I Am Not Freaking Out about The Freakin' Scale

The freakin' scale totally plays with my mind. I know it shouldn't but it just does.

Last week I didn't get to go to my normal Sunday morning weigh-in / meeting which I was totally bummed about - I had remained true to program and know I would've had a good weigh-in. In fact, all week I was trying to find time to go to a meeting just to weigh in. Finally, this past Friday I got to a meeting and had lost 1.7 pounds. Not too shabby! That brought my weight loss, since recommitting, to nine glorious pounds! Yay for me!

The lady who had weighed me in said, "You're doing a beautiful job. Keep it up."

I strutted out of that meeting with my head held high. Proud of my work. Nine pounds! Almost ten pounds in one month! Woo hoo!!

But not so fast.

I returned to my normally scheduled meeting this morning (just two days after the Friday weigh in). I had two more pretty solid days of tracking my points and keeping it together. I even had a return to running yesterday and knocked off 2 miles at a good pace considering it's been two months since I've really run. Now I wasn't really expecting much of a loss in two days. Maybe a quarter to a half a pound... Maybe I would stay the same. Maybe I would even hit the ten pounds lost milestone... Wouldn't that be something!? But what I didn't expect was a gain - and a big one at that. Somehow the scale informed me that I was up 2.2 pounds... since Friday! Sucked the wind right out of my sails.

UGH

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! WHYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!????

My Weight Watcher leader thinks it could've been my return to running. My muscles retaining some water. Who knows. Instead of being down 9 pounds and close to 10 - it's now 6.8 lost. And I now have that feeling of going backward.

I know in my heart of hearts that there is no way I gained a real 2.2 pounds but then why do I still feel scale shame? Why do I still feel that sense of failure?

I mean I didn't fail this week! I worked my ass off. I skipped into that meeting room feeling good about all the good things I did last week. But that freakin' scale.

I said no to so many tempting foods and situations last week.

I killed my fitness goal of earning 72 fit points (and earned 85!). I started running again. I made homemade foods. I made many good choices when eating out and tracked every bite. I'm 100% more mindful of my decisions.

Nope - I'm not perfect. I could drink more water and less wine.

I still want to add some strength training.

But overall I was on plan and did well. I did not deserve a 2.2 pound gain.

How come the scale can just knock all of those good feelings of doing well right from your hands?

The scale is a funny thing. I mean I know on an intellectual level that it's no true testament to all the good things I'm doing for my body, my health and my well-being. I know intellectually that anything from extra sodium, to exercise to "that time of the month" can affect the scale. Yet, emotionally, it's hard to not let it be the dictator of everything. It plays with your mind and the negative thoughts can come flooding back, just like that. "Can I really do this?" "If I can't lose weight when I'm really trying, forget it. Why bother?"

I'm replacing real noodles with zucchini "zoodles"
for the love of God!

So now what? I mean all I can do is dust myself off and stay the course. All I can do is try to not freak out about the freakin' scale. All I can do is list all of my "whys" in doing this and hold onto them with both hands.

All I can do is remind myself that the scale is not a judge and jury. The number on the scale doesn't define if I'm a good or bad person and it doesn't take away all the right things I'm doing.

I am more than the number on the scale. My pants are fitting better and I'm feeling better. That counts!

What do you do when you're faced with a disappointing weigh in?

XO
Jen

The dog ate my food tracker and weighing in

Oh yeah. Wine is not a fruit… 

As a lifetime Weight Watcher member I find it very important to go to my meeting whenever I can. Sure, every once in a while there's a race or commitment that might cancel out my standard Saturday morning appointment, however, I make it my business to go as often as I can.

I believe in facing the scale no matter what happened that week. Even when I know I'm not gonna like what it has to say.

Today, I assumed I'd be holding steady at about my average of 144/145. My WW goal was 150 and I usually try to bounce between 143 - 146 or so. I like a little wiggle room. 

Going below that weight is very difficult for me to maintain and I find this to be a weight that I'm pretty healthy and happy at.

Uh. So I was shocked when I got on the scale and the number was 148.somethingIdon'tremember. Boo. I was up 3.8 pounds from my last weigh-in! 

So my immediate gut reaction was an excuse of-course. I thought to myself, "Well, I flew home last night so that must be it!"

While it's true that I ate pretty well while I was away - lots of healthy, organic meals. Lots of vegetables and low-fat protein and stuff... And while it's true that I also ran 13.1 and did one hard-core workout, it's also true that there were many, many things (besides the flight home) that probably affected the scale.

Uh. Like the fact that besides some walking, I didn't do much more activity. (I don't feel too badly about that. My body felt sore up until Thursday and I think I did need the rest.) Still, I wasn't burning calories thru exercise.

Ummmm… and how about the night we celebrated with martini's, cheese and a half of bottle of wine? Or the other night when we "celebrated" with top-shelf margarita's and then got so buzzed that we ate nearly the entire basket of tortilla chips and salsa? (Worth every calorie I might add…) Oh Yeaaaaah… And let's not forget last night, when I landed and didn't feel like going grocery shopping at 8PM at night so we ordered (GASP) chinese food and followed that up promptly with bed time…

Hmmm. Yeah. Could've been that. Oh and there wasn't a chia seed in sight. Sigh.

better to have a gorilla on your head
than a monkey on your back

It's fine. In hind-sight, I treated myself a little more than usual. And I'm OK with that. The cheese came right from the farm, the margaritas and chips were from the best mexican place in town and the wine was my favorite pricey bottle - It was a little indulgent now that I think about it but it was worth it, it was all delicious and shared with some of my favorite people.

All of these foods and cocktails I used to eat with reckless abandon and without a second thought. 

I'll carefully track my organic, whole foods, points this week, return to my running routine and get back in the saddle.

The bad news? My first reaction was to bury my head in the sand about the whole thing.  The good news? I'm able to recognize the issue, take responsibility and take the necessary steps to readjust. I also know that I can bounce right back. A few chia seeds, a little juicing and a lot of running will fix me right up.

Life will never be perfect. My food will never be 100% perfect and this won't be the last 3.8 pound gain I ever have. I enjoyed this week even if the scale wasn't as friendly as I wanted it to be.

XO

Jen

Image: John Kasawa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net