You know the old saying “A watched pot never boils”… well today I want to make a comparison of that analogy to your weight loss. All too often people determine their fitness success off of what the scale reads. They check their weight compulsively: when they first wake up, after lunch, after a workout, before bed… it consumes people’s thoughts and they become obsessed. Bottom line- this is not a beneficial practice, and if someone says the contrary be sure to help them set the record straight, for their own sake and well being. Being a scale-stalker is only going to inhibit your weight loss by adding extra stress to your plate. With stress comes cortisol, and with cortisol comes weight gain. Here I could give you all a long, drawn out lecture in regards to the bio-chemical reasons that this is so, but I will spare you; for all of my scholarly readers who feel the need to investigate further I highly encourage you to do so.
So back to my analogy, you may be asking yourself how this necessarily relates to your weight loss… Look at it this way: “A watched pot never boils” is the fitness equivalent of “A watched weight never lessens”. You know when you are really hungry and you decide to make up a big thing of spaghetti (whole wheat of course), and you go to put the water on. You stand waiting next to the stove for the water to begin boiling. One minute goes by, still not boiling; two minutes go by, still not boiling; three minutes, four minutes, five minutes… By that point, you have been focusing so hard on the water that it seems like an eternity has passed without any results. What you are neglecting to notice is that things are changing; the water is slowly warming up. Soon, there’s a bubble, then two bubbles, and if you keep the heat turned up high with consistency, that water is going to come to a boil. This is similar to what happens to your body when you begin some sort of fitness/weight loss routine.
Results are not going to be instant; rather it takes time and consistency. You have to keep the heat turned up high, stick with your workouts, stick with your diet, and before you know it, you will have the results that you are looking for. It is going to seem like an eternity if you are constantly obsessing about the final product. Instead, just turn a blind eye for a little while. Keep up with whatever routine you are on, just do not focus on the results, I assure you, they are on their way if you maintain the heat.
Besides the fact that scales can become addicting, they are also not the most accurate way to assess your health because muscle tissue weighs more than fat. So although you have been working out consistently for three weeks now and have updated your diet, you are not seeing “results” aka the numbers on the scale aren’t on a spiraling downward trend yet. This is probably because although your body is getting rid of fat, it’s gaining muscle. So a better solution might be to rely on a different method to determine fitness success. Try measuring inches instead: your waist, arms, thighs, bust, calves, and hips would be more than adequate. But it could be even easier than that. Go shopping, whether it’s to the mall or just through your closet, and pick out an outfit that is one size too small. Let that serve as a stimulus for motivation. Don’t obsess over pounds, rather just focus on fitting into that one outfit.
In a month or two when you are finally able to fasten that top button, know that you have accomplished something, whether or not you weigh less than before.
Other success determiners could simply be an increase in energy- at the end of the day instead of crashing onto the couch, you have some energy left to go for a nice evening walk. Or perhaps you have lengthened endurance- when in the past, walking up three flights of stairs would have left you gasping for air like an asthmatic you can now go up six before the burn sets in. That is success in its own right. So stop stressing about your weight, it’s superficial and irrelevant. Instead, keep your workouts vigorous, your diet healthy, and your attitude positive and I promise that the water will boil.
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by Mike White (Owner, Trainer @ Body-N-Motion)
