Stop Pressuring Me, Scale!

I committed to myself around week 2 of my stay at Green Mountain that I would stop weighing myself as often as I had been.  How many of you have woken up in a great mood, gotten on the scale, and then watched your mood fall quicker than the Drop Zone ride at the local amusement park?  It's so disheartening!  Especially if you are weighing yourself in daily.

We aren't meant to weigh-in so often.  Our bodies fluctuate often and any little thing can make those stupid little numbers go up or down.  Your body is retaining water!  You had too much salt 2 days ago!  Your muscles are growing and muscle weighs more than fat!  You're PMSing!  Your body just hates you today for no reason!  Way too many things to be thinking about.

It is so much harder when you are trying to lose weight to see those numbers on the scale.  It could be that you only lost 2 pounds in 2 weeks, you gained 0.5 pounds in a week, you stayed the same, you gained 2 pounds...all help to put you (well, me at least!) in a bad mood.  And for what?!  Wasn't I feeling good before I got on the scale?  Why can't that be my 'weigh-in' for the day?  If I were to weigh in on my feelings, mood, strength, energy, happiness, wouldn't that give me so much more information?  I (YOU) are more than a number on the scale.

Have you ever seen The Biggest Loser on TV?  I stopped watching it a few years ago because it just made my own journey seem impossible.  You mean, I have to work out like a maniac for 8 hours a day and starve myself to lose 15 pounds in a week?  No thank you.  One thing I learned recently that surprised me was that the contestants don't weigh in every seven days as the show has you believe.  It's closer to every 15 days!  Because they know that the numbers on the scale will be more 'exciting' after 15 days than 7 days.  And don't get me started on how quickly many of those contestants gain back all of their lost weight....

Anyway, so I have realized that when I have been getting bored, my mind starts to say, "Hey Beth...shouldn't you weigh in?  The scale is right there!  I bet you've lost so much weight!"  And I have to say back, "Stop pressuring me!  I feel great today!  I have so much energy.  I'm waking up before 8:30 AM on my own everyday.  I really enjoy my aquatics class.  My muscles feel strong.  I'm happy with all of the new organic food in my life.  That scale will NOT say what I want it to say."  I know curiosity will get the best of me, so I am allowing myself weigh in at the end of every month.  Weighing a month apart will give me a more accurate idea of how I am doing.  I will just need to recite to myself, "I am more than a number.  I am more than a number."  Over and over again so I can see what the scale says and MOVE ON.

When I left GM and got my monthly check up, I wasn't (not surprisingly) that excited about the new number on the scale.  I was super excited about the inches I had lost on my body.  Because if you think about it, that is something tangible that myself and others can see.  So I have ordered myself a measuring tape and will be checking my measurements at the end of the month as well.  But again, I will need to see the results and let it go.

I feel strong.  I feel energetic.  I feel happy.  I am open to the possibility of accepting myself as I am today.