Lose the scale!

JamesMartyn

I am 28-years-old, and struggled for a long time with weight loss internally. I was so damned results oriented, as I am with most things in life. Results to me were a number. Two years ago I weighed the most I ever had, at 304 lbs. I lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle, and I would say that about 20-30% of my calories came in the form of alcohol.

I made some changes, and at first everything was great! I stopped drinking except the occasional glass of wine, reduced my carb and calorie intake and ate what is generally considered healthy food.

I lost about 20 lbs in the first 5 weeks, bringing me to my lowest I had been in a while, at 284. I was ecstatic -- throughout this 5 weeks, I would weigh myself every other day, religiously, first thing in the morning after urinating and drinking nothing.

Then I hit a plateau. After 6 more days of weighing myself the same way and eating the same way, I weighed 284.4 lbs. That was the opposite of what I wanted to see. It honestly stressed me out; I got upset and instantly told myself the past 5 weeks were for nothing.

It was a question at that point of how to break through that plateau. Well, naturally, since it had not been a part of the past month, I threw in some rigorous exercise 2-4 days a week (rigorous in the way that a fat man squatting his own body-weight is rigorous). I decided I was going to maintain my diet, if not up my calorie intake a tiny bit, and not weigh myself for 2 weeks!

During this 2 weeks I felt great. At the end of it, I had more energy than I think I have had before, and possibly ever since. Pumped! I was drinking plenty of water, eating very well (had a great concept of my macros at that point), slept great and my pants were starting to fit better (surprisingly, after the initial 20 lbs, my pants did not fit significantly different).

I could not WAIT to weigh myself. I was like a kid before Christmas, barely able to sleep. I dreamt I stepped on that scale and bam, 276.8! Suck it plateau! But... That was just a dream. I stepped on the scale in the morning, 283.9. I had lost 1/2 a pound. I was crushed... for a second. I looked in the mirror; I looked good (again, in the way that a 284 pound guy looks good). I looked good to me! I saw results, whether or not that damned scale wanted to acknowledge them.

My body composition had changed, my health overall was significantly improved over that 8 week period. It didn't matter that I lost a half pound or gained 5. The right change was happening -- my mental health was good, and so was my physical health. Scales be damned; don't let your numbers be solely indicative of your results.

Now, I want to pause here, as I'm no success story. I had a couple of years after that point where I didn't take great care of myself. But here I am, 2 years later, 294 lbs, and I'm excited to be back. I want that feeling again. I don't care if I weigh myself in a month and I'm 294 lbs, as long as I know I'm making good, healthy choices, and I feel good.

I'm still results oriented, and I always will be, I've just redefined what results are to me.

Cheers,
- Jim

NicoleDarling00

I needed this! I've been 5 pounds away from 199 lbs for about 2 weeks now! Discouraging, but there is a bright side. I've been losing lots of inches, all my pants are loose!

MamaBirdBoss

It was EXTREMELY important to me to be in the healthy range on all health markers:
-body fat percentage
-BMI (since I'm neither a man nor a bodybuilder, this is a good number for me)
-belly circumference
-waist/hop ratio

If I just "felt better" but I was still clinically overweight and wasn't losing for a month, that would mean I was eating too much, and I'd change what I was doing.

Research also indicates that those who weigh daily lose more, as do those who focus on how many pounds they have left, not how many pounds they've lost. So I do both.