Scales are Stupid

I'm always surprised by how much stock we all put in the numbers on the scale. The scale doesn't know how hard I've been working out, how much muscle mass I've gained, where I am in my cycle, how much salt I ate the night before, how much water I drank or any of the other factors that make up "the number."

I know I've allowed "the number" to have a big affect how I feel about myself on any particular day. I can feel righteous when I see a loss and fall into despair when I see a gain. I've even been tempted to throw in the towel on this journey if I've done everything right and the stupid scale shows I've gained instead of lost. It's time to stop giving the scale the power to throw me off my game.

Why do we continue to give that piece of metal so much power? I haven't been to the gym since Monday because I pulled a muscle in my back (yes, the doctor agreed it was most likely muscle soreness) but when I got on the scale this morning I was rewarded with a 4.8 pound loss for the week. Huh? That is the most I've lost in a single week this year even though I've worked out harder and longer and ate better on other weeks. I spent the past two days lying flat on my back and not doing the least bit of activity and lost 4.8 pounds. Does that mean I should spend more time lying on my back than in the gym if I want to lose weight? Of course not. It just means the scale doesn't know everything and we should stop giving it so much credit.

I think it's about time we learn the lesson that the scale doesn't know it all. It's just one small way to measure ourselves but we shouldn't let it have so much power over our minds, our self confidence and our actions.

Take the number the scale spits out with a grain of salt. If you're working hard and doing the right things, keep doing it no matter what the scale says. Know you are on the right track and don't let a stupid hunk of metal tell you how to feel.

How much power do you give the scale?

Frustrated

Back in January 2008 I worked up the courage to divulge my weight here on this blog. I've been tempted to delete that post ever since but forced myself to keep it on there so I could look back and see how far I had come once I got to my weight loss goal. Even though I ranted and raved about how much I wanted and needed to lose weight I ended up gaining an additional 16 pounds to reach my highest weight ever in November 2009. Talk about frustration.

Every other time I lost a significant amount of weight I did it by severely changing my diet and hardly doing any regular exercise. I've always been active even at my highest weight but playing on the weekends didn't make up for sitting at a desk for 40+ hours, lazing around and stuffing my face all week.

In the 80's I spent almost a year eating nothing but JC food out of a box to lose 50+ pounds. I couldn't continue to live on that stuff although I've heard that the JC food out of a box has gotten much better since then. I wanted to be able to eat what everyone else was eating and didn't want to live on cardboard boxed food forever.

In the 90's I lost over 60 pounds by avoiding all "white" foods. I still can't believe I was able to do this for so long. I love all those white foods which are so bad for me and give me nothing in return but more fat on my a$$. I amazed myself by staying away from the white bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, flour and sugar but I couldn't keep it up forever. I stayed on my own modified version of Atkins/South Beach and the weight melted off but I couldn't live a life without bread and pasta. I knew my Italian Grandma must have been doing flips in her grave. Life is not worth living if you can never eat a piece of bread or pasta again. This wasn't something I could sustain for a lifetime. It worked until I accidentally ate a crouton and blew right back up like a balloon hooked up to a bottle of helium.

By the time I got laid off from my daily dose of high stress in November 2009 I was bursting at my pant seams at my highest weight ever. I was so miserable and depressed about my work situation it was hard to stay focused on anything else. I binged and grazed all day long to keep my emotions and frustrations inside instead of lashing out and telling those abusers how I really felt because I thought keeping my job was more important. I paid the price in pounds.

I've been away from the corporate hell hole for almost 4 months now and have lost an average of 5 pounds a month. Five measly pounds a month is far from rapid weight loss and I wish it were falling off quicker but I'm happy it's coming off consistently.

I have been religiously attending the gym and getting my sweat on like a good little bunny. I've been rocking that elliptical machine in 60 minute intervals an average of 5 days a week and recently started throwing some weights around. I've been playing on my Wii and wearing a pedometer and striving to get those 10,000+ steps a day. It's not coming off fast but it is coming off.

I'd like to pick up this turtle pace so I'm going to tackle my diet in addition to cranking it up at the gym. There's a novel idea, huh? Combine diet and regular exercise to get results. I think I've heard a few people say that's the key to the weight loss mystery. I don't know why it has always been one or the other for me.

I haven't had any severe binge episodes since I escaped the stressful work situation but I haven't really gotten super strict with my diet either. I've basically been eating what I want in moderation but if I want to speed up the process I'm going to have to sacrifice a little and learn to stop eating at night, cut down the weekend snacking and turn down the fattening foods in social situations where I tend to get in trouble.

I'm not discouraged but I am frustrated that I'm not losing at least 2 pounds a week. It's time for me to put the two pieces of the puzzle together and get this game on the fast(er) track.

It's Monday!

It's the first Monday of the new year and I have to admit I was surprised I didn't see too many new faces at the gym. I figured the gym would be packed with all those people who pay for a yearly membership in January only to go a few times and then waste the rest of their membership year once the flames of the New Year fire wears off. I got a good 60 minutes on the elliptical and then came home and played on the Wii for a while.

I've been trying to stay off the scale since I started going to the gym regularly because I didn't want to get discouraged if the pounds weren't coming off as quickly as I would like considering all the work I've been doing. I decided to hop on the evil scale today because I figured I should know where I'm starting off in the New Year. I'm hoping 2010 is the year I "finally figure it out" and get this weight off for good.

I'm happy to say I've lost 10 pounds since I joined the gym a little over a month ago. So, in just over a month I lost a total of 10 pounds which isn't too bad considering most people gain 7-10 pounds between Thanksgiving and New Year. I'm sure I would have lost more if I didn't go nuts eating all that crack and other holiday goodies. I think 10 pounds a month is a good goal to strive towards.

I'm going to try not to get hung up on the numbers and just continue to focus on going to the gym, getting a good workout and eating relatively healthy 90% of the time. I'm thinking I'll try to limit getting on the scale to once a month so I can track my progress but not get all crazy about the numbers. It should be about how I feel not what that evil piece of metal tells me, right?

How often do you weigh yourself? Does the number affect your mood?

No Fun

I remember when I used to love shopping for new clothes. I could go to any store and pick out just about anything and it would fit. Now I hate to shop for clothes because I can't fit my a$$ into anything I like. It is so sad that the designers don't make stylish clothes for the majority of women in the world. Are there really that many size 00-2's out there? I don't see that many on the street? Where are they all? at the gym? I don't see that many of them there either.

It's funny how clothes that would look adorable in size 9-10 look like old lady fat clothes in a size 16-18. Things need to change. I can't do this anymore. I can't keep talking about losing weight and thinking about losing weight but not doing enough about it to get results. It is making me crazy.

I was also thinking about how I keep saying I know how to lose but haven't been able to maintain any substantial loss but that really isn't true. The few times I've lost a substantial amount of weight (over 60 pounds) I never made it down to my goal weight. I would start gaining the weight back even before I got to my goal weight. I need to change things and get to the finish line and then figure out how to do the maintenance thing. I'm not getting any younger.

Patriot Nation

It is a very dark day in Patriot Nation. I'm still in shock. I just can't believe the Pats are not the Super Bowl Champions. It was a truly amazing season and they should be proud of what they accomplished but they didn't get the icing on the cake.

It looked like the Patriots were destined for a perfect season until the last 3 minutes of the Super Bowl. I don't understand how Manning broke out of that tackle. Where was Tom's protection all night? What was up with Bill's red hoodie sweatshirt?

I'm too depressed to write anymore. We will have to wait another year to see the Pats get some new championship bling. I guess we need to put this under the category of "You Can't Win Them All."