meatless monday lessons in weight loss: stay off that scale!

So, it's like this.

I know I'm supposed to avoid obsessive scale watching.  In fact, several years ago during the first leg of this fitness overhaul, I weighed exactly once a month.  And every month, for several months, I lost 8-10 pounds. That significant loss fueled my fitness spirit for an entire month, afterwards.  I didn't even OWN a scale.  I was so smart. I was smart enough to listen to the expert tips, and implement them into my fitness lifestyle. It was great advice, and it worked for me.  I lost 50 pounds in six months and kept all but a pesky 5-10 back-and-forth'ers who just didn't get the memo.

I was so, so good.  

Several years later, I take on this second leg of the fitness journey, and get all cocky, like I know everything, a little too confident, because I'd done it before, and I start taking shortcuts.  I, most cavalierly, don't concern myself with those habits that worked before.

Now, it's not that I'm not taking off the weight.  I am. Though achingly slowly right now.  It's much more about the mental challenges of weight loss.  That's what I'm trying to learn to navigate. Case in point--

Now I own that scale. And I am on that scale WAY TOO OFTEN.  I mean several times a day, sometimes.  And, as you'll see below, I see why I shouldn't.

Okay, so maybe I've not been so, so good.  But, oh, was this ALL so, so good!

Last week, after a particularly robust restaurant review/happy hour invitation week, and in the middle of the day, no less, I hopped on the happy little scale, to find, to my horror, that I'd gained 4 pounds. !!!!!  Of course, I rounded that up in my mind immediately to 5 pounds.  And reasoned that it was likely even more (for what reason, I am completely unaware) than those 4, 5 pounds.  I left for the weekend, believing I was a failure. That I didn't know how to eat. That I wasn't fit. That I couldn't do this. That I would never reach my goal.

That I should give up.

I felt old, fat, and ugly.

I'm sure no one else has ever felt that way, huh?

So, I spend 4 days away from that scale.  I can feel those 4, 5, one million pounds. I am sure I am bloated. Am sure those shorts were looser the week before. I don't walk. I don't practice yoga. I don't lift one single pound. I break into tears more than once. I eat Rocky Road candy bars for dinner, because, really, what's the use?

Time to be so, so good, again!

I get back to that scale 4 days later, and find, yep, you guessed it, that all 4, 5, one million pounds were gone. Did I lose those pounds while perched, inactive, like Jabba the Hutt, and enjoying candy bar dinners in the country? Yeah, um, no.

They were most likely the result of a high sodium meal, or some other unexplained cause of temporary water weight gain. And..... I'm still mad about it!  I still feel like I own those pounds even though they are no longer.  What the heck?  A week later, and my ego is still bruised, my resolve, faltering, my mood, oh heavens my mood-- cranky.  Cranky is a kind word for it.

Add to that mood one less-than-flattering picture that popped up in social media, and, well, I'm ready to turn this boat around. Whatever the impetus, whether real dissatisfaction with fitness, or imagined weight gain, I think the best way to approach this odd fitness frustration is with steadfast, razor-sharp focus, and determination.

It is a little more than half way through the birth year that authored this Springing Into Fitness personal challenge.  And my goal of losing 50 pounds?  Well, 35 pounds down, I'm 15 pounds, and 20 weeks away from....

A Fabulous Fifty

Phase II: Doing What Works

Get Moving:  Keeping the Pep in Your Step

The last time I successfully lost significant weight and kept it off, I maintained a vigorous fitness plan including cardio, strength, and flexibility training.  It helped me build confidence in my own abilities, it helped me have energy, it helped me have greater control over my results. endorphins kept me from running to the candy aisle.  So, again, I'll be returning to a more vigorous fitness plan. I'll incorporate cardio, strength, and flexibility training, and I'll be moving 6 days a week.

Habits: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The last time I successfully lost significant weight and kept it off, I did not obsess over the scales. I will be taking the scale from the bathroom to my closet.  On a shelf.  Under my boxes of shoes. Lots of boxes.  I will give myself one time per week to weigh in--Sunday morning. If that doesn't work, I'll go back to once a month. The goal is to become fit. The goal is not to become crazy. Um, crazier.

Fueling the Machine: Eating Well for Health and Wellness

The last time I successfully lost significant weight and kept it off, I carefully planned, and kept a 1000-1500kc/day meal plan.  I ate 5 meals a day.  I gave myself weekends to relax, but not much. I didn't keep a food diary--the meal plan was complete, cautious, thorough, and a system from which I did not waver.  So, again, I'll be returning to the meal plan.



I think I can speak for a whole lot of people in my world in saying that I hope this intensified focus turns this cranky mood  around. Have mercy, I can't even stand myself.  

How are your fitness plans working out in this sweltering summer heat?  Find a fabulous new lean dish?  Figure out how to tackle that flagging discipline?  Add some new music to your speed walking playlist?  I'd love to hear what keeps you going, collecting your favorite tips for an upcoming blog post, with credit, of course!  Leave your links, your tips, your secrets, your magic, your favorite personal fitness tips in the comments below, and you'll see it show up soon on Notes From Maggie's Farm.

Well I certainly don't want to be known as a Rocky Road.  I'ma turn this thing around.