The Weight Debate

I feel the need to scream this message from the rooftops in hopes that a few women can hold onto this lesson and drop this nasty little habit.  The nasty habit I am referring to is basing your results on your WEIGHT!

By weight I mean the little number on the weight scale that defines whether or not we are happy with our results.

Since I began writing for DML Fitness a few years ago, and took my fitness to the next level, I have received all kinds of questions regarding how other motivated individuals can get some results of their own.  I love to share, and so this has been one of my favorite parts of this journey!

Over the years, the one question that I have received again and again is this:

I have been sticking with my program and doing all the right things, but I haven’t lost any weight

Or this:

My pants are baggier, and I can even see a difference, but the scale won’t budge

Or even this:

My goal was to lose 10lbs, and although I’m down two pant sizes, I’ve only lost 5lbs.

I can’t help but shake my head at these questions, now that I can see the light, but it was only but a few years ago that I was in the very same mental state.  The weight scale trap, if you will!

I used to think and say “I weigh 120lbs when I’m fit, so if I’m more than that I’m not fit anymore!” and I would go to the gym and lift more weights, and alas, I would be up another pound!

I would eat low-carb diets with little to no fiber, where I couldn’t BUY myself a bowel movement, and wonder why my weight kept going up.  Without realizing that all the food I was putting in was staying in, because my body was bunged up and wouldn’t digest and remove the waste within. 

The thing about the weight scale is that it is only recording how much you weigh.  It is not reflecting how much FAT you are carrying, or how much muscle you have added.  Things like carrying excess water can greatly impact how much you weight, and your water weight could be affected by something as simple as a salty meal, or hormones! Or when was the last time you went pee? What about your last bowel movement?

Hell, if you had a salty meal while PMSing, and haven’t peed or had any bowel movements in a day you could be holding as much as 5lbs of weight that have absolutely nothing to do with your body fat %.

We have all heard the excuse of being “big boned”, well body mass (such as your bone structure), this is all weighed on a scale too! They say ‘age ain’t nothing but a number’ well the same goes for that damn weight you’r e obsessing over!

In the past I could see drastically awesome results in the mirror, and felt amazing with how hard I have worked and I would think “ooooooh I wonder how much weight I have lost?!” only to step on the scale and see I have lost 1 pound.  In two months of working my ass off (quite literally!).  How disappointing, and it really did make me feel I wasn’t making progress.  When in reality, I was making huge improvements, but the scale didn’t reflect that at all.  Why do I even bother?  I would think.

We need to start looking to REAL changes in our body to determine our satisfaction with results! Give a few of these a try, and get focused on what matters and what is real:

·         Go get a body composition test done: to see your actual body fat %, and get that checked monthly to see your REAL fat loss! (Many health clubs will have this available for a fee)

·         Judge your results in strength:  how much more weight you can lift in the gym, how much easier it is to walk upstairs, how much more firm do your muscles feel

·         The Mirror never lies: pick a few of your least favorite body parts, and pay close attention to them throughout your transformation, you’ll see all that hard work paying off.  Pick a few poses, and always go to the same ones and see the changes first hand! I personally count cellulite dimples in the mirror and watched the numbers dwindle down to none!

·         Progress Pictures: My personal favorite! There is no better way to see progress than by lining a few months’ worth of progress pictures side by side and watching the progression with your own eyes!

·         Clothing Fit: Pay attention to how your clothes fit at the beginning of your fitness routine, and track which pants are beginning to get a little loose, or how the sleeves in your shirts are getting less tight. 

 It’s the little victories that will keep you going, and these little tips on tracking your progress will keep you motivated! And the best part of these results is that they are REAL! They are real-life results that other people will see.

Do you think people see you and think “Yeah she looks great, she looks about 125lbs!” NOOOO! No one knows or cares about how much you weigh - except yourself! So do more research if you don’t believe me, but the number on a scale has little no nothing to do with how you look.

I have been a soft, unfit 130lbs, and I have been a lean machine 130lbs.  I have also been 120lbs soft, and skinny. 

Today is by far the best I have ever felt and looked in my life, and I’m floating around 130lbs.  Most of the professional bikini competitors I see online are around 110-115lbs around competition prep, and do you think this worries me? Not one bit.  I’m not proposing my transformation is complete and I am stage ready, BUT if I am completely ready for the stage and look better than the pros (again not implying this will happen, but a girl can dream!) and I still sit at 130lbs, would this make any difference to how I look?

Will the judges say “this girl by far has a superior body, but she weighs 130lbs, so we will give 1st place to someone else!”?  No flippin way!

Ditch the scale, and start celebrating the little victories!!! What would you prefer: the body of your dreams, or a few numbers changing on a digital scale? I’m not saying you can’t have both, but obsessing over a number isn’t doing you any favours, and may be discouraging if the number isn’t what you expected. 

I’ve done it, we’ve all done it.  We put value in something not worth our time, and this weight-obsessed fitness goal pattern is not worth our time.

The fight against fat is a full on war, but one that you can conquer any time you see fit, if you keep your eyes on the prize – and the prize has nothing to do with a weight scale!

Let me hear your battle cry!!!!

---