The Scale & Why It Should NOT Be Your Focus
Friday, September 06, 2013NOTE: I want to explain something. This blog is the step before you start a fitness and nutrition plan. This was written to hopefully help you get your mental attitude straight before you go into your plan. If you're looking for fitness and nutrition tips and tricks, I'd love to help you, but that's not what this is about. In my opinion this is more important. Getting your mind right before you change your body in any way can drastically make things easier later down the line!
I doubt there's anything I could say during this blog to get anyone to stop weighing themselves, but hopefully after reading this blog you'll stop putting so much stress and concern on what the scale says and shift that focus and energy into what really matters.
Let's start at the beginning. Do you really want to lose weight? Almost all the people I know trying to lose weight would answer 'YES of course I do.' I'd like to argue that in fact you don't want to lose weight. Let me explain further...
When you daydream of losing weight, what do you think of the most? How you'll look in a swimming suit? Maybe the feeling of more confidence? Maybe the activities you'll be able to now perform better; running, jumping, pull ups? Something else possibly? The point is this, it's not the weight loss you desire, it's the measurements, the feeling and or the actions that you truly desire.
For example, let's say I'm a genie and you tell me your goal weight is 120 pounds, and you currently weigh 250 pounds. Now I tell you back, that I can't do anything about you're weight but... I'll just give you your ideal body instead. Now you have your ideal body, but your weight hasn't changed, are you really caring at this point what the scale says? Or are you running right to the mirror? I'm guessing you're going straight for the mirror.
How about the women in the picture above? She may have been trying to lose weight, but oops, she gained over 10 pounds. Do you think she cares about her weight at this point? Doubt it. Look at the women below, they all weigh the exact same but all look much different. Maybe some of these women want to change maybe some of them don't, but the point here is that 150 pounds can look very different so don't judge yourself on what the scale says.
To be clear, I'm not advocating that everyone have a 6 pack or look like any of the women in the pictures above. The point is to be happy, healthy and comfortable with yourself.
Conclusion
Look I know it's tough to not jump on the scale and wonder what it says. For some reason it's a lot easier to look at a scale instead of simply looking in the mirror and asking ourselves, 'am I happy with myself?' If after this entire blog you still need that scale to tell you if you're happy or not, I'll come over there myself and set it back a few pounds myself.
Also when you're first starting a nutrition and fitness program I ask TWO things of you. The FIRST is that you give it some time. I have two clients now that say they haven't lost a single pound but they're happier and their clothes fit better. Sounds like progress to me. It's true that muscle weighs more then fat!
And TWO, please stop being so hard on yourself. Pat yourself on the back and reward yourself for any type of progress. Many of the weight loss stories you see in magazines, newspapers, and on TV are false anyways. They just want you to buy some product so don't expect these results. Find someone who has actually done the work and ask them what they did.
Now good luck on whatever journey you choose and stick with it!
0 comments