Your scale is a big fat liar.
The “New Year, New You” phase is starting to wear off. You joined a gym, started yoga classes, and maybe even started running! Your body is sore, you’re tired of broccoli, chicken and brown rice, but the number on the scale keeps going down so you endure.
You are determined to lose weight!
Weights is no more than the relation of mass of an object, you in this example, and gravity. Weight=mass x acceleration of gravity. W=mg. Fastest weight loss method? Jump. Seriously. Jumping up creates force in the opposite directions of earth’s gravitational pull, making the number on the scale go down… ok enough science nerd stuff. Lets talk about losing weight.
What weighs more, a pound of feathers or a pound of bricks?
Its been 27 days since you started your program. The gym is starting to slow down so you can get on the treadmill whenever you want. Doing your circuit routines is getting easier because the people texting and flirting on the machines are starting to disappear. Your clothes are starting to fit differently. Tying your shoes doesn’t get you out of breath. Life seems pretty good… until you jump on the scale.
You GAINED a pound and a half!?! You step off and try again. Same thing. What the hell?!?! You’ve not skipped a workout. You haven’t had a single cheat meal in over 3 weeks. You still GAINED a pound and a half!!!! But you’ve done EVERYTHING right!!! You start to unravel and to think “fuck this I’m eating all of little Johnny’s Cinnamon Toast Crunch and all of his after school snacks.” Then you remember you read the most amazing, and eloquently written article. (Its my story… I’ll tell it how I want!!!) It had pictures of…
The difference between 5lbs of muscle and 5 lbs of fat.
and pictures of a lady weighing 130lbs but looking totally different…
and even a picture of a lady who GAINED weight and looked better!!!
So you pick yourself up off the floor. You put the box of Hot and Spicy Cheez-Its and the jar of nutella back in the pantry. You the whipped cream back in the fridge and you go to your sock drawer and dig out the picture from New Years eve and walk back to the bathroom mirror. Your face seems a little less round (ignore the bleeding mascara.) And the pajama bottoms are a better fit. And you’re starting to see a waist line!
You flip the picture over and get the tape measure out. Your arms are a half inch smaller and way more firm. You start to smile a little but the number on a the scale is still in the back of your mind. Thighs didn’t change. They look way better, but you still get a little disenchanted. You make your last measurement. The dreaded waist line. YOU LOST 2 FULL INCHES!!! You can’t believe it. You go wake your husband up, he’r irritated and half asleep but goes along. He doesn’t want to sleep on the couch…. again. He measures your waist again for you. He, carefully, tells you you’re wrong. You lost 2 1/2 INCHES!!!!! You jump for joy, he stumbles back to bed little Johnny’s cereal is safe. The world is right.
But what about the gained weight (W=mg)?
Who cares? You look better. You have more energy, and most importantly you FEEL better. That is what is really important. So take the picture and put it back in the drawer. Take a new picture, measurements and right your weight and in 4–6 or so weeks, do it again. Eventually, you will quit worrying about the weight and not even have to keep taking pictures. A little advice though, never throw out the first one. Its good to have a reminder of where you started, and a place you’re never going back to.
