keep moving."  She helped me with rehab on my knee, and it hurt particularly bad that day.  And to add insult to injury my arthritis was bothering me.  She said, "The best thing you can do is KEEP MOVING."  So whenever I have a day where my body feels funky, I just remember I'm helping my future self by continuing to move today.

Keep moving - no matter how my body feels.

Here is the article for further reference:
https://www.gritandgratitude.com/blog/2017/6/29/tfyldjtahyrn06v94gmlniyikoqrze

Life is Incredible

Oh my goodness I have so much to say.  Shocker, isn't it?!?

My husband and I recently returned from a cruise to Bermuda.  Several people have asked me "What was your favorite part of the cruise."  The only thing I can say is that it is a "feeling."  A feeling of thankfulness for where I am today, a feeling for how active I can be today, a feeling of how great life is for me!

I've slowly (over time) made a shift in my thinking about my fitness journey.  For so long I was caught up in the number on the scale and why hadn't it moved down more or faster or whatever!  I really think I put pressure on myself to get down to at least 100 pounds lost before Ryan decided to move on in his career and possibly stop helping me.  I don't know if that makes sense or not, but for a long time I wanted to lose the weight to make him proud.  Yet all along he has said, "You are doing this for YOU! Not me.  Not anyone else.  YOU."  I feel like that has clicked in the past few months (only took a year.  lol)  I think the biggest thing I can stress here is make sure you are doing it for you!  Maybe you want to look good for your spouse or boyfriend or girlfriend, maybe your parent is pressuring you??  You need to get to the place that you want to do it for YOU!

Life has a way of throwing curveballs at us.  If my mind is made up that I am doing this for ME, then it is easier for me to work around the curveballs that are thrown my way.  I've always been a competitor so throw a curve ball at me and I'll show you how I can overcome.

The other thing I realized is how many women there are who are much thinner than I am and look fantastic, yet still are unhappy with their body or their weight.  (Was I going to get to my goal weight and still be unhappy?  I need to change that perception now.)  And then also how many times a day they weigh themselves. Let me ask you this, when you weigh yourself (more than once a day) are you going to do something different that day based on the number?  If not, why weigh yourself?   I hope to help change your perception of yourself by writing what I am learning.

Would I love to have the body I had at 20 and before 3 children?  Maybe.  But I'd much rather be happy, healthy, and strong. The last time I weighed myself was before Ryan left at the end of May.  The next time I will weigh myself (because of my summer) is at the end of July.  I cannot tell you how freeing this is.  I get physically angry at the number on the scale and it usually ruins my day if not my week.  Do you know how crazy that is?  I need to STOP that.

So far I have lost 66 pounds.  I have NOT lost 100 pounds.  BUT - here is what I have done so far this summer that NEVER would have been possible 18 months ago (or for the past 12 years).

First time EVER - zip lining

First time EVER as an adult cliff jumping

First time in a VERY long time - I wore a bathing suit in public.

First time EVER - simulated skydiving

First time in 10 years to go away with just my husband -
AND stay in the same room because I don't snore like a freight train anymore.

Please do NOT let the scale define you!  Do not let it occupy space in your head.   I am not near my goal weight at all, but I am also no longer almost 300 pounds.  I am so much healthier AND happier.  I will get there.  It's just going to be on a slower timetable than some.  And I will get there because I am doing this for ME.

You are more than a number