Disappointing Achievements

Disappointing achievements... sounds like an oxy moron, right? However, in this case, it's an absolute truth.

I have become too reliant on the scale to measure my success on the road to fitness. When I started, I challenged myself to lose 30 pounds in 90 days and I've just about accomplished that. I found myself 2 days shy of the 60 day mark and .30 pounds away from achieving the 30 pound goal. As I continued my regular routine of watching caloric intake and burning the calories away in the gym, I weighed in on the 60th day and found that the scale DID. NOT. BUDGE. Of course, I was a little disappointed. I even waited another day and weighed again, thinking it may have been water or something. The same number read on the scale. At this point I'm upset.

I'm still trying to figure out why I was upset about this. My goal was 30 pounds in 90 days NOT 60 days. The fact that I was so close with 30 days to go should feel awesome!

The funny thing is that I am seeing the results in other ways and still allowing the scale to dictate my success. What about change in pant size? What about the inches lost? What about the muscle built?

Over the course of the 60 days, I have dropped about 2 1/2 pant sizes. I've also had a significant loss of inches over my entire body.

Neck: 1/2 inch
Waist: 4 1/2 inches
Hips: 4 inches
Thighs: 3 inches
Calves: 1 inch
Arms: 3 inches
Bust: 3 inches
Abdomen: 6 inches
TOTAL INCHES LOST: 25

I have had to remind myself that MUSCLE WEIGHS MORE THAN FAT!!!

Since I've added strength training to my gym routine, I have started to build muscle as I burn off the fat. Each couple of days or so I am increases the amount of weight used or the number of repetitions. I'm sure this has had an impact on my weight as well.

Bottom line is - DON'T RELY ON THE SCALE TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS. THERE ARE SO MANY MORE THINGS TO CONSIDER!