NSV - Non Scale Victories

elina_t

Well, this week has been bad for me, but I still have some victories. Most of these happened before I started MFP, but some of them are more recent.

1. All of my pants (size 16) are so big that I don't need to unbutton them to take them off.
2. I started out wearing my brother's belt at the first hole. That belt got too big for me, so I bought a new one. I started wearing that at the third hole. As of today, I'm wearing it at the fourth or fifth.
3. EVERYONE at work has noticed the weight loss. Everyone. Now I'm sort of the fitness guru, since everyone comes to me to ask questions about food, exercise, and weight. I'm fielding all sorts of questions.
4. In November, I started playing Dance Dance Revolution again. I could burn about 300 calories on it before I got too exhausted and had to stop. The other day, I played for two hours and burned about 730 calories. The only reason I stopped was because it was late and my legs were getting sore. I still had plenty of energy.
5. When I started exercising, I couldn't touch my toes. Now I can not only touch my toes, but I can drop my head down low enough in the stretch that my nose touches my knees. Comfortably. If I'm just doing the stretch on my right leg, I barely even feel a stretch in that position anymore.
6. I have a waist. Seriously, this is amazing.
7. I'm wearing some of the clothes that my sister gave to me because she didn't want them anymore. These are all clothes from before she was really underweight, so this is great. I can't wear all of them, but I can wear most.

Dang, this post was good for my self-esteem. Even when I've been having problems like I have lately, I've still come really far. It's pretty awesome.

BryanAir

So I started riding my exercise bike 31 days ago with the intention of feeling better and started eating well and logging all my calories with the intention of looking good. 31 days later and I have more energy than I have had in years. Today I have had the following three NSV.

1. It was my weekly day off of exercise, so I decided to tackle cleaning my garage. I spent 2 1/2 hours lugging things around, sweeping, cleaning, and organizing. Before that would have tired me out. Now I feel like I could tackle another garage.

2. I have now started working my way down my wardrobe and can already wear some shirts and pants that I haven't in years. I organized my jeans by size so I'll be ready each time I drop 2 inches.

3. This is kind of sad about my lack of self control in the past, but I had been keeping all snacks out of my house to help me not to eat them. I decided to test myself and bought a small package of goldfish pretzels for snacks. 4 days later and I still have some left of what I would have probably finished in the first night before. Those who are like me will understand how that is a victory.

WhiteRaven

So I started riding my exercise bike 31 days ago with the intention of feeling better and started eating well and logging all my calories with the intention of looking good. 31 days later and I have more energy than I have had in years. Today I have had the following three NSV.

1. It was my weekly day off of exercise, so I decided to tackle cleaning my garage. I spent 2 1/2 hours lugging things around, sweeping, cleaning, and organizing. Before that would have tired me out. Now I feel like I could tackle another garage.

2. I have now started working my way down my wardrobe and can already wear some shirts and pants that I haven't in years. I organized my jeans by size so I'll be ready each time I drop 2 inches.

3. This is kind of sad about my lack of self control in the past, but I had been keeping all snacks out of my house to help me not to eat them. I decided to test myself and bought a small package of goldfish pretzels for snacks. 4 days later and I still have some left of what I would have probably finished in the first night before. Those who are like me will understand how that is a victory.

Awesome Job Bryan,

these are the kind of things that keep us going from day to day!
Like you I have to keep the snacks out of the house. From time to time they find their way back, and almost always stay put... Except those Lindor chocolate balls at christmas they went a little quicker!!


Thanks for sharing!
Cheers
WR

Rae12

My first NSV victory was putting the scale away!! I allowed it to dictate how I felt about myself, so it turned from a tool to help into a tool to bludgeon myself with. When I saw this happening I knew I had to ditch it for now. I realized I only have control over how active I choose to be and what I eat, but the number on the scale, nope.

Having said that, I log EVERYTHING I eat now. Since I'm now educated on what I'm putting into my body I don't need to obsess about the scale.

I complete my hot yoga class the best I can and don't obsess over modifying a pose if I choose to or using my weight as an excuse to quit going out of embarrassment.

My too-tight jeans now fit loose...yessssss

This may be TMI, but my sex drive has increased too...win! My other half reaps the benefits of that one too!

Thanks for starting this post WR!!

Take care,
Rae

HMKan

My NSV is that I've worked out at least 30 minutes of cardio for 10 days in a row. I'm never done that before. I've always gotten burned out, bored, or fallen off the diet wagon. 10 straight days of working out and I'm totally not sick of it and looking forward to tomorrow!

CoryIda

Oooh. I have a ton of NSVs. I'll only share a few...
1) When I started on here, I made my motto "I want to become the Incredible Shrinking Woman!" At church about a month ago, someone who didn't even know about MFP came up and told me "Wow, you're becoming the Incredible Shrinking Woman!" Woohoo!
2) I have had tachycardia my entire life, even when I was a healthy-sized teenager; however, now that I exercise almost every day, my resting heart rate has gone from 110+ (wayyyyyy too high) to around 60 (perfect).
3) I don't have to wear as much makeup because, thanks to healthy eating and lots of water, my complexion has improved exponentially.
4) I am ALMOST out of plus-sized clothing!
5) I ran/walked a 5K on Sunday and, if running a good chunk of it wasn't enough, I also got to meet - and get kudos and congratulations from - a former Biggest Loser contestant.
6) My hips don't get squished in my friends' dining room chairs anymore.
There are lots more, but that's all I have time to put down right now.

abyt42

My Zumba instructor sent as an email stating that having a waist circumference of 35 inches or fewer is better for good health. She's super fit, and shared that her waist was 34 inches in circumference....

In a fit of self-doubt, I measured to see how many inches I needed to strive to lose to be under 35. And discovered my waist is 27.5" in circumference.

Riliye

Today my husband and I were laying on the bed together, with me chattering away about lunch and working out, and he interrupted me to say how proud he was to see that I'm sticking to it this time. I think this is day 7...

I've completely cut soda from my diet. Now, it tastes weird when I try to drink it.

IreneAdler

I started walking my dog again--at least 20 minutes of brisk walking, even though it is winter and i hate the cold.

katerinab

My best NSV is the fact that I can now officially buy bras from a regular store. Well, sort of. I can buy them online from Lane Bryant's site. BUT! This means I finally have a place where I can get deals (there is ALWAYS a coupon out there, almost always clearance, and sometimes fabulous promotions), and decent ones don't cost me $60+ anymore! The one I just got cost me about $14 So far I've lost 4" and 2 cup sizes. Since I was about 9-10 letters in before, I don't have ANY sort of problem losing more there!

mogenfire

I got measured at Victoria's Secret a few days ago, and I told the girl my current bra size (38 D). She measured me and said 'oh honey no no no, you should be in a 34 D.' Yay!! 4 inches!!

LorinaLynn

In one month of serious exercise, my relaxed belly looks like it used to when I sucked it in. And now when I suck it in, it looks nearly flat, like my "ideal" belly!

kimballtracy

i usually just do 30 minutes of just dance on my wii.....but today i was able to get in a mile on my treadmill at a level 3..i did it in 20 minutes! i was so excited. my size 13 pants are looser maybe in a few weeks i will be able to get into my size 10 jeans again!:happy:

katerinab

I tried on a dress I bought online for a wedding next month. It had one review that said the top didn't have much give to it, and since I was right on the edge between sizes I bought the larger size. Tried it on today, nope, should have bought the smaller size, too much give on top. YAY! I love when I need to buy smaller sizes!

Cando055

Thank you for explaining what NSV means! It's been a mystery to me.

BFab24

Wow ... Everyone has such amazing stories!! Makes me cry just reading them ... Keep it up!!

I nanny for 4 children so needless to say the not so great food is always available and what the kids want. Tonight I made them pancakes for dinner and where normally I would have had a few with them I said NO! . I decided to wait until I get home to make some chicken breast and veggies.

Also when I let the kids have some down time to relax and maybe watch cartoons or read instead of reading I bring workout clothes and do workout videos during that time. Its only my 3rd or 4th day on MFP so I'm hoping these changes start to pay off soon

Congrats and everyone keep it up!

jongwoons

-little by little, my clothes are fitting much more comfortably.:)
-I used to end up panting whenever I had to climb up a flight of stairs. I can now run up 3 flights of stairs and not end up half-dead.
not much but hey, I'm only one month in.

mtwd65

My dresses fit!! The scales show a minor win but my clothes and the tape measure show a major win. Also importantly my doctor is happy as he instructed me to "cut out fats but don't lose weight"

LarryPGH

This morning, as I was rushing to get out of the door, I pulled the wrong slacks out of the closet. Not my fat pants -- the ones with the elastic bands -- but a pair I had tried on a coupla weeks ago, and could button (but not wear comfortably). It wasn't until after I had them on that I realized what I was wearing! And, I was able to button the collar of one of my older dress shirts without a collar extender!

Yay!

dianathepenguin

The most motivating thing for me is when people ask me if I've been losing weight. I've only lost 5 pounds so far, but 2 people have asked me in the course of 2 weeks! It makes me feel so accomplished and makes me feel like I want to keep going!