Yesterday was my weekly showdown with the scale. It took me 12 hours to get over it.
After a week of eating responsibly, and working out to a good sweat, almost daily for 30-45 minutes, I did not lose a single pound.
NOT A SINGLE POUND!
My first impulse was to throw myself prostrate in front of the refrigerator out of grief. It took me a full day to turn around my stinking thinking from, "Give up now! You're a failure! There are brownies in the kitchen and they need you!"
But no, I did not give up. Here are my four reasons not to despair:
- When I went clothes shopping last Saturday I was thrilled that I could wear a size ten Banana Republic pencil skirt. In January I was a BR twelve!
- After over a month of pumping up my exercise, eating more whole grains and paying close attention to my hunger scale, I feel much healthier than two months ago!
- I did not GAIN weight!
- When I measured my waist I lost a half inch in one week!
So there you go. Demons averted, for dinner I had one small piece of chicken oven baked, steamed broccoli with a drizzle of olive oil and pan seared baby red potatoes. No seconds.
And a square inch of brownie.
Hey! A girl's got to have her chocolate!
PS. Commenter Maria shares this article with us Does Muscle Weigh More Than Fat? She says, "This article really made me feel SO MUCH better! Because I did see results but the scale was not budging." Thanks, Maria!
Photo courtesy Jek In The Box via Flickr
Dr Aletta,
So you can look at the loss of inches as the “grey” area in the black and white of trying to lose weight. ( You either lose or you don’t.)
Maybe not a loss on the scale but a loss none the less. Maybe someday I will think of it that way.
Hi, SD!
If you are doing the right thing for yourself do not despair!
Try taking some measurements and start keeping track, see if it helps you keep a better perspective.
Dr. A
I was having the same problem last week, but I found a great article online explaining that since muscle is leaner, you will start to look thinner, fit into the smaller clothes even though you may not be noticing a change on the scale. It’s the muscle replacing fat! So really, it’s still a good thing!
Hi, Maria!
That explains a lot! I couldn’t believe I went down a whole dress size and didn’t lose at least a little weight. This will give me incentive to keep power walking and lifting those weights. If you have a link to that article, could you paste it in to a comment? Or email it to me (draletta@explorewhatsnext.com) and I’ll put it in the post. Thanks!