Step away from the scale...

thesuperchunk

I see a lot of posts on here about people being frustrated because of not losing weight. Most of these people, being serious about getting in shape, are working out. You really have to get it into your head and fully accept that if you are exercising hard you WILL be gaining muscle and your body WILL be reacting in a variety of ways, including perhaps retaining more water. You have to really think about your goals - is it to weigh a certain amount, or to look and feel good? I can't realy understand why anyone's goal would be weight based instead of look/feel. If it was purely weight based you could just cut off a leg and call it a day. Obviously that's not the point.

I will preface by saying I'm not hugely overweight - I want[ed] to lose about 20lbs, so I know I don't fully understand what it's like to need to lose 50 or a 100 lbs, but the basic principles don't change. When I finally decided to get off my *kitten* I had a huge body shape transformation WITHOUT LOSING A SINGLE POUND. Did I care that I didn't lose any weight? Why would I, I felt waaay better, I was stronger, faster and more capable and I looked really good. People were constantly commenting on how good I looked (whether or not they knew I was trying ) and I felt way better about myself. The scale was/is by far the least important guage for how I was doing. For me, in the end I do want to lose some weight in the long run so now I'm focusing a bit more on that element, but it still goes slow as I add muscle.

The point is - if you are new at this (a few weeks, a few months, whatever) don't give up on your exercise program or get frustrated or discouraged by the scale. Ignore it. If you are counting calories, eating right and exercising then of course you are doing the right thing - if it's not showing up on the scale at the moment then fine, who cares, that's not the point and that element will come in the long run.

Honestly, I would just throw the scale away. I didn't own one for my first full year of trying to change my body/self and only weighed myself here and there at people's houses or whatever. When I saw I weighed the same it didn't bother me in the least. When I decided that my next phase would be to actually lose some weight I bought one and check in once a week. Two weeks just went by where I didn't lose a pound, but I attribute it to the fact that I've been hitting the weights a bit harder so it's not a big deal.

If the scale has made you discouraged in the least, even for one second, seriously - go right now and pick it up and throw toss it in the basement or a closet. Dig it out again in 6 months if you feel the need. Spend that energy on eating, sleeping and exercising instead of worrying about an arbitrary number that means almost nothing.

I just had to get that off my chest...