I saw this picture and it made me laugh. If weighing ourselves were only this pleasant! The truth is many of us dread the scale. I saw another picture on FB. The caption read weight loss center and it had two snowmen, one with a blow dryer melting away the backside of the other snowman. The person that posted the picture wrote, "if it were only that easy."
We laugh at the many weight cartoons and jokes but for some this isn't really a laughing matter because they are struggling to get the weight off. So instead many ignore the scale. I know I did it. I know in fact when I weighed myself, I said the scale was broke, I refused to believe it. How can be we so fearful of such a small piece of equipment? The truth is we ignore it, because we don't want it to tell us the truth, what we really weight. I did it, and I know others that do it as well.
So is it important to weigh myself when all it's going to do is discourage me? There are different camps on whether you need to weigh yourself or not. I read an article from U.S. Health the shares some of the reasons why we should stay away from the scale. In essence, the thought is too many women become obsessed with what they weigh and it can add to negative body image and depression.
Another online article talks about how often you should weigh yourself. MedicineNet.com, stated, "But a group of doctors who studied obese and overweight adults who were trying to lose weight as well as overweight adults who were trying to prevent weight gain found that those who weighed themselves more often lost more weight and prevented more weight gain over two years than those who weighed themselves less frequently." (p. 1).
So what's right? This again goes to what works best for each person. I don't believe there is a one size fits all approach. We have to determine what works best for our personality and where we are in the journey. For me, I needed to weigh myself so that I could assess if I was moving in the right direction. I weighed myself once a week at the same time, first thing in the morning before I ate or drank. I tried to make the conditions as closely aligned as I could to have as accurate data as I could, that's why I did it at the same time each week, some conditions. Once I reach the goal weight I was going for, I weighed myself once a month. The reason for that is to make sure I am maintaining. After being at my goal for so long I can tell before I weigh myself if I am up in weight because my clothes will feel tighter. And I generally know why, I have gotten off track, eating too much or not doing my regular workout.
Another thing I did was get rid of all my clothes there were too big. The reason for doing that is to hold yourself accountable at the current weight you are. It is so easy if you have a day where your weight is up to go back in the closet and get your "bigger clothes." The only problem with that is before you now it, you will only be able to wear your "big clothes" because you stopped holding yourself accountable to your current size. I will admit that is scary and often quite hard to do, getting rid of all your larger clothes. But doing so makes your current sized clothes your accountability partner in a sense, they will tell you just like your scale did, if you are off.
I do agree with the first article that you don't let weighing yourself be something that defeats you or causes you to feel depressed. If it does then maybe weighing yourself once a month if you are actively trying to lose weight might be better. I would also add take your measurements. Sometimes you will see inches lost quicker than you will see the number change on the scale. Use both numbers to help you see if you are moving toward your goal.
So how do you answer the question do you weight yourself or not? If you do, use the numbers to simply tell you where you are in your journey. The number does not determine if you are a good person or not. They don't say you are a failure if they don't change. They are simply giving you detail. The facts maybe that you are still eating too many calories or either you aren't getting enough exercise. Or there may be some medical issues you need to address that are keeping your from losing weight. Use them to simply help you make corrections in what you are doing, but don't see the scale as a sign that something is wrong with you. And I say celebrate every victory. Even if the scale doesn't move, did you get in a straight number of days working out? Eating better? Then that's worth celebrating. Pamper yourself (not with food). Do something to celebrate you NOW, not when you get to a desired weight or size.
That's a valuable lesson I learned in my journey. I wasn't celebrating me and that's partly why I got in the shape I was in. When I began to value me, I began to see my eating, exercising, sleeping, mental and emotional health as something I owed myself. I was worth the time it took to make sure I kept my body healthy. I was worth the time and effort to rest properly and get enough sleep, I didn't have to save the world by myself. So weight yourself to give you the data you need, but enjoy and love yourself right now, don't wait until you reach a size, you're worth the effort for the entire journey. Until next time, you can W.I.N. in health.
We laugh at the many weight cartoons and jokes but for some this isn't really a laughing matter because they are struggling to get the weight off. So instead many ignore the scale. I know I did it. I know in fact when I weighed myself, I said the scale was broke, I refused to believe it. How can be we so fearful of such a small piece of equipment? The truth is we ignore it, because we don't want it to tell us the truth, what we really weight. I did it, and I know others that do it as well.
So is it important to weigh myself when all it's going to do is discourage me? There are different camps on whether you need to weigh yourself or not. I read an article from U.S. Health the shares some of the reasons why we should stay away from the scale. In essence, the thought is too many women become obsessed with what they weigh and it can add to negative body image and depression.
Another online article talks about how often you should weigh yourself. MedicineNet.com, stated, "But a group of doctors who studied obese and overweight adults who were trying to lose weight as well as overweight adults who were trying to prevent weight gain found that those who weighed themselves more often lost more weight and prevented more weight gain over two years than those who weighed themselves less frequently." (p. 1).
So what's right? This again goes to what works best for each person. I don't believe there is a one size fits all approach. We have to determine what works best for our personality and where we are in the journey. For me, I needed to weigh myself so that I could assess if I was moving in the right direction. I weighed myself once a week at the same time, first thing in the morning before I ate or drank. I tried to make the conditions as closely aligned as I could to have as accurate data as I could, that's why I did it at the same time each week, some conditions. Once I reach the goal weight I was going for, I weighed myself once a month. The reason for that is to make sure I am maintaining. After being at my goal for so long I can tell before I weigh myself if I am up in weight because my clothes will feel tighter. And I generally know why, I have gotten off track, eating too much or not doing my regular workout.
Another thing I did was get rid of all my clothes there were too big. The reason for doing that is to hold yourself accountable at the current weight you are. It is so easy if you have a day where your weight is up to go back in the closet and get your "bigger clothes." The only problem with that is before you now it, you will only be able to wear your "big clothes" because you stopped holding yourself accountable to your current size. I will admit that is scary and often quite hard to do, getting rid of all your larger clothes. But doing so makes your current sized clothes your accountability partner in a sense, they will tell you just like your scale did, if you are off.
I do agree with the first article that you don't let weighing yourself be something that defeats you or causes you to feel depressed. If it does then maybe weighing yourself once a month if you are actively trying to lose weight might be better. I would also add take your measurements. Sometimes you will see inches lost quicker than you will see the number change on the scale. Use both numbers to help you see if you are moving toward your goal.
So how do you answer the question do you weight yourself or not? If you do, use the numbers to simply tell you where you are in your journey. The number does not determine if you are a good person or not. They don't say you are a failure if they don't change. They are simply giving you detail. The facts maybe that you are still eating too many calories or either you aren't getting enough exercise. Or there may be some medical issues you need to address that are keeping your from losing weight. Use them to simply help you make corrections in what you are doing, but don't see the scale as a sign that something is wrong with you. And I say celebrate every victory. Even if the scale doesn't move, did you get in a straight number of days working out? Eating better? Then that's worth celebrating. Pamper yourself (not with food). Do something to celebrate you NOW, not when you get to a desired weight or size.
That's a valuable lesson I learned in my journey. I wasn't celebrating me and that's partly why I got in the shape I was in. When I began to value me, I began to see my eating, exercising, sleeping, mental and emotional health as something I owed myself. I was worth the time it took to make sure I kept my body healthy. I was worth the time and effort to rest properly and get enough sleep, I didn't have to save the world by myself. So weight yourself to give you the data you need, but enjoy and love yourself right now, don't wait until you reach a size, you're worth the effort for the entire journey. Until next time, you can W.I.N. in health.
Healthy Living - Tasty Treats
Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup wheat flour
2 sticks butter (1 cup softened)
1 1/4 cup of white flour
1/2 tsp salt (sea salt)
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup raw sugar
3/4 cups of brown sugar (organic)
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
nutmeg & cinnamon (dash)
2 cups chocolate chips (I use the 11.5 oz bag of Ghiradelli milk chocolate)
Preparation: Pre-heat over to 375 degrees and cover cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix together flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg & cinnamon. Set it to the side. In your mixer place your butter and sugars. Mix until blended. Add one egg, one tsp of vanilla and blend. Add the next egg and vanilla and blend until smooth. Add the flour into the butter mixture. I add 1/2 the flour and mix until blended, then I add the final part and blend. Once blended, add your chips and you are ready to back. Cook until brown, about 9 to 11 minutes. (sorry one of the pictures in the cookie mix, the last one is the meat mix for my meatballs, not sure how that got in there).
Banana Ice Cream
This recipe I got from doing a 21 day Detox, it was simply two frozen banana's blended. I created the chocolate sauce with cocao powder and agave nectar and added nuts.
Yogurt Delight
Trader Joe brand coconut yogurt or any coconut yogurt
3 strawberries diced
walnuts (small handful)
agave nectar
This is a quick treat, take your yogurt, add the diced strawberries and nuts and sprinkle with a little nectar, delish! I you don't like your yogurt really sweet, taste before you add the nectar.
Chocolate covered nuts or raisins
My kids like these. I have two methods. I either melt some chocolate and cover pour over the nuts and/or raisins. Put in the freeze until chilled and serve. Great homemade candy. Or I either make my own chocolate sauce. You can use two tablespoons coconut oil, two tablespoons of cocao powder. I add a pinch of salt, and agave nectar to taste. When it is the sweetness I like it is ready to pour over my candy. If I want a peanut butter treat, I add sunflower seed butter or you could add almond butter as well (I adapted this from the 21 day detox recipes I did. If you want more great recipes to use while you detox go to the link under the 21 Day detox in the banana ice cream recipe).
Zucchini Brownies ~ I shared this recipe before (in a previous post), however take your favorite recipe and simply add a diced zucchini. It adds to the moisture of the brownie and no one is the wiser that it's in there.
Guacamole & homemade pulp chips
If you have dehydrator this might work better, but I used my oven. I saved veggie pulp from my juicing machine. Here is a recipe for it from Built Lean. I served mine with some homemade guacamole we made, great savory treat.
Frozen strawberry w/berries
Take some frozen strawberries, add a frozen lime, or orange. Add water and blend. Add agave nectar until sweet, serve. Each quick treat. Top with fresh berries.
Strawberry ice cream
Frozen strawberries, coconut milk (I used rice milk because my kids can't drink the coconut milk). Add teaspoon of vanilla. Add agave to sweeten. Blend in your blender until you reach the creaminess you want. You may have to add more sweetener depending on how sweet your frozen strawberries where.
Sorry I don't have detailed portions for each recipe, I am a let me try it kind of person. So many of my recipes simply came about because I wanted something and I said let me see if I can make it. With most of them I jump on line find something close to what I want and make the adjustments as needed. I give these simply as idea starters for you. You might not like the strawberry ice cream for example, but you might prefer it with frozen mango or pineapples. Just try having fun with your healthy eating.
