…and I need some ME time!

My friend Amy and I have been trying to use each other to stay honest with ourselves about eating/exercising/ goal setting, etc. on our quests to lose weight. While I need to lose significantly MORE than her, the principles are the same.

Thus far, in my quest to lose a GRAND total of 65 pounds from my weight on November 1st, I have committed to the following:

1. Weigh myself only once a month* (I will discuss the ridiculousness of the addiction in a minute)

2. Log on to www.myfitnesspal.com daily to track my calories in and out through food and excercise (shout out to my brother for introducing this to me last week)

3. Complete the Couch to 5k program- I’m in Week 2 so far

4. Work out as many days in a week as I can, for more than 30 minutes. That might seem vague to some of you, but the fact that a stay-at-home mom of 3 kids under 3 can make working out a slight priority is a miracle in itself

5. Use the D.I.E.T. F.R.E.E. “mantra” and 8 simple steps by Zonya Foco. I saw her speak and it’s really been helping!

**THE SCALE**

It wasn’t until Amy and I committed to only weighing ourselves once a month that I thought about how often I have weighed myself over the last several years. Since I graduated high school in 2001, I would venture a guess that I have weighed myself AT LEAST 2x a week, every week, since. This means that at the VERY LEAST. I have weighed myself 936 times since 2001. HOWEVER……It’s more times than that…much more. 936 truly is the very least. I cannot recall going more than a few days without weighing myself, mostly because there was always a scale in the gym at college. There have been times, more recently, that it’s been several times a week, and even SEVERAL TIMES A DAY….seriously??!?! a day?!! Yes…its out there.

So, it was like detoxing to weigh myself on Nov. 1st and say “see you in December” to my scale, which is now taking up residence in my linen closet. The first week wasn’t too bad. I’d grown accustomed to weighing-in at least once a week, so going a week isn’t unheard of. Pushing past that, however, was physically painful at times. I could feel a gut-pull to get the scale and check in. But, I persevered. Not just because I had made a promise to a friend, and not even that I made a promise to myself. Once I realized how insane my attachment to the scale was I realized I HAD to literally STEP OFF for a while and re-develop a healthy relationship with the thing and use it as a guide only.

My clothes will guide me, my cholesterol numbers and blood pressure will guide me-and they will all work together to help me stay healthy- not just above or below a certain number. That’s my rant about the scale 😉

Until next time…

xoxo
andrea