Resisting the Scale

I had a great weekend, I really did. I went on an inspiring ride on Saturday and then I rode to the gym and had a nice workout. Today I had a fun morning with the kids, my mom came over and we played in the kiddie pool with the kids. This afternoon Miguel stayed home while I went to the gym during the kids' nap. I did c25k, Week 1 Day 4. I decided to repeat Week 1 a second time, especially since I've started cycling again. I don't want to push myself too hard. After the treadmill I did some weight training, chest and triceps, and then enjoyed a lot of stretching. The gym is so nice when I'm not under a crazy time crunch. I did 3 sets of everything instead of two and I got in all my stretches and held them for 10-15 seconds each.

I think anyone would agree this was a good weekend. I came home and showered and somehow the scale popped into my head. I was tempted to weigh myself. My unmonitored thoughts went something like this, "I've had such a good weekend, I must have lost some weight. I could weigh myself to find out." It's as if I was looking to the scale to prove or disprove my good weekend was really "good".

That's when my higher brain kicked in and challenged the idea that the scale is somehow the arbiter of good vs bad. What if I'm heavier today than I was on Friday, does that mean my good weekend wasn't real? What if I lost three pounds, does that confirm it? I have an ax to grind with the scale in this regard. It's just so tempting to see those numbers as having much more meaning than they do. It's really not about the numbers. I mean, it's true, they are one way to measure your progress toward the goal of weight loss. But those numbers do not measure your progress toward other goals, like making lifestyle changes that will really last a lifetime. The scale doesn't measure the changes in your body, like your blood pressure going down or your heart getting stronger. Heck, the scale doesn't know if you had a salad with grilled chicken for dinner instead of making chocolate chip cookies and eating 5 of those for dinner. The scale just gives you one piece of raw data. The thing about raw data is that it is only part of the story. Alright, I'll end my rant now.

So I didn't weigh myself. And I'm glad I didn't. I know I had a good weekend and the scale, either up, down or sideways, will not be asked to give its opinion on that. Besides, I don't trust those scales. They lie.

I want to close with a picture from Saturday's ride. I wanted a more action-like picture but with the chaos that day I was happy to have this one to share. Do I still look cool? :)



Hope you all had a great weekend too!!