Toss The Scale!

Those who read my blog or view my tweets have asked me the ultimate question.

How much weight have you lost?

When it comes to getting fit, many focus WAY too much on 2 numbers; pounds and calories. Just hearing those words turns my attention off.

Pounds

Our society, if not most, are obsessed with weighing ourselves.
- We eat something, then we weigh ourselves.
- We do a workout, then we weigh ourselves.
It's a vicious cycle. If we gain a pound, or don't lose anything, we get discouraged and eventually revert to unhealthy habits. We flat out just give up. This is complete self-torture. Throw that darn scale away if you are obsessed with weighing yourself. That's exactly what I did. I've been there. I was doing the exact same thing! Constantly weighing yourself will not make the pounds go away. It's like a watched pot never boils. Tossing the scale was liberating for me.

Calories

I personally don't keep track of the calories I eat or drink. I am WAY too lazy to spend the time logging everything I eat. I think it can drive someone crazy doing so. I don't think it's a bad idea to keep a count of caloric intake at first. Initially, that's what I did on gyminee, which is now dailyburn. But it wasn't just about calories. This helped me learn more about my diet. 
- Was I low in my fiber intake, or protein? 
- Did I have too much fat today? 
After a while, I started to understand what my body was trying to tell me. I would feed my body what it was asking for whether it was more protein, or a glass of water. Now I just use a lot of common sense by eating clean. It doesn't take a scientist to figure out that the apple is your friend while the chocolate cake is your enemy. I focus on eating fresh fruits and vegetables, poultry, and lean meats.

So to answer the ultimate question...

Since I began running in July of 2010, I have lost a total of 8 pounds. It's now January of 2011. It has been 6 months since I started running, and 3 months since I started cross training. 8 pounds really isn't a lot. And I have no idea if I lost the pounds all up front, during the middle, or just recently. Did it fluctuate? I have no idea and I actually don't really care. Like I said, I rarely weigh myself.

But what I do know is that my clothes fit better. Heck, I just started shrinking my clothes because they were getting too loose for me to wear. (I used to wash them in cold water so they wouldn't shrink.) As I look at myself in the mirror, which is something you all should be doing, I am seeing more definition. I see that I really am replacing fat with lean muscle, and I am liking what I see.

So...for all you calorie counters, muscle is what you need to BURN calories.
And for you scale lovers, muscle weighs MORE than fat. 

So the next time the scale goes up, it does not necessarily mean that you've gained more fat. Think about your activity, your diet, and how your clothes fit, because it might just be that you gained some of that awesome muscle.

And ladies, don't be afraid of gaining muscle. Lean muscle is SEXY.