Hi, my name is Heather and I am a scale-aholic. I admit it, I am. I weigh myself every morning. I get up, use the bathroom, strip down for the shower and weigh myself. The timing has to be just that because any "water" that was in my system from the night is now in our plumbing system, and I haven't gotten into the shower yet so no chance of water weight from wet hair or skin. Crazy, I know, but that's my routine.
I know that my weight can fluctuate greatly from day to day with the overall number still coming down, but I still weigh myself. Every. Single. Day. Before TCII, it would almost always backfire on me. If I saw a good number on the scale, then I would end up telling myself, "Heather, you're doing great. The scale was down this morning, go ahead and have that cookie." Or if it were up, then my inner voice is saying, "You screwed up again, you obviously can't even maintain so how are you ever going to LOSE. Go ahead, have that cookie, it doesn't matter anyway." See what I mean?
The other thing scale hopping did was had me way to focused on the number on the dial. And I know this sounds way cheesy, but that number on the scale is really just that...a number! I know that. I know that if I weighed 200 lbs, but still felt great and looked good and my clothes fit, who cares what my actual weight is???
This last point was driven home recently by our dexascan. This is a scan of your entire body that gives you your percent body fat, amount of muscle, etc. It was part of the TCII and I was really excited to see my results. Well, they were better than I expected. Yes, I have a high body fat number, no surprise there. What I was surprised by was my lean muscle mass. According to the scan, I have 117 lbs of lean muscle mass. That's not counting the other organs and tissues and such in my body. That's a LOT of muscle! LOL When I was in college I was 120 lbs, but all I ever did was run, I never did any strength training. So yes, I was trim, but I wasn't really strong or fit. Sadly enough for any of you college students out there, starving yourself so you have more beer money for the weeekend and running your butt off between parties to burn off the beer calories probably doesn't count as being fit. Sorry, don't shoot the messenger.
In any event, what does that scan mean? That scan means that I will likely never get even CLOSE to 120 again unless I lose some serious muscle mass. And I'm okay with that. I have to adjust my expectations of what being healthy means. That doesn't mean I can't be a size 7 again. I'm just going to be a much more toned size 7.
The good news is that since starting TCII, my need to find the nearest Scale Hoppers Anonymous meeting has been greatly diminished. Now, that's probably because I am showering 4-5 mornings a week at the gym and don't have access to my scale at home. But my goal this week is not to step on that scale at home (or at the gym) until my next weigh in on Thursday. Not even once. I am going to work my tail off and hope for a good number and hopefully be surprised with a great number. It's an experiment. All in the name of science, y'all. :) Wish me luck and I challenge you to do the same and see how you do on your diet and exercise routine this week.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Stop and Think!
I was at the gym bright and early this morning at 6 am for a “last chance workout” before our Weight Watchers meeting at 6:45. The poor gal that weighs us in always has to deal with half of us TC-ers coming in sweaty and gross from getting our cardio in beforehand. But she always has a smile on her face anyway. What a trooper! :)
I was proud of myself this morning because I ran the better part of the 30 minutes I was on the treadmill, only walking a few minutes, and I didn’t feel like I was going to have a heart attack! That’s a big improvement for me.
I’ve been inspired to start running again by my friend the amazing , the wonderful, the marvelous Miss M. We ran side by side on the treadmill last week and I noticed her doing “sprints” where she upped the speed for short bursts of time. My competitive side kicking in, I thought, I can do that. So I did. I didn’t get the speed up to as fast as she was, but fast for me. So this morning I did it again. And it felt good. I don’t think I’ll go back to a 6 days a week running program like I did long ago, but I will definitely start adding running into my cardio mix.
I’ve also hit spin class a couple times in the last week. My butt hurts so badly! And I’m not talking about the muscles, I’m talking a seriously bruised booty! But nothing burns more calories for me than a good spin class, so I’m going to try to keep hitting that once or twice a week, sore butt or no sore butt.
My hard work paid off this week. Even with the holiday, I lost a little over two pounds making my grand total 6.6 lbs. It might be lofty, but my goal this week is to really step it up and get as close to, if not over, 10 lbs as I can. That is another 3.4 lbs. Probably not doable, but I am going to try. If I try and get even halfway, I've still done well.
On my way to work, I stopped at Edna Valley to pick up some water. As I was walking in, I thought, "I'm starving! I had a great weigh-in, I'm going to reward myself with one of their coffee cakes!" I went in and had every intention of getting one. I would journal it and yes, it would use up a lot of my points, but I could still probably stay within my totals for the day and certainly for the week.
Then I stopped and thought about it. Do I want the changes I am making to be permanent or temporary? Do I want to eat healthy and exercise every day or just on the days that it "counts" i.e. closer to weigh in? Do I want to do the best I can for my weight loss and fitness regime or do I want to just get by and just do enough? The answers to all those questions is the first option. This is a PERMANENT change for me. It has to be, otherwise, I'll slide right back into where I was and trust me, that is not a good place to be.
Can I allow myself to have something I really like and have been craving without going completely off program? Certainly. But if I make it a regular occurrance, like getting a coffee cake every time I have a good weigh in, then what happens when I reach my goal weight? "Oh, I'm at goal, I can have a coffee cake a couple mornings a week." I know myself, I am a creature of habit. If I start doing that, I will eventually go back to stopping there every day of the week on my way to work, picking up a coffee cake and a soda. And even if I didn't gain any weight back, I wouldn't be giving my body the nutrition and fuel it needs and deserves.
Another thing that this got running through my mind is how I use food. Is food really a reward? Or a comfort? Or a way to entertain myself? Because I have been guilty of using it as all of those things on occasion. Or should food be a way to fuel my body? It should be the latter, of course. If I can stop using food as a reward, then next I can work on my emotional eating, etc. Does that also mean I will never turn to food for comfort or as a reward? Heck, no! But I can make better choices in my "comfort food" and "treats." And I can use food in those ways much less frequently.
Long story short, I walked away from the coffee cake and went straight to the water case. I went to work and ate my breakfast of cereal, milk and fruit and I am off to Trader Joe's on my lunch hour to restock my work "pantry" (file cabinet drawer) and fridge for today and tomorrow. I should be poised for another good week. Check back next time to see if my change in attitude helped!
I was proud of myself this morning because I ran the better part of the 30 minutes I was on the treadmill, only walking a few minutes, and I didn’t feel like I was going to have a heart attack! That’s a big improvement for me.
I’ve been inspired to start running again by my friend the amazing , the wonderful, the marvelous Miss M. We ran side by side on the treadmill last week and I noticed her doing “sprints” where she upped the speed for short bursts of time. My competitive side kicking in, I thought, I can do that. So I did. I didn’t get the speed up to as fast as she was, but fast for me. So this morning I did it again. And it felt good. I don’t think I’ll go back to a 6 days a week running program like I did long ago, but I will definitely start adding running into my cardio mix.
I’ve also hit spin class a couple times in the last week. My butt hurts so badly! And I’m not talking about the muscles, I’m talking a seriously bruised booty! But nothing burns more calories for me than a good spin class, so I’m going to try to keep hitting that once or twice a week, sore butt or no sore butt.
My hard work paid off this week. Even with the holiday, I lost a little over two pounds making my grand total 6.6 lbs. It might be lofty, but my goal this week is to really step it up and get as close to, if not over, 10 lbs as I can. That is another 3.4 lbs. Probably not doable, but I am going to try. If I try and get even halfway, I've still done well.
On my way to work, I stopped at Edna Valley to pick up some water. As I was walking in, I thought, "I'm starving! I had a great weigh-in, I'm going to reward myself with one of their coffee cakes!" I went in and had every intention of getting one. I would journal it and yes, it would use up a lot of my points, but I could still probably stay within my totals for the day and certainly for the week.
Then I stopped and thought about it. Do I want the changes I am making to be permanent or temporary? Do I want to eat healthy and exercise every day or just on the days that it "counts" i.e. closer to weigh in? Do I want to do the best I can for my weight loss and fitness regime or do I want to just get by and just do enough? The answers to all those questions is the first option. This is a PERMANENT change for me. It has to be, otherwise, I'll slide right back into where I was and trust me, that is not a good place to be.
Can I allow myself to have something I really like and have been craving without going completely off program? Certainly. But if I make it a regular occurrance, like getting a coffee cake every time I have a good weigh in, then what happens when I reach my goal weight? "Oh, I'm at goal, I can have a coffee cake a couple mornings a week." I know myself, I am a creature of habit. If I start doing that, I will eventually go back to stopping there every day of the week on my way to work, picking up a coffee cake and a soda. And even if I didn't gain any weight back, I wouldn't be giving my body the nutrition and fuel it needs and deserves.
Another thing that this got running through my mind is how I use food. Is food really a reward? Or a comfort? Or a way to entertain myself? Because I have been guilty of using it as all of those things on occasion. Or should food be a way to fuel my body? It should be the latter, of course. If I can stop using food as a reward, then next I can work on my emotional eating, etc. Does that also mean I will never turn to food for comfort or as a reward? Heck, no! But I can make better choices in my "comfort food" and "treats." And I can use food in those ways much less frequently.
Long story short, I walked away from the coffee cake and went straight to the water case. I went to work and ate my breakfast of cereal, milk and fruit and I am off to Trader Joe's on my lunch hour to restock my work "pantry" (file cabinet drawer) and fridge for today and tomorrow. I should be poised for another good week. Check back next time to see if my change in attitude helped!
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