Fat Chick Fed Up

 

Starting Weight: 330 pounds

 

Weight Last Week: 295.3 pounds 

 

This week’s weigh-in: 295.7 pounds

 

Okay, so my weigh-in this morning sucked, but it could have been MUCH worse. When I first stepped on my scale this morning it said 301.1. I knew that couldn’t be right. I had a good week of eating. I did figure I didn’t lose much but there was no way I gained 5 pounds and I was right. Sometimes my scale acts wonky like that. Weird.

 

So, let’s address the issue of the gain of .4 pounds. It totally sucks. I know part of it was that every woman’s favorite aunt visited this week. I have never had a good weigh-in when that happens so I wasn’t expecting anything different this time. I am sure there is a way to beat her at her own game, but I haven’t figured it out. I welcome any suggestions though.

 

Honestly, I’m not too upset about this week’s weigh-in. I am just trying to accept where I am right now and realize that I am doing the best I can. I am eating really well, I am working on coming up with a solution to my work-out dilemma that I posted about last week (and you all had such GREAT ideas-I am definitely going to be putting them to great use), and I’m working on replacing bad habits with good ones.

 

This idea of accepting where I am, though, does not mean that I’m satisfied with lack of progress or that I am not going to keep pushing on. I absolutely am and I’m counting on you all to hold me accountable!

 

This morning, I read this post by Kris, over at Eclipsed: Escaping the Shadow of Obesity. Kris has been on her own weight-loss journey for quite some time now and is very close to her goal weight, having lost close to 100 pounds. Her post this morning encouraged me to look past the scale and at other areas of progress that are being made.

 

Yes, I will continue to weigh-in and I see the value in the number on the scale in its ability to hold me accountable, but I also don’t want to be a slave to it and discount other areas of progress because I don’t like the number it is giving me.

 

I think those of us who are on this journey can get so caught up in the number on the scale that we can’t see past it. It can really have a controlling effect on our emotions and how we feel about ourselves and our progress or lack thereof.  Often times, it is not always a good indicator of how we are changing. SOmetimes it’s not even the best indicator of the positive changes we are making.

 

So, please, please, please, if you don’t like what you see on the scale don’t use that as an excuse to give up. I have done that too many times to count. I can do all the right things and the scale won’t reflect my efforts and it sends me into a downward spiral of self-doubt, binge-eating, and giving up completely on any progress.

 

The fact is, though, that I have a choice. I can become obsessed with and controlled by the number or I can take that information it gives me, add it to all the other changes I know are happening, and use it to push me harder, figure out what changes I need to make and keep going.

 

Am i discouraged that I haven’t seen much movement on the scale this month. Absolutely. But I am encouraged that I am maintaining what I have lost. I’ve never done that before. I know I have a long way to go but I also know I’ve come a long way. In past efforts at weight loss, I would use a stall on the scale as an excuse to give up and as evidence of my failure and that I could never get better. I refuse to believe that way anymore. I choose to allow the scale to inspire me, rather than defeat me.

 

So my encouragement to you this week, if you’ve been where I’ve been, or are where I am, is to focus on what you CAN control and what differences you CAN see and what you HAVE changed. You can still use the scale to track your progress but don’t let it control you!

 

So, in an effort to find other areas of progress that I have made, I took my measurements again today. I haven’t posted them in several months. I always intend to do them with our monthly progress pictures, but I always forget. It has been since August that I have posted them and at that time they were:

 

Chest: 49.5″

Waist: 49″

Hips: 59″

 

Today, they are:

 

Chest: 49.5″

Waist: 43.25″

Hips: 53.5″

 

Holy freakin’ cow!!!! I am SO glad I did this because it was such an encouragement to me. I knew my clothes had been fitting me better and that I have dropped at least a pant size and a shirt size, but I had NO IDEA how much progress I had actually made.

 

My chest stayed the same, which, let’s be perfectly honest, if there’s a place that isn’t going to lose inches, that’s a pretty good one ! But my waist and hip measurements tell a totally different story. I lost 5.75″ in my waist and 5.5″ in my hips. I’m sorry, but that’s freakin’ awesome and I am darn proud of that!

 

Like I said last week,

 

I am DONE being emotionally attached to the number on the scale. Instead of letting it depress me and beating myself up over it, I am actively and intentionally CHOOSING to let it push me, let it motivate me, and yeah, even a little bit let it get me angry and fired up so I can push through this plateau and break the chains this weight has on me.

 

I can guarantee  you the scale will not defeat me.

 

The Chick Magnet (my husband, for those of you who are newer readers) weighed in at 211 today, which was a 3 pound loss over last week. Not only did he lose the .6 he had gained, he lost a bunch more. Is anyone surprised? Nope, not me!

 

That’s the truth.

 

How did your weigh-in go this week? Are you sticking with your goals? Have you had any non-scale victories lately? Share them in the comments!