I simultaneously love and hate the New Year.
I love it because I love the holidays, celebrations, new beginnings, setting goals, and manifesting.
I hate it because those new beginnings, setting goals, and manifesting for some means weight loss. And with weight loss comes diet talk. And before you know it, you find yourself knee deep in diet talk, diet culture, and unfortunately disordered eating and thoughts. Doesn’t matter if you’re not in it yourself, it’s everywhere.
And you know what? It drives me crazy.
Of all the exciting things in the world to talk about, you want to talk about your weight? What and how you’re eating to attain this weight loss goal. Or more often, what and how you’re NOT eating to attain this weight loss.
It’s boring.
It’s exhausting.
It is downright annoying.
Listen. I am excited for anyone and everyone who wants to make changes in order to feel better, move better, look better, and it makes them happy BUT I’ve seen too many people become easily discouraged because they focus all their energy and attention on just weight loss. All that matters is whether the scale moves, and it is only allowed to move in one direction.
They place their success, or failure, strictly on the number staring back at them on the scale. Obsessing over that number. Allowing it to consume them. If you find yourself falling into this pattern and mindset, or know someone that does, please know that the number on the scale means nothing. It does not define you. And it’s probably the worst thing you’re doing to sabotage yourself on your fitness and/ or weight loss journey.
Enter non-scale victories.
Very simply put, a non-scale victory is a way to measure your weight loss progress without the measure of a scale. Simply put, stop tracking your accomplishments and successes based solely off what the scale says.
A few non-scale victories that have NOTHING to do with the scale:
- your pants fit looser
- you can run or do an exercise without pain where you once felt pain before
- how long it takes you to run a mile has decreased
- your skin is clearing up
- you have more energy/ increased stamina during your workouts
- before and after pictures
I absolutely love non-scale victories because for me, they have been the best way to measure progress over the years in my fitness journey. There are things I can do today that I couldn’t do a few years ago or even last year that leave me feeling so accomplished, like I can do anything in the world! At this moment, I couldn’t tell you how much I weighed because I can’t remember the last time I weighed myself.
I can however tell you I’ve gone from barely being able to effectively do a kettlebell swing to now being able to do them like a boss and am stepping up my weight.
I can tell you however that my split time on the rower has decreased as I’ve stepped up my cardio game.
I can tell you however that I use the winter jacket I bought 5 years ago to measure if I’m putting on a little something during the winter months.
I don’t run however so good luck with me being able to tell you what my mile time is. I don’t run unless I’m being chased, and I say that without an ounce of shame. Sorry not sorry!
Point is, I will never get everyone to stop talking about their diet unfortunately. But I can and will continue to encourage people to stop fixating on the scale. And maybe can convince others do something even more empowering – take it outside and smash it up Office Space style! If you insist upon weighing yourself though, here’s a tip – still, throw away your scale, then go get a DEXA scan!
In 2020, less scale and diet talk, more non-scale victories and moving our bodies because it feels good, not as punishment because we ate something “bad” or need to meet a number on the scale.
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