Nonscale victories

Scale number obsession

When losing weight, everybody is literally obsessed with the scale number. How much do I weigh this morning? How much have I lost since yesterday? Yes, numbers don’t lie, no doubt about it, but there is much more about weight loss. Not everything can be measured and is reflected on the scales.

I am not downplaying the great feeling when you see a smaller number on the scales. At all! Omg, it feels amazing. It is a boost of motivation like nothing else. But have you noticed that sometimes you realize that something changed, something you couldn’t do a few weeks back, something that was a huge problem for months or even years, and now you can do that?

Nonscale victories feel great too

Non-scale victories are the same amazing as the scales. It is the same burst of energy. Sometimes even bigger. You clearly see that your body is changing, that you are advancing, getting better. These little victories can be related to anything. Yes, smaller clothes are wonderful, let’s go shopping spree 😀 but if you were taking medication for years, the doctor always told you that this is chronic and for life, and all of a sudden they tell you that you don’t need it anymore… if this doesn’t feel great, I don’t know what does.

These little changes are often underestimated by the people from your “support group”. Yeah, it is nice, but how much do you weigh? Does it sound familiar? Don’t let them steal your joy! If you were waiting for a decade to be able to cross your legs and now you can do that, I cheer for you. Haha, this is one of the first things bari patients celebrate. At first, it is not perfect, but the more you are losing your volume, the better you can cross them and the better it feels.

There is something about it. The things you can do, the lower numbers in your blood work, medicine was taken away, when you can walk up the first floor without dying while trying… for many people it means nothing, they take it for granted. But all this can mean the world to us.

Celebrate safely

Now with a new non-scale victory comes a small pitfall. Any psychologist will tell you that it is important to celebrate your victories. They mean a lot, they are our steps to the final big goal. So no need to be shy about them. Let’s celebrate. It is just that we always used to celebrate with food. Did something go great? Have a cake! Something went down the drain? A cookie will make you feel better. This is a small trap that is good to be aware of.

I have a pic on my fridge that says: don’t reward yourself with food, you are not a dog. Sounds harsh, right? I love dogs, no doubt about it, but they are different and they work great with food incentives. Remember the Pavlov dogs? Yes, those who learned to salivate while expecting food and a bell rang.

Let’s find some new ways of celebrating. Not everything has to be food-related. How about a new nail polish? Have a massage? Maybe a new shirt? Buying yourself a flower? It depends on you. And it doesn’t have to be a big thing. Just a small stuff that will make you feel good. And how about going somewhere new? It doesn’t have to be a trip to Europe, maybe exploring a new neighborhood, a new park is also great.

Why logging things is important

Those who read my blog for some time know, that I am a fan of logging and keeping an agenda and diary. These things help me be accountable and I can track better what is going on in my life and if I am still on track. It is so easy to fall off the wagon. And it happened to me in the past, so I am more careful now. Why am I saying this? I have a special part in my weight loss diary where I put all my non-scale victories.

Sounds maybe silly, I know. But it feels so great when you can have a look at it and see how you were progressing, how things got better, what new you could do, and also when you could do that. I like putting things on paper (laptop) because if you don’t write it, you will forget it easily. One day you are all hyped about something and in a week you don’t remember it.

If you write things down, you can go back in time and keep track of things that would have got lost. I was looking for some info for my doctor the other day – I knew it must be somewhere in my old agenda or diary – so I started digging. It was important, so I really tried. And I found it, that was the good part.

Keep there your old you

But as I was going through the old logs, I was amazed. The girl who wrote all that doesn’t exist anymore. I realized that I changed so much in the past 5 years. I don’t recognize that girl. I am not her anymore. I still like her. She did what she could and was fighting really hard.  It was an important realization for me to go back to my “head” from that time. I have to say it was therapeutic.

If I didn’t have all those old logs, it would be all forgotten. Not all of our past is bad. It is nice to go back and see things all over again. It is like a time capsule. You can go back and see for yourself how much you have advanced, all the hard work you put in, and how you developed. It is much more than an old diary. Your old you is preserved there. Something like Tom Raddle from the Harry Potter series. You can revisit your old you any time you want.

It is not silly

Sometimes the things we log seem to be unimportant, maybe even silly. But nothing can be further from the truth. At certain moments in your life, they meant a lot, they occupied a lot of space in your head and they kept you awake at night. Let’s not forget those things. They might be safely stored in old diaries. I sometimes wonder if I will ever go back to them again.

Sometimes they store valuable information that would have been lost otherwise. In my case, it was a health-related issue. I could find information from 6 years ago. Priceless. But while digging deep, I found so many other treasures. It was a non-scale victory at its best.

Write it down

I would encourage people to write down their little wins. In time you will realize that they meant a lot to you. It is a great morale booster when things are not going great. I could do that, so I sure can do this.  You can confirm to yourself that your past wins prepared you for the new ones.

Our weight loss journey is a long fight. We know it. But we can make it a little easier if we keep tracking our success. It is not only about scales. Sometimes the silly number there refuses to move for weeks. And that is hard, let’s admit that. But in the meantime, we progressed a lot in many other ways. This is important to keep in mind.

I see a lot of people complaining that they are in a stall and that the weight is not moving. But they never realized that they lost two clothes sizes in the past month. They were stumbling over stones and didn’t see the diamond among them. These exactly are the non-scale victories. In time we can make a beautiful diamond necklace from them. It is just that diamonds are not found every day. Sometimes we have to be patient and keep looking for them. They are there waiting for us to be found.