Thursday, February 20, 2014

The Number on the Scale

I talk a lot about clean eating on this here blog. I like to share what I have learned over the past year and all of the wonderful recipes I have discovered. Clean eating has been so successful for me. I have felt great, lost weight, and learned to love foods that are good for me. There is just one piece of this little equation missing, and that's working out.

I've always been an active person. I played sports growing up, I like to go on walks, I try to take the stairs whenever possible, but I hate the gym. Like hate it with a burning passion. I also hate running and my asthma doesn't make it any easier. For me, it has always been about finding something that worked for me. I tried being a runner and even ran a 5k, but it has never been enjoyable to me. I stayed active growing up because I loved playing volleyball, but I stopped playing in college. Over the summer I developed my love for hot yoga and actually enjoyed going.

I started clean eating and doing hot yoga around the same time. I started to notice a little change in my body and lost a few pounds, but I didn't lose as much weight as I was expecting with all of the work I was putting in. The scale was still too close to the number I was used to seeing. I have never needed to lose a lot of weight or been that interested in losing weight, but to me it was more about pushing myself to be the best version of me that I could be.

When we moved to Okinawa, I continued eating healthy but stopped working out pretty much all together. I don't have access to bikram yoga here and as I have stated before, I hate the gym. This is when the weight started to melt off. Crazy right, not working out and losing weight? But I knew what was happening. I had built up a lot of muscle during the period of time I was doing yoga and now it was all disappearing. I knew my body was getting less toned, but I enjoyed seeing the smaller number on the scale. I never really cared about the number on the scale until I saw it dropping. It was exciting to see a number I hadn't seen since the beginning of high school.

I am proud of all the progress I have made with my eating habits, but I know that eating great is only one part of the healthy equation. I know that I need to get active again. I know that it is time to ignore the number on the scale and think about what is best for my body. Why is it that the damn scale can have so much influence over our minds? The number it shows doesn't even tell the whole story. It doesn't tell us how healthy we are.

I know it's just a matter of putting my mind to it and creating an exercising habit just as I have done with my eating. I know in the end the way I feel and the way my body looks will be so much more rewarding than the number on the scale. So right here, right now, I am committing to getting my heart rate up more often and putting in the work to get fit, even if that means increasing the number on the scale.




Does the scale get the best of you at times? Any great workout tips for people who hate the gym?

18 comments:

  1. You go girl! I HATE the gym too. I want to like it so much. During the winter I have to draggggg myself there because I can't run outside, but its a battle to stay active!

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  2. Love this! If you have any clean eating recipes, I'd love to see them! I'm trying my hardest to not just eat healthy, but eat clean, and it's so difficult for me right now!
    xo

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  3. I hate the gym too and struggle to find something that I will not only enjoy but that will fit in to a fairly busy schedule! You already look fabulous by the way :)

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  4. I'm not a big fan of the gym either, it helps me if I put my headphones in and start my playlist on my walk from the car to the gym doors. I keep one headphone out while I'm checking in, but then stick both in & it's on. I tune pretty much everything else out and just focus on the exercise I'm doing. I used to have a trainer and he helped me figure out exercises that I liked doing, which also makes going to the gym easier. I'm also one of those nerds that carries around a notecard with my workout on it. For me, it's easier to be at the gym and get a good workout in if I know exactly what I'm supposed to do while I'm there. Otherwise I get overwhelmed and walk around aimlessly or convince myself to not work out all together. My friend Amy has asthma and is blogging about her journey to running a half marathon, you should check out her blog! http://arunnersgrace.blogspot.com

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  5. i have a really hard time with the scale. its always up and down and it frustrates me. i think it's more how i feel in clothes and my stamina when i do my exercises. it's so hard tho!

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  6. I just don't even get on the scale anymore. When I was training for a marathon last year and was in the best shape of my life the number on the scale was much higher than I wanted to see. I just try and go by how I feel and how my clothes fit because muscle always weighs more than fat and I would rather be strong than weigh less. Keep up the good work, I love all the clean eating recipes!

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  7. I hate the gym too. Not only is it intimidating but it's not fun. Doing the elliptical or lifting weights is boring to me. My friend and I have been doing workout DVDs at home trying to get in shape for her upcoming wedding and we're loving it. Jillian Michaels is our favorite. She has a few yoga dvds that Brandi really likes to do. All the reviews say that they aren't your normal yoga and I can see why. I thought yoga was a nice relaxing while toning thing, but she's intense. I have her 3 of her dvds (30 Day Shred, Kick Boxing and Fat Burn / Metabalism Boost) and I love them. Plus getting to work out in the comfort of my own home is a huge plus for me.

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  8. We do have a scale in our house...for weighing suitcases for traveling! :P My husband and I really don't weigh ourselves--I honestly don't know how much I weigh, well I'm pretty sure I could estimate within 10 pounds...and I don't like working out, but I work out to the point where I'm feeling good and able to move and do what I need to do! My favorite way of exercising in the winter is with the xbox kinect games...in the summer, I bike!

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  9. I am with you 100% I am finally getting my eating completely clean 99.9% of the time, but I've ignored working out just to focus on my eating. Yeah the number is less than I weighed in high-school, but I was muscular and athletic in HS. I'd rather be toned and see the strength in my body, than have a teeny tiny number and be frail! I used to never have a scale and sometimes I think it's worth getting rid of!

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  10. i kind of hate the gym too. My go-to is jillian michaels workout videos. Cardio Blast will kick anybody's trash. I rotate between that 30 day shred and her yoga dvd. and running. and sometimes i count walking my dog as exercise :)

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  11. Yes!! It does get the best of me! I'm not a gym person, either. My hubby faithfully goes to the gym & I ALWAYS feel better about myself when I'm doing some kind of exercise. But finding the right routine has been a challenge for me. You'll have to keep us updated on what you find works good for you. :)

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  12. I am totally with you on this! I hate the gym too. The only time I actually came to enjoy it was in college when we had access to our University gym. For some reason I can't get into going to a "regular" one. I used to love running but have gotten away from that too. It's funny but the only workout I can stick to is the Jillian Michaels ones, just because I can do them whenever, in my living room. Reading your posts has actually inspired me to eat better. Haha I tried my hand at making your quinoa pasta, yogurt mac and cheese and it was delicious!

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