Stupid Little Numbers

 

No one looks this smiley while working out, especially with the Wii.

The weight loss battle is in full swing here. And the evil Wii animated fitness coach is kicking my butt, in fact my butt actually hurts as I sit here typing this. I think I need to stretch. Ah, that's better. I'm back. Anyway, so far, other than some mild craziness on my part, I'm doing pretty well. I've been really focused since Christmas and have managed to lose 17 pounds since the holidays.

Not bad, except I realized that in the midst of eating healthier and exercising harder and more often, I've gotten a bit too focused on the number on the scale and lost a little focus on the big picture changes that I'm trying to make. After hearing myself complaining, to anyone who would listen, about how carefully I was eating and how frequently I was working out and yet I had lost no weight last week, I realized my priorities might be a bit off. And I was boring too, which is probably worse.

But it was torture, getting on the scale every morning last week, all hopeful and positive, and nothing. But who can help that? That number on the scale is such a taunting or rewarding number. And I think we women tend to hyper-fixate on things like numbers and measures of our success especially around weight and our bodies. I know I'm making sweeping generalities when I say that women tend to be more focused/too focused on that number on the scale. I'm sure I have plenty of women friends out there who aren't weight obsessed, are quite healthy and have terrific body image and confidence. But that's probably not a huge percentage of the female population. And certainly not me. I either ignore the scale entirely for months at a time, not willing to be realistic about where I am physically, or I tend to obsess and weigh myself daily, cheering every slight loss and mourning every slight fluctuation up. I'm working on this. I'm weighing myself everyday, but  I'm only going to record my weight on a weekly basis and hopefully that will be more accurate long term.

So much to my delight after last week's plateau, I wound up losing another three pounds on Monday morning. (Yes, dear, it pains me to say this, but you were right. I should have listened.) After a weekend that involved Brazilian meats, pizza, a couple of rum and cokes and some delicious blue cheese onion sauce with my steak, (all in moderation of course,) I managed to finally drop those pesky pounds. I think it must have been the thin mints I munched on while watching the Grammy's. I hear they have weight loss properties.