Meeting Topic : Experienced A Scale Surprise?

I went and weighed in tonight at my local Weight Watchers meeting (they run meetings Wed/Sat) because I'll be at Taekwon-Do workshop Saturday morning and I just couldn't do both on the same day.  So I arranged my week to make it to tonight's meeting.

I wasn't sure exactly how my evening was going to play out after work.  I wanted to stop into a quilt shop that I knew sold DMC floss (ran out of one colour for a cross stitch project... see other blog), I wanted to squeeze in a quick 3K run, shower and get to my WW meeting in time to weigh in before the meeting started at 6:15.  Amazingly I fit it all in (now keep in mind I start work early and finish early)!  It was too nice outside not to go for a run today!

So, I weighed in today and its not been a full week since I weighed in, and it was an evening weigh in not the morning one I was used to.  I really didn't have high expectations, I went in hoping for a 1/2 lbs loss.  Surprisingly in under a week I've lost 1.5 lbs!  I am now down to 154.5 yay less than 10 lbs to go!  That was a lovely surprise.  Hopefully I use this to spur me onto my next weigh in.

This week's topic was pretty much a reminder that the scale is just a tool, one simple tool to help gauge our progress... that we shouldn't get hung up on a number.  One of three things happen when you step on the scale: loose weight, gain weight or stay the same.  That number doesn't give you the full picture though.  That number doesn't show: the inches you've lost, how your body has changed, how your mentality has changed, the things you couldn't physically do before this journey, the compliments you receive once your weight loss becomes obvious.  Remember when you do step on that scale its one small measure of your success, to keep in mind the big picture and how you're changing your life for the better!

There are weeks where the scale just doesn't make sense.  Some weeks you know you've been bad, and you know you've bended the plan like a pretzel and magically you've lost weight!  Then there's the frustrating weeks where you have been a saint, you've eaten right, you've exercised and for some strange reason you've gained!  Sometimes it takes two weeks for either a sinful week or an angelic week to show up at the scale, so keep that in mind, keep focused.

When you have an unexpected gain there can be any number of factors to cause our bodies to gain weight

• Not eating enough
• Liquids, did you know one 500ml bottle of water weighs one pound?
• Not drinking enough
• Hormones
• Exercise
• What we eat
• Sodium
• Medication
• Insufficient sleep

I liked one of the analogies my leader made tonight, that weight loss is like a roller coaster we have gains and we have losses.  Its up to you to decide if you're on the kiddie coaster or the biggest coaster in the park!

In the end, its all about being healthy!