Week 11: The Break Up

"It's true, the scale can only give you a numerical reflection of your relationship with gravity. That's it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Don't give the scale more power than it has earned.  Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life!"  -Steve Maraboli

If I thought last week was wonky, this week was much stranger! Sunday was decently normal and I got in a good workout at the gym.  But Monday I started feeling bad...and I felt like that for the rest of the week! I couldn't really pinpoint what was wrong with me--one minute my head was throbbing, the next my stomach was churning, and the next my muscles were aching! So I didn't get in a single other workout for the rest of the week! (I went back to circuit class this morning, and it was a rude awakening!)

The week was also strange because I found that I wasn't sitting around counting calories like a madwoman. I'm not a super strict calorie counter anyway, but this week, I decided to be more intuitive and eat things that are good for me, even if they are higher in calories (i.e. avocado).  This more intuitive eating was really a beautiful thing and it made me listen to my body more.  

The oddest thing I did was go the whole week without weighing myself! I called it my break up with the scale. The first couple of days, I felt a little panicky about the whole thing. I was concerned about what might happen without that constant monitoring.  But as I started feeling sick, I started to care less about the scale and more about taking care of my body. I tried to feed it the right things and get enough sleep and all that good stuff. And something pretty remarkable happened.

My body compensated for my lack of exercise naturally.  As I worked to listen to what it needed for fuel, I didn't end up overeating or packing on the pounds.  In fact, with essentially NO exercise this week, I actually lost a little bit of weight.  And I do mean little--.6 of a pound to be exact.  That puts me very close to halfway to my goal of 30 pounds! I am impressed with my body's ability to regulate my weight even when I couldn't keep up with exercise. This gives me a lot of hope for the time when I am simply working to maintain my weight as opposed to losing weight.

I was also glad to note that even without the scale, I knew that I was doing okay and not gaining weight. I could tell by how my clothes fit. I could tell by what I was putting into my body.  If I could give up the scale for a month, I would do it, but for this leg of my journey, I need to check in at least weekly.

I am happy with these little bits of progress, but I'm going to be honest, I'd like to see more of a drop on the scale this week.  I am still not feeling 100%, but I have let my body rest enough! It's back in the game and hopefully crossing the halfway mark this week!

Pounds lost: 14.6

Pounds left to lose: 15.4

Love,

Candace