Tracking Weight and Ditching Scales

           When I started on Week 1 of my journey, I was too afraid and ashamed to step on the scales. I had an estimate of how much I weighed but stepping on that digital medical quality scale would have made that number concrete. It would have made it real and I would have been certain how much trouble I was in. Truth be told, it had to be over 280 lbs.

            When I finally stepped on the scales a few months in, I was at 275. So I started to go to work. My inevitable goal is 215 lbs. As of today, I am somewhere around 240. But I can tell you that my body has changed dramatically and I think just focusing on a random number on a scale is a mistake.

           I remember going through this strange phase where my pants were getting looser but I was gaining weight. Even now (as of the time of this writing), my weight has remained consistent for the last few months but I have shrank in clothing sizes. I am officially now in a size Large pants and a XL shirt (down from a XL and XXL respectively).

           This one girl that I was dating was obsessed about just getting down to a target weight as if she could just hit this magic number then her body would be perfect. I tried to use a velvet hammer to pound into her psyche that men do not care about how much you weigh. We care more about form and shape. Remember when Batman asked Vicki Vale how much she weighed? “Umm, about 108.” Like that was some magic number that he – as a man – would find appealing. Just for future reference, the only time a guy cares about how much you weight is if he is wearing a cowl and he is mathematically calculating if his retractable grappling line has the torque to lift both you and him to safety. That is the only time he cares.

           

Do think she is concerned with thigh size?

I am aware that the fashion industry marginalizes women based on their size. They don’t make sexy lingerie in Size 16. Mostly that size is catered to by way of a flannel onesie with some sort of cartoon character on it. But if you think you cannot be sexy as a Size 12 you are sorely mistaken. And what is even worse is if you think is a Size 2 is sexier than a Size 10 simply because they are a smaller number. This is just flat out the wrong mentality to have.

           There are times where it is easy to lose focus and get discouraged if you are solely looking at the scale as measuring your progress. Scales rarely share with you the “whole picture.” It is just a number spit out.

           Do not get too obsessed over your weight numbers. Instead, focus on how much weight you are gaining… on the bar. Instead of focusing on how much weight you are losing on the scales, focus instead on how much strength you are gaining in your bench press, the squat, and all your other exercises.

           You will gain so much more satisfaction knowing that you went up 10 pounds on the bench or the squat than if you went down 10 pounds on the scale. Because that weight loss is eventually going to stall. But if that those strength totals are starting to increase, that means you are packing on the muscle.

           Do you really think John Cena cares that he is 249 pounds?

           Don’t let those weight numbers discourage you because there is going to come a point where you will gain weight from the amount of density you are gaining. Just keep clanging and banging and things will eventually fall into place.
***Nerd Alert: Yes, I did just reference 1989's BATMAN as a way to motivate you.***