How about you? How important is the number on the scale to you? The number may be very important to you or it may just be a measure of progress. It may not change from week to week because you are gaining muscle. Regardless really think about how important is that number to you?
If you step on the scale today and it didn't change from the last time you stepped on the scale are you likely to go on a binge? Are you likely to quit your current exercise regimen and just go back to leading a sedentary life?
Let's quit the crazy cycle! Does this look familiar to you?
First you spend some time exercising and denying yourself all the unhealthy thing you didn't eat. After one week you step on the scale and it hasn't moved. Not one pound was lost. Not even a tenth of a pound lost. You then he to the kitchen saying "this isn't worth it." You turn around and make yourself pancakes with butter and syrup. You add in bacon and sausage. You have a glass of orange juice and lots of coffee. You may even through in a cinnamon roll for good measure. There you are temporarily happy.Then an hour later you are sitting on the couch watching TV and your tummy hurts. You start to feel guilty. You wonder "Why did I do that?" You just ruined all your progress for the week. Guilt and condemnation set in and you vow to do better next week.
Instead what if we looked at the number as just a single measure of how we are progressing? What if we didn't focus so much on that number but measured our progress in other ways to?
For example in my post about How to Take Measurements I discuss that you must also measure your body. Fat and muscle weigh the same but muscle takes up a lot less room than fat so you may not lose any weight but the number of inches you measure could be drastically different.
Also what if we measured our energy level? Say before we started our exercise program it was hard to climb up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Now two weeks in you can go up and down the stairs four times before you get winded. It's progress.
Also what if we measured cheat meals? Now before you started you were eating mostly unhealthy stuff. Now you've made a switch to clean eating. Two weeks in you've only ate something on the unhealthy list once. Again it's progress.
At the beginning of the year I had the privilege of doing an online bible study . The book we were studying was Made to Crave. I love these questions that are from the devotional that give us a good way to measure our progress in a week that doesn't use the scale to define us:
"So, I had to stop and ask myself the following questions:
• Did I overeat this week on any day? No.
• Did I move more and exercise regularly? Yes.
• Did I eat in secret or out of anger or frustration? No.
• Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God? Nope.
• Before I hopped on the scale, did I think I’d had a successful, God-pleasing week? Yep!"
TerKeurst, Lysa (2012-01-21). Made to Crave Devotional: 60 Days to Craving God, Not Food (Kindle Locations 163-167). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.
Remember the number on the scale is not your identity. Remember our identity is found in Christ:
Remember our bodies do not belong to us. They belong to God. Therefore we need to take care of our bodies to glorify God. Our identity should be wrapped up in the fact we are God's child not the number on the scale.
So today I want you to forget the number on the scale. I want you to start asking yourself the questions listed above. I also want you to start measuring yourself, your energy level and your eating habits and see the progress you are making. Together we can do this.
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