You are Bigger Than the Scale

Everybody loves to win--we get all pumped up and confident, we look at ourselves in an entirely different light and as we complete the game with  a win we are hearing "We Are the Champions" in our head and being lifted on somebody's shoulders and carried around the stadium while the entire world throws confetti at us.  We can live in the glory of that moment for a while--or at least until we slide down into a defeat.  Then, once we are sitting in the mud facing a loss, we are not quite so triumphant any more.  It's like that with weight loss--as long as the scale is dropping, we step off with confidence, arms raised and full of gusto and zeal.  But let him tell you something different, like you've gained 3 pounds and you can pretty much count on having a poo poo day.

Why do we put so much confidence in a box that weighs ounces and pounds?

We are, after all, trying to lose weight, so the scale is a tool that is valuable to our journey.  It is what tells us how we're doing, how much weight we've let go of and how successful our program has been.  But should the scale be the only tool we use to measure our results?  Every diet program has it--the weigh in, there is no program without it.  I've known people to go to a weigh in at night, starve all day because they don't want to eat anything that will make it look like they've gained weight.  I used to belong to a group called TOPS and they weighed every Friday Night.  There were people who had gone all day without food sitting there, ready to get weighed--they were weak and cranky and couldn't wait to see what the scale said so they could go back to their chairs and open the goody bag they'd brought to eat after they weighed.  This was a weight loss group, and while the leader was talking about healthy recipes and taking a walk for exercise everyone around her was eating their stash--I watched a man pull out an entire french bread and a pound of ham and cheese and make himself a giant sandwich; another woman ate chips and dips and yet another rewarded herself with brownies if she lost weight.  Yet, week after week they came in and got on the scale and managed to see a loss.  I thought it was amazing.  I was too shy back then to eat in front of people, I was one of the good meeting attendees who waited until I was on my way home and stopped at the Burger King on Judge Perez Drive to get my after weigh in treat.  The thing that amazed me, and still does as I look back on my many weight loss attempts at PALS, Weight Watchers, Physicians Weight Loss, Healthy Styles and now the Wellness Center is that in every program people are the same.  They work hard to get past the scale on Monday night, some of them are fasting the entire day and throwing snacks around the table as we get ready to have our meeting and they are always ready to make a stop at the Barbeque Place a few blocks down.  What does that tell me?  They fear the scale so much, they refuse to eat, spend one even two days fasting and taking fluid pills and laxatives trying to get a better result, trying to appease the scale so they can walk away feeling better about what it tells them.  I for one break out into the sweats before I weigh in--I hate the scale, I wish it would disappear into the wall.  I take off my shoes wishing they would allow me to get naked so I wouldn't have to count any clothes as part of my weight, heck some of my dresses weigh over two pounds, I know because I've weighed them on my food scale.  It is terrible to fear the box with the numbers, not knowing what it's going to tell you, but when it shows me numbers like minus seven, minus 8 minus 4--woo hoo!  I want to hug it and kiss it and buy it dinner!  But when it says minus five ounces, or plus 3 pounds--I want to turn it into a bag of bolts.  I could be feeling healthy, spry and full of energy, but if the scale does not tell me what I need it to say, I am down for the night and possible the week worrying about why I didn't lose weight and what if I step on the almighty scale next week and it tells me I've gained more?

There is something to be said about the non-scale victories.

They don't give us the "We Are the Champions" song in our head, but they do tell us that we are succeeding.  My first non-scale victory was when I got into my SUV without help.  It may sound lame to you, but when I get to the door my husband has to hold me steady enough to stand on one weak leg so I can hike my big butt into the seat and he usually has to give me a boost as I'm teetering on the edge of the seat.  But one day I got to the car and while he was getting into his strong man stance, I hopped in there all by myself.  It was glorious.  My next non-scale victory was when I walked to the door--the front door of my house, I hugged walls, I was out of breath, but for the first time since I'd accepted the fact that I would probably be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life I was walking.  That was glorious.  When I got on the bicycle for the first time in 2 years and was able to pedal full circles for five minutes--I cried--mostly because it hurt like hell, but I did something I thought I'd never do again.  When I stood outside and threw the ball for my dogs and played fetch and rope tug with them for fifteen minutes, standing....that was a victory and a reminder that what I am doing is not all about the scale.  When my husband asked me if he could do my Tai Chi Workout with me because he had pains in his arms and knees and wanted to gain flexibility and strength like ME, that was a victory.  Even more so when he couldn't make it past five minutes without moaning and groaning and finally making up a door bell so he could leave the room and escape the oriental torture but I was able to complete the workout with no complaints--now that was proof that I am not the woman who started this thing back in the beginning of December who couldn't get out of my chair by myself, much less do a 30 minute workout.  I have come so far, in spite of what the scale says.  I should revel in that.

Within each and every one of us is the ability to see a dream and make it happen.

Faith make you step out of your comfort zone to challenge yourself to do the things that you thought were impossible.  Courage defeats the nagging fear that jerks in your stomach and tries to rob you of your dream and when you take that first step you're shaking and unsure, but once you face it, seize it, complete it--you have something you thought you'd lost confidence in your ability to save yourself.  We are the master's of our destiny--we are in charge of the only success we will ever encounter.  Don't let a mechanism that weigh ounces and pounds define you, we are more than that.