It is ironic that I scheduled this blog post on this topic and then this is the week I celebrated, after 21 months of hard work, my goal weight!! Now, with that comes a lot of emotion! I have worked so hard on this goal!! It has taken a new mindset, breaking down barriers, setting goals, perseverance, determination, will power and grit! However, it does focus on a number, a number that truly is JUST A NUMBER. There is so much more to this than hitting the goal number I wanted, so keep this mind as I share what this really means.
Prior to Profile, I have had a negative relationship with the scale, sometimes weighing 4 times a day and if I didn’t see success, I would stress out and let it control me and the end results would not be successful. I would also avoid the scale, not wanting to see the reality…..I let the scale define me. Through my journey, my coach Sarah and I would talk about the scale and what that number meant to me. I learned that the number was just a data point and that what really matters is what I learned for the week or month. I learned about healthy eating, listening to my body and eating when I’m hungry. Taking at least 30 mins to eat a meal, think about what I was eating, not just eat it. Continuing my fitness goals, pushing myself to keep moving and that this was all about improving my overall health, NOT the number that was on the scale.
Early in the program I decided to only weigh every 3 weeks, I followed the program and knew I was doing everything I needed to do to fuel my body. I didn’t need to look at a number! I tricked my mind by not weighing and defining my success by a number, but to focus on how my body was feeling, AND I was seeing a bigger loss by waiting 3 weeks to weigh. Now, I must stress that this is what worked for me, I know what I needed to do to be successful. The scale was not going to define me! With this new outlook on the scale, I needed to also celebrate non-scale victories! Here is a look at some of them throughout my journey:
Mindful of movement and taking longer routes form point A to point B
Trying new types of exercise/activity
Exercising for longer periods of time
Higher energy levels
Refocusing my energy on something that does not involve food or eating
Improved meal prep skills
More mindful of food choices and still able to dine out
More aware of feeling full
Feeling in control of my health
Kinder to myself
Higher levels of productivity
Better sleep quality
Clothes fit and actually have gone down 8 clothes sizes!
Improved cholesterol
Improved blood pressure (112/68)!!!
The above non-scale victories are just a few of the benefits from being a healthier me! Feeling amazing is way better than looking at the number on the scale. I didn’t need to lose weight to “look better” I was already confident and had a husband, family and friends who loved me! I needed to LOVE ME! I did this for ME and to be a healthier me, to hopefully give me more years to enjoy my husband, my kids and my life!
I’ve been asked often what keeps me motivated, it is proving to myself that I had a goal and I crushed that goal but it took persistence, determination, will-power and waking up every day, believing in myself, looking at my goals and continually be focused! You may have slip-ups and it is okay, forgive yourself and move on!! We are way too hard on ourselves and the reality is that life is not perfect, your food choices are not perfect, we ARE NOT PERFECT! What is perfect is that we are in control of ourselves, don’t let negativity win, push through and you will be successful!!
I’m excited to announce that this week, I’m joining my coach Sarah at Profile by Sanford Ankeny and launching Community Coaching for both members and non-members with a Zoom meeting every other week to talk through challenges, celebrating successes and learning from each other! Our first virtual meeting will be this Tuesday, October 13. If you want to join, please sign-up through Profile by Sanford Ankeny Facebook page (I’ve also shared the link on my Facebook page) and “purchase” a FREE ticket through the events page.
Reminder, if you are thinking about joining Profile (run don’t walk), please use my code Julie50 for a discount off your membership. If you want to just learn more before committing, they offer free consultations! Please call the Ankeny office (515-257-7050) and make that appointment, it will change your life!