A “Weighty” Issue

This morning I felt quite productive as I finished laundry, vacuumed the house, emptied the dishwasher, and cleaned the bathrooms.  I was on a “roll” and was quite eager to conquer my workout for the day.  I decided to do a circuit workout from Peanut Butter Fingers called the Mega Circuit Workout.  I have done it before, and it kicked my booty, so naturally I wanted to do it again. 😉  I also added on these two exercises at the end:

1. Dumbbell Dead Lifts (2 sets, 40 reps, 10 lb. dumbbells)
2. Dumbbell Tricep Kickbacks (2 sets, 20 reps, 5 lbs. dumbbells)

By the time I was finished, I was nice and hot and schweaty, so a smoothie sounded PERFECT.  I had some pumpkin pie mix leftover from the pumpkin muffins I made the other night, so I decided to use it to make a cinnamon pumpkin pie smoothie!

Cinnamon Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup pumpkin pie mix

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 frozen banana

1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1/3 cup water (or milk of choice)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup ice cubes

Directions:

Put all ingredients into blender.  Blend until smooth.  Drink up!  Makes 1 serving.

Good thing I’m on a pumpkin kick lately since I have this extra pumpkin pie mix sitting in my refrigerator.  I wonder what my next pumpkin concoction will be… Hmm.  Needless to say, this smoothie was fab-u-lous people.  Take my word for it. 😉 

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On to more “weightier” topics (yes, pun intended), I wanted to talk about the scale and its affects on us.  I initially started thinking about this topic a couple weeks ago as I was reminded that I had a doctor’s appointment coming up for an annual check up.  I knew they were going to weigh me like they’ve done at every other check up doctor’s appointment I’ve been to, and that began to make me feel anxious. 

I haven’t weighed myself in probably six months.  This may seem odd to some of you, but all through college and up until about six months ago, the scale was my biggest enemy.  How could the scale be your biggest enemy? you may ask, so let me explain.  Without going into a ton of detail, my freshman year of college was a tough transition for me.  I had a fun time, but my anxieties and home sickness soon led to a phase of some disordered eating habits.  I don’t plan on getting into a bunch of details on that specific issue in this post, but that “phase” caused me to become obsessive with the number on the scale.  Throughout college I would weigh myself religiously every morning.  I would be careful not to drink any fluids or eat any foods before I weighed myself to ensure that the lowest possible number would show up on the scale.  If it wasn’t within the parameters that I wanted it to be, it would ruin my entire day. 

By the end of college, my disordered eating “phase” had passed, but I was still addicted to weighing myself every single morning.  I finally realized that there was something just not right about it and that it wasn’t healthy for my self image or emotions.  My goal for the past year has been to ditch the scale.  I was sick of it, done with it, tired of it.  Finally about six months ago, I had been on an up and down rollercoaster with trying to control my weight.  (The holidays will do that to you, especially with a sweet tooth like mine. 😉 )  I was sick and tired of the number on the scale determining my days and my moods.  I realized that most likely no one other than myself could even recognize if I gained or lost 3 pounds, so why stress over that stupid little number that shows up on the scale every morning?  I decided that I was done with the scale, and ever since that day (about six months ago) I haven’t stepped foot on one.  I decided that as long as I did my best to eat healthy and exercise regularly, my weight should maintain at a healthy number. 

So that’s where I’ve been with my relationship with the scale the past six months, and I don’t regret it one bit.  My obsession with the number on the scale no longer exists, and my days aren’t determined by what the number says.  It is so incredibly freeing! 

That being said, I kept going back and forth as to whether I wanted the nurse to tell me my weight, or if I just didn’t want to know with the fear that I’d become obsessive about the number again.  I finally decided to allow her to tell me my weight, and I was pleasantly content and happy with what she told me.  It is what I believe to be my “healthy weight”, and it works for me. 

I shared this all with you because I am SURE of the fact that there are other women out there that struggle with the scale.  I have heard stories of being obsessive with that little number, and I’ve worked with many women that have attested to it.  My hope is that you will let the scale go and accept your body for what it is.  If you are eating a healthy diet within your caloric range for your height, gender, and activity levels, and you’re exercising regularly, you shouldn’t need to worry about the number.  We should be focusing more on feeding our bodies the proper foods and staying active rather than numbers, and our body will eventually fluctuate to our healthy weight. 

Whew!  That was a pretty “weighty” issue if you ask me.  (I love my pun)  I am glad to have gotten that off my chest.  Through reading this, I hope you were able to recognize how you stand with your relationship with the scale, and if you need to let it go or if you’re comfortable with it.  Please trust me when I say that you can be beautiful regardless of that number on the scale. 

Ok, now on to a lighter note, I need to go get dinner ready… We’re having turkey burgers!  YUM!  Have a good evening!

Questions:

• Do you have “relationship issues” with the scale?
• How often do you weigh yourself?
• Why do you think people (especially women) are so often sucked in to “the numbers”?