Keeping the faith when the numbers get you down

I'm not a scale hopper.  I weigh infrequently, having learned ages ago that keeping up with numbers is contrary to my purposes and really messes with my mental conditioning.  However, part of my journey this year does involve actually losing weight, as opposed to the past couple of years, when my focus was on getting back to an active running program.  So, out comes the dreaded scale.  I still can't bring myself to it weekly, but I'm working on it.

I laughed yesterday when I read a facebook post by a friend who weighed and was up 2.6 lbs. after having steadily dropped a pound a week for the least several weeks, bringing her right back where she started.  I didn't laugh at her, I laughed because that is the exact amount I was up this week also!  My husband, who happened to come into the room right after I weighed, did the weather report on my face, & very diplomatically said how much thinner I looked this week. Ha!  Not for nothing has this man been happily married for 30 years.  Despite his sweet, untrue words, though, a simpler truth jumped out at me.  That number really doesn't matter.  I've been doing this long enough to know that the scale is a reference point, but it's not a true barometer of my overall health and fitness.

The simple truth is, I feel good.  I like how running makes me feel, and the numbers will move when they move.  I don't diet anymore. I hope I never do again.  I do eat for fuel now, as opposed to eating for mood control.  I'm careful about everything I take in, because I've finally learned (after many, many years of  knowing, but not doing) that I am what I eat.  My runs are so deeply affected by my eating patterns that they are a much better barometer of my fitness level than the scale.

Staying motivated is always a challenge.  Particularly when you don't think you're making progress.  I'm learning to look at the big picture now, it's a slow process, but it's an important step in my overall mental/physical/emotional fitness.

What happened to that scale?  Well, we needed a new one anyway.

"Run from anything that stimulates youthful lust.  Follow anything that makes you want to do right.  Pursue faith and love and peace, and enjoy the companionship of those who call on the Lord with pure hearts."  2 Timothy 2:22