The nitty gritty numbers of weight loss

For most of us weight loss is a big numbers game.  How much do we weigh?  How much do we weigh compared to someone else?  How much do we weigh compared to 5, 10, 15 years ago?  How much did we lose? And the dreaded, how much did we gain?  Is it good or bad that it's a numbers game?  Maybe it just is what it is.

I've found over the course of my journey that sometimes my weight loss has been all about the numbers and nothing else.  It didn't matter how great I felt one week, if I didn't lose 2 pounds or more I was a failure.  Other times I have found that no matter what the scale said, I knew what I did was great and I was okay taking stock in my feeling instead of the number on the scale (or at least that's what I told myself in between my secret pouting).

When I really think about it I think the number game has to come into play for me.  If I didn't have the numbers I would easily let myself creep up to an unhealthy weight without paying attention to how I got there or how to fix it.  In fact that's very similar to how I got to where I was heavy.  For years I didn't own a scale.  I didn't weigh myself and I didn't care what I weighed.  If my clothes got to tight I would buy bigger ones the next time I was clothes shopping or just wear the stretchy ones.  It wasn't a focus until I realized just how uncomfortable I was.  Since then, the numbers have been important to me.

One tricky part about the numbers game is that our number needs to be our number.  Don't get me wrong, if you are comfortable sharing your weight with others that's fine, but your ideal weight may not and most often will not be someone else's ideal weight.  That is why you will not see me share my weight with you or most anyone.  While working for WW we were told by the company that we were not to share our size or weight with our members.  Our total weight loss and the year we made lifetime were plastered on our nametags but our clothing size and our weight were not for public ears.  Why?  Because WW didn't want our members who looked up to us and saw us a success stories decide that they needed to be our weight or our size.  The truth is, your height, age and build are probably different from my height, age and build.  Therefore, we will probably be comfortable and most of all healthy at different weights or sizes.  This was a very smart policy.  I still hold that policy in my heart. I don't want to share on this blog my weight or size and make someone else think that my goal should be their goal.  I don't ever want someone else to set a goal that is completely unhealthy or possibly dangerous to them because they think they should weigh what someone else weighs.  That is one of the ways that eating disorders can start.

One example of this in my life is a story from years ago.  Early on in my marriage I was telling my husband that I was uncomfortable with myself and needed to lose some weight. This was during my years of not knowing how much I weighed and letting it get out of control.  I joined the gym and found out how much I weighed.  I was trying to make that number smaller.  Bryan told me that I was just fine the way I was and how I couldn't possibly weigh that much.  Then, he said, "What, you can't possibly weigh more than ***!"  I was appalled!  Not only did I weigh more than ***, but I hadn't weighed *** since I was probably 12 and wouldn't ever weigh *** again.  I hadn't even thought of *** as a possible goal. I would be an unhealthy, shriveled up stick at that weight. Did he know how tall I was?  Did he know what a healthy weight was for someone my height?  Poor guy!  He had no idea what trouble he had just gotten himself into.  He meant absolutely no harm.  His one and only sister was rather petite and surely weighed *** most of her teenage and early adult life but I could not.  He got an earful and being the smart man that he is has never challenged my weight again.  He doesn't know what I weigh today and wouldn't ask if his life depended on it.

My point is, don't let the numbers get the best of you.  Whatever your magic number is, that needs to be the right number for you.  Do some experimenting.  Think about a time when you felt great.  Have you ever weighed the number that you are trying to achieve?  If not, then maybe that number is not realistic.  Take it one small goal at a time and some day that final goal number will come to you and you will know what it is.  Be realistic about it because it is a number that you want to keep for a lifetime.  This is a lifetime journey.  We want to be healthy for a lifetime, not just for today.

That said, I have some numbers to share with you;) I lost 1.4 pounds today.  That was thrilling to me.  As I look at my weight record I see a 1.4 loss this week, .4 loss last week, 1.4 loss on Aug. 25th, (I missed my meeting on Aug. 18th), 2.2 loss on Aug. 11th and a .6 loss on Aug. 4th.  This is the most consistent my weight record has been in quite some time.  I am enjoying the losing streak and want to keep it up. I still  have some more weight to lose.  I'm not quite to my pre-Sammy weight but I'm close.  The weight that I have lost these past couple of months is weight that I needed to re-lose since April of this year since I had more gains than losses during May and June.  I still have one more pound to go until I reach what I was in April 2012.  Do you want to know how much more I have to lose to get to my final, personal goal?  I'm pretty close.....but ah.....who wants to play the numbers game?........Not me;)

Until next time,
Corinna

Don't worry, I'll let you know when I get there;)  Have a great weekend.

"And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." -Genesis 1:29