Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Thoughts on Weight...

One day I saw a girl at the gas station.  It was warm and she had on shorts.  She wasn't fat but she had BIG legs.  But the thing I noticed was that her legs were solid, not jiggly and cellulity.  And I said to myself  "Self, if my legs looked like that, I wouldn't worry about losing weight and I would wear short shorts everyday."  This is when it dawned on me that my mindset was all wrong and could be stalling my weightloss efforts.

You see I think I have a reverse body dismorphic issue, most times I look in the mirror and think I look great! Then I take the clothes off and see the cellulite and remember that I am, in fact, overweight.  So the girl with big legs brought about a mindset shift.  I don't really want to lose weight (I am fine with my size)...I want to lose FAT.  Now some people don't understand the distinction, but it is an important one.  Losing FAT requires a slightly different mindset than losing weight.  Our weight is made up of water, fat, muscle, bone and organs. When you focus on "weight" loss most times you lose some combination of water, muscle and fat and people seems to be okay with it as long as the number on the scale goes down.  Ever watch Biggest Loser or go to a Weight Watcher meeting where someone loses 10 lbs in a week??  You will hear them say "I know it's mostly water weight, but I'll take it". Well water weight can come back, just go eat a nice meal of chinese food and watch the scale creep up over the next couple of days. And losing muscle will turn you into a flabby skinny person - which is not what I want to be.

Seeing a change on the scale (up or down) does not directly correlate to diet and exercise.  If I weigh in after drinking a glass of water - I will weigh more, if I weigh in after using the bathroom - I will weigh less. If I weight in after weight training I may weigh more (water retention for muscle recovery).  Scale weight also doesn't take into account recomposition (gaining muscle while losing fat)  so I may be slimmer but see no change on the scale.  So what then is the point of the scale if it is affected by so many variables, some of which are out of my control. 

I have decided to do away with the scale!!!  I will no longer be one of those women whose day can be decided by a number on the scale.  It can't tell me how much fat I have lost so I don't need it.  If I had a strong muscular body with thick non jiggly legs and a pretty sculpted back I could weight 185 and be happy.  So I am focused on lifting heavy weight and upping my protein intake while lowering my overall calorie intake.  This should allow me to lose FAT while maintaining/increasing my lean muscle mass.  This thought is soooooooooooo incredibly freeing that it just might work and put me on the path to the body I really want!!!!

So in keeping with my Big Changes/Small Changes...I might make a slight detour.  I am still working on weightlifting consistently (the holidays are horrible for staying on routine especially when we travel).  But I love the way I feel after weightlifting and I can see how it is changing my body so I know I am sticking with it.  I have added in the 2nd Big Change of tracking my calories & nutrients.  I am going to stick to these two big changes and not do any small changes at the moment.  The reason - weightlifting to lose fat/maintain muscle is futile if I don't eat enough protein/watch my calories. 

On another note I have mastered two of my small changes - I quit coffee and I am getting my liquids in (my new russell and hobbs teamaker is definitely helping!)

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