Would you still do this if you knew you would never lose more weight?
I have been doing this "no scale" thing since November 6. I weighed in at 232 pounds at that point. I have no idea how much I weigh now, but I know my clothes are getting looser and I fit into clothes that were too tight before. So, I am fairly sure that I am losing weight. I am doing the "no scale" thing at least partially in an attempt to find a lifestyle that I can maintain forever, rather than making temporary choices just to get that craved scale reward.
So the question that I have been pondering for a few days now is - Would I continue to do this if I could never lose another pound?
And I think the answer might be "yes."
My (overweight) 12yo is going out for basketball, and he's worried about his conditioning. So I have been playing basketball with him. And I love that I can do laps with him or run up and down the court with him and play "Knockout" with him while pushing him. That's so much more important to me than how I look in jeans. I plan on taking a "senior trip' with my 18yo, and I know he will want to do very active things. I am well on my way to being able to keep up with him.
I also love that I feel like I have more power over food. It's not perfect. The hideous "break room donuts" still have more sway over me than I like to admit. But I have stopped doing the desperate runs to fast food places or convenience stores because I am starving and can't focus on work, then indulge in garbage and feel like crap for the rest of the day. I have copious amounts of on-plan foods at work, and I am never starving anymore. I also rarely eat on-plan foods to the point of losing focus because of the weight of the food in my stomach.
This way of life is good for me. And I honestly think that I am losing weight. But, for now, the weight loss is the bonus. Being fit and not being helpless about food just makes me a better mom, a better employee, a better girlfriend, and a happier person.
Yes, I don't think weight loss should be anyone's top priority, and it makes me sad that we live in a world where lifestyle changes are mainly motivated by "I'm so fat, I'm so ugly, my body isn't acceptable enough, I must become thinner, I must become prettier!" It shouldn't be all about that. Being 'pretty' shouldn't be important, but being 'healthy' should be.
I agree, the weight loss and the smaller clothing size is just a bonus. It should really be about getting fit, getting stronger, and fueling your body with good nutrition. Weight loss is a kind of inevitably side-effect of working hard to get strong and healthy.
Also, I don't think it's a wise idea when people suffer in the short-term, with the idea that they'll be able to resume "eating normally" as soon as they've become sufficiently thin and pretty. That's how people gain all the weight back!! If we want to keep the weight off forever, then we've got to do this forever. So, the plan should be easy enough and enjoyable enough that you can carry on with it forever.
I can't even handle the scale.
And, I feel like the scale isn't important - like you said, you can feel that you've been losing weight. I lift weights and sometimes, I can feel my jeans getting looser even when the scale isn't budging. That number isn't the be-all and end-all, but it's mentally hard for me, because my brain irrationally makes that number into a bigger deal than what it really is.
My mother is 50 pounds lighter than I am, but we wear the same size jeans, because I have more muscles and less body fat than she has. She looks bigger than I am because she has proportionately more fat and proportionately less muscle. So, this really proves to me how completely irrelevant the number on the scale is.
I am nearly a ten year survivor of cancer. I was first diagnosed in 2004. It really gave me a new perspective on what I ate, how much I moved and how I handled stress, I was not about my looks or even how I felt. It was about my SURVIVAL. The statistics are mind boggling on how much of an effect diet, exercise and mental well being can have in cancer prevention. I was part of an American Cancer Society research study regarding, diet, exercise, and stress reduction. Life has never been the same for me. I completely lost the perspective, I can start eating better tomorrow!!!
Yes, the weight loss is nice, I won't lie but the reason I started this was I was sick. Diabetes, high blood pressure (over 200 ) gout. I started by walking to the end of the street and back. Now I regularly walk 5-6 miles. I feel so much better that I don't want to go back to where I was.
I agree, the power I have over food now is invaluable to me, instead of the power it used to have over me. The almost terror I felt if I didn't have enough diet coke and chips and chocolate to do me the whole weekend, that feeling is long gone and I don't want it back again ever!
That being said, if I could stay the size I am now AND eat all the McDonalds and Dairy Queen I wanted, ya I'd take that
if i never lost any MORE weight i think i'd be fine with that...but it's important to me to at least maintain the loss that i've done...i am much more aware of the nutrition and calories in food and, while i make bad choices from time to time, i can't just "forget" the knowledge about food that i have now....
i put the scale away because it was messing with my head too much...i started weight training with heavy weights last august after a foot injury stopped me from running...and since then my body has gotten smaller BUT the scale has jumped up and up and it made me NOT want to weight train because i wanted the scale to drop back down...so i put it away and hardly ever step on it anymore
i track calories every day and that helps too....i dont know if i COULD quit tracking calories now lol
I saw a recent study that said if just 1/2 of the US population ate 1 more serving of fruits or vegetables a day (only 1!) 20,000 cancer cases could be prevented each year
I agree. While I do want to lose weight, I would settle for functional fitness even if didn't lose another pound. I don't have kids to keep up with, but I do lead an active lifestyle. I want to be that elderly lady that still carries her own groceries, can carry the vacuum up and down the stairs, etc.
I kind of threw off the guy at the gym when I said my reason for exercising was to be healthy, not to lose weight. While losing weight is a bonus, I know that I can be overweight and still be healthy. I just don't want to die at a young age because I can't get off my butt and eat right.
When I started this journey, I vowed to myself that I would not allow the scale to affect my efforts. I was going to make healthy changes and stick with them regardless of the impact or lack of impact on the scale.
"This time," from the very start, I vowed to keep "doing this" even if the best I could manage is "not gaining," or even constantly losing and relosing the same few pounds. In the past yoyoing or stalling would inspire me to give up, which resulted in uncontrolled gaining.
Even if I had never lost any weight and had only been able to keep my weight from exceeding my top weight of 394 lbs, all my efforts would have been worth it.
I've lost about 100 lbs, but so slowly that it has mostly felt more like not losing at all. In the past, I would have called this failure. Now I call it "succeeding at not gaining." Even when I see a gain on the scale, I have an opportunity at the next weigh-in to successfully "not gain."
I weight at least twice daily and almost every time I get on the scale I get to feel rewarded for not gaining as opposed to feeling punished for failing to lose (or for not losing fast enough).
What's most awesome about focusing on "not gaining" is that there are no punishments for "not losing" and the rewards for "not gaining" keep the motivation levels high and frustration levels low - there's never any reason or temptation to give up or allow regain unless I allow myself to think and feel the "old way" in which "not losing" feels every bit as bad as regaining (sometimes worse)..
Would you still do this if you knew you would never lose more weight?
and it made me NOT want to weight train because i wanted the scale to drop back down...so i put it away and hardly ever step on it anymore
