Non-Scale Victories

Yesterday, I woke up and stepped on the scale and did not see any movement. I felt discouraged and sat there and evaluated everything I had done the day before to see what I needed to do differently. I was really frustrated because I have been working extremely hard. I went on with my day and continued to make healthy choices, even though I was feeling really down. 

A few hours later, I decided to go out and get a few tops at my favorite store. While I was there, I figured I should try on some new jeans as I only have one pair that I currently wear. I grabbed an 18 thinking that was probably where I was currently at. I saw the size 16 there too and decided to grab it just in case I got lucky. When I got to the dressing room, I started with the size 16 because I figured they would be way too tight. To my surprise, I was able to easily put them on and button them with no problem!

This non-scale victory turned my day around. I went from feeling like I was failing to feeling like I was making progress. Even though the scale was not moving, my sizes definitely were. I cannot express to you how important it is to pay attention to these non-scale victories. Obsessing over the scale is detrimental and can affect your motivation. There are many things that can affect the scale and why you might not see any movement. You could be retaining water or be building muscle. It is critical that you get the scale out of your head. It is obviously an important aspect of keeping track of your goals, but it is not everything.

Some other great non-scale victories that you can be proud of are things such as fitting into chairs for the first time, riding a roller coaster, getting off medications, crossing your legs for the first time, and running a 5k. There are so many more non-scale victories that are dependent on each individual. I highly recommend that you create a bucket list of things you want to achieve on your weight loss surgery journey. This will help you keep track of your non-scale victories and keep your motivation up. Make sure you take the time to acknowledge all of your victories. You deserve it!