Don't Be Defined By A Number

If you've read my About Me or creeped my instagram (don't be ashamed, we all do it & I'm flattered!) then you probably know that I have been on a life long journey with weight loss. It started when I was young and in high school where I lost over 30 pounds & fell in love with nutrition and fitness. Then college, work, bad breakups, and life started messing all that up and I gained about 1/3 of the weight back over a few years. It crept back on slowly so I honestly didn't even notice since I really didn't have a scale at school. But it was certainly there. I started to not like the way I looked in pictures or how my clothes fit so I wanted to finish what I started and get back down to what I was when I was at my lowest.

Truth be told, the weight came off fairly easy. I wasn't trying all that hard at first but then when I noticed that I was losing weight, I kicked up my workouts and cleaned up my eating a little more and before I knew it, I was back at the weight I wanted to be! Time to celebrate right? Wrong!! By this point I had become obsessed. Over the summer I was working out 1-3 times a day, counting calories very closely, weighing myself multiple times a day...I was driving myself crazy! Its no wonder that I fell into a cycle of restricting then bingeing that I'm still trying to break out of now.

I don't weigh myself 10 times a day anymore but each morning I still like to see where I'm at. Today I was bummed to see that my weight went up a pound from yesterday though I didn't overeat and I worked out...Over time this can become frustrating to anyone, especially when you work your a** off every day to make that number go down. But with that said, I am trying something different instead & I encourage you to try it with me if you are frustrated like me. I am now going to consciously remind myself day in and day out that the numbers on the scale mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. They do not define who you I am, they do not make me less of the person I am, they do not make me less desirable, they are just numbers. Simple as that. They could be going up because I've recently started lifting again and I'm gaining muscle mass, they could be going up because of period bloat, they could be going up because I went on a date last night & we ate a lot of bread and drank a lot of wine. I don't know which is the reason, no one does, but what I do know is that when I stepped in front of the mirror this morning, I was still the same person I have always been. No matter how much your weight changes in your life there are two things I want you to remember: 1) you are who are for a reason & no matter how much you gain or lose, you will always be that same awesome person and 2) do not give up on your health because of some silly numbers. Make changes for your health and well being, not just so you can say you weigh ____ lbs. The number does not define you and the sooner you realize that, the happier you will be in life.