Four weeks ago, I stuck my bathroom scale in a cupboard. I swore I wouldn't take it out for a month. I had become completely frustrated with weighing myself every morning.
Last June, I shared a post here about redefining "body success," focusing on becoming stronger and fitter, not just lighter. Here I am, eight months later, still struggling with this concept.
Let me be clear: over the past year, I have been more active and have gotten more exercise on a regular basis than I ever have in my life. First I was training to cycle from Fairbanks to Wasilla last June, and then to trek in Peru in October. I lazed for a few weeks after I returned from Peru, but then started going to the gym 3 - 4 days a week, as well as snowshoeing or skiing on weekends. A couple of weeks ago I bought a Fitbit (basically a fancy pedometer), and have been using that website to track not only my activity level, but also my calorie intake/output. The former is consistently below the latter.
All of this work, and I've lost about 5 pounds in the past year.
As I said, I had been weighing myself daily, and every day getting frustrated with the lack of progress. I thought that if I just put the scale away for a few weeks, I'd be pleasantly surprised when I brought it back out. Nope. I weighed myself February 1, and there I was, holding on at the same weight I'd been at a month ago.
I'm stronger, I feel better, and my legs have muscle definition they haven't had in decades, but the primary objective measure shows no change at all. Argh! It makes me want to scream.
So, I'm back to reminding myself that it's how I feel that really counts, and I do feel better, and that it's important to stay active in order to be healthy. I'm also working on setting some physical challenges for myself to keep my motivation high. A couple of possibilities are still up in the air, but I've registered and paid to cycle the two-day/300K non-race version of the Fireweed 400 in mid-July. I'll ride 120 miles from Sheep Mountain Lodge to Tonsina Lodge the first day, and then 80 miles into Valdez the second day. That's enough to scare me into perpetual motion until then!
Thanks for letting me whine a bit. If you have any thoughts on how to get the scale to begin taking a downward spiral, I'd sure appreciate hearing them. Otherwise, I guess I'll just keep plugging along. There's not much else I can do.
