Non-Scale Victories

Ever since I said sayonara to the scale, I have been focusing on small ways to really see results in my fitness and weight loss efforts.  A lot of readers have commented or emailed that they hate the scale yet they just don’t know how to stay accountable without it and I have found that there are so many ways to keep tabs on how you are doing without stepping foot on the scale.

Some people (including myself) use the age-old technique of just going by how your clothes fit.  This is probably the easiest way because it tells you instantly if you have seen a drop in inches or possibly even pounds.  When I was rowing, the scale didn’t tell me that I had lost weight yet I got to buy clothes in sizes I had never done before.  If I had measured success via a number, then I would have never felt satisfied.  But putting on a pair of pants that used to not go above your knees and suddenly they fit great is a huge accomplishment and a non-scale victory.  Here lately, I’ve been looking for lots of victories that don’t revolve around the scale.  Here are three clothing related victories that have boosted my confidence as of late:

• The white pants I wore for my spring graduation photos are now so loose I can barely no longer wear them.  They were super snug back in May.

  long ways to go but this is a start.

• A Patagonia pullover that I wanted very badly last year but didn’t even come close to fitting now fits AND looks good on me.  Last winter I was afraid of ripping it in the dressing room trying to get it off.  I will definitely be adding this to my Christmas wish list this year.    
• My beloved Gap jeans that I would equate to the same sacredness as those in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants now fit like a glove.  These are sort of my “gauge” jeans because I can always gauge how I’m doing fitness wise based on how these jeans fit.  This past week I was able to put them on with no struggle and button and zip them with no trouble and when I sat down I did not have the fearful sensation that they were going to split in half.  Oh, and my fat rolls didn’t hang out the side of them.  This is success, people.

These may seem like no-brainers to some.  ”Well duh Kelsey of course things will fit better if you lose weight”.  But it is so much more than that.  I am seeing physical results in my body that aren’t reflected on a scale.  I am seeing results that aren’t totally visible to myself when I look in the mirror but my clothes tell a different story.  It doesn’t matter how you measure success, but I would challenge you to find a few things this week that you can count as non-scale victories.  That may be fitting into a new size of jeans, running one mile without stopping, eating a salad when you really are tempted to order fried chicken.  Whatever it may be, find success outside of the scale and I promise it will put a big smile on your face.