Wednesday, 6 June 2012

Fistpump or Shoot the scale?


First official weekly weigh in today. 

Image from here


Some of you are fist pumping the air right now.
Pleased with your efforts.
Glad you refused that hot chip or that piece of chocolate.
Chuffed that you decided to move your rear end to the gym rather than plonk it on the lounge and let your fingers do a remote control workout instead.
Excited because you didn't expect to actually see a difference in such a short amount of time.
Inspired to keep going.


Or inside your head you're doing this.....


Image from here


As most of you know I read a great blog post by Narelle at Frichot Fitness yesterday about smashing the illusion of perfection and comparing ourselves to others. 

During Round 3 last year I worked really hard on squashing that 7 year old version of me that wanted perfection and thought that if she didn't have it then she had failed. I pursued consistency over perfection. I lost weight nearly every single week. I did not follow the program "perfectly" once. Yet because there was consistency the fat melted off. 

Image from here

"So comparing yourself to someone else. How do you know that you are comparing apples with apples and not with oranges? You DON’T! Why are you comparing yourself to someone else?"

And I had another "Ah-ha!" moment right there. Even if someone looks like an apple like me - similar height, similar weight and even similar fitness or fitness & nutrition efforts during the week. 

Image from here

They might be an orange on the inside. I have no access to their inner makeup. I don't know what medications they may be on or not. I don't know how certain foods effect their bodies. Or how their hormones do or don't effect their weight loss. I have no idea. 

So what's the point of comparing really ? 

Well. The thing is you can compare. 

To yourself. To your results. To your effort. Over the long term. Not the short term because sometimes you may weigh more on a Wednesday than you do on a Thursday. Does that mean you should weigh in on a Thursday? No. That will just eventually mess with your head too. Just watch for a pattern. Do you have great losses for 3 weeks running and then a small one or a gain on the 4th week? Is it PMS or is it the fact you let your sweet tooth or your carb cravings get the better of you at this time ? Only you know. And only your data can tell you. 


So how are you feeling now ? Ready to continue the good work you've started or begin from now ? 

Don't let Wednesday mornings mess with your head. Don't "punish" yourself or "reward" yourself by what shows up. Just see it as one marker along the way to show your progress when reflect later on and look back. 

Anyway the weekly video opened up about 30minutes ago. I would love it if you would come back to the group page and tell us what you thought.

See you all soon!


4 comments:

Unknown said...

Love the animation! And I agree...we need to remember to compare apples with apples. Great post :)

Carls The Courageous said...

Loved it Vikki! You write so well ;)

SWSyd 12WBT said...

Thanks to both of you. :)

Lessons hard learned but something I am passionate about other people getting a grip on. Makes such a difference. :)

xVikki

Karen (MrsZ) said...

Great advice Vikki .... Not sure if I am an apple or an orange, thinking maybe a Pomegranate! You are correct that we really don't know what is under the skin of others that we compare too.. Even things like emotional stressors, how active our work is or home life is ... Very thought provoking .. Thanks ... Karen

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