SecondFocus Blog

And stop standing on the poor thing 4 times a day. It deserves a break…

I am asked all the time "how much weight have you lost?". And I am sure many of you go through the same thing. I have learned over the years that while the scale can be your friend, it can drive you nuts. That is especially true in the beginning of a weight loss program and when you plateau, flatten out, stop losing.

In the first month of losing weight, one of two things will happen. You will not lose fast enough for your own level of impatience or you will lose a good amount and then stop. So either way, I know what you are doing. You get on the scale every moment. You strip off your shoes, your underwear, shave a little closer and get a haircut. It will drive you nuts.

Even worse is when you start weight lifting for the first time and you gain weight! That is because muscle weighs more than fat for the same volume. So you lose fat but gain muscle and there you go, heavier.

So what do you do? Well stop weighing yourself every 12 minutes. If you are so inclined, maybe weekly. But if you are starting out, go for a month. Gage yourself on how you feel and how your clothes feel. Just get it done!

As for me, I am holding out for that month before I weigh in again. But I know I am making progress. I feel better and I can see that I have lost weight. I have also had some random comments from others saying that I look like I have lost weight. So good enough for me. If I were to guess I would say about 5 pounds, maybe a bit more. Good enough, I can be patient. And I am giving my scale a vacation.

Thanks and keep coming back if you "Wanna See More…?"

This entry was posted on Monday, November 12th, 2007 at 3:36 pm and is filed under Training, Supplements, Nutrition, Other. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.