Non Scale Victories

I’ve been sitting here reflecting on my little journey over the past few months, and realising that I have had far more small non scale victories (NSV) than I have noticed, and certainly more than I have celebrated!  I am starting to learn that we should celebrate each and every victory, no matter how small – especially ones achieved without your scales telling you so.  If your friend did something great you would congratulate them right?  Yet when it is ourselves we just keep on keeping on and sadly often don’t even recognise what we have achieved.  Of course I am speaking for myself here.  I have no idea how everyone else thinks, though I think I would be pretty safe betting there are a few others out there just like me!

As far as my fitness goes, last week I used a 12kg kettlebell instead of the 8kg I have always used previously – go me!  I also ‘ran’ 600m without stopping or walking the week before – go me!  And, the clincher – I can now do box jumps on an actual box (albeit a baby one) instead of weight plates – go meeee!  Many people would read this and think ‘wow, she is excited that she ran a whole 600m?  Really?’  And you know what, yes I am excited because a few months ago I couldn’t run 400m without walking some of the way, let alone 600m!  Before I know it I will be able to run a km!  Which, for the record, currently takes me 7:31 to complete.  Rest assured this will only get better.

Being overweight when I first decided to ‘get healthy’ it was all about the scales.  I hadn’t really thought about getting healthy, I just knew I needed/wanted to lose weight.  I now know there is a HUGE difference between losing weight and getting healthy.  Initially all my goals were based around those freaking scales.  Numbers.  Smaller numbers.  Smaller numbers do not necessarily equal healthy.  It took me months to realise that I needed to have non scale goals, and celebrate the non scale victories!  So, I’m currently not weighing myself.  That’s right, I have no idea how much I weigh at the moment.   For the first time in my life I have not been stepping on the scales at least twice weekly, or even daily.  In fact I have not stepped on the damn things in 19 days.  That is massive for me.  And liberating.  And empowering!  Very empowering actually.  I will not be stepping on the scales for another 11 days (30 days in total) and even then, when I do, it will not be frequently and I will not let them rule my life like they previously have.

A couple of months ago I was feeling pretty good.  I had been eating delicious, nutritious wholefoods all week – no junk, nothing processed, all good real food.  I’d also not long started crossfit so I was feeling pretty pumped that I had actually been exercising too – something I had not done in a long time.  I was feeling good.  My clothes felt a little looser than the fortnight before.  My skin had a glow to it.  My tummy issues had been behaving.  I was soooo excited to jump on those scales as I just knew they were going to tell me what I wanted to hear that week.  On I get…  BAM!  2.7kg GAIN!  GAIN!!!  How is this possible!?  In that split second none of those small non scale victories meant shit.  I immediately felt like I had failed that week, yet again.  Not only had those numbers not gotten any smaller, they were actually bigger! 2.7kg bigger!  Clearly I was unhealthier than the week before!  Or, perhaps I was retaining fluid due to my increased exercise.  Or perhaps I was at a certain point in my cycle that naturally fluctuates our weight.  Or perhaps who cares!  I was not unhealthier than the previous week and the numbers on that scale in that moment meant nothing.  The fact that I was feeling good and my body was reacting positively to what I had been doing in the way of my skin and tummy and clothes feeling looser, should have been enough to show me that I was doing the right thing.  I can now look back and tell myself that I was doing great.  In fact I should have been celebrating a non scale victory as I had just gotten off my arse after over a year and a half of not moving, and completed multiple crossfit classes that week!  That my friends is a victory. 

What non scale victories have you achieved lately?  Better yet, ditch your scales for 30 days and make a note of all the victories you achieve during that time!