A bit of background on me: I'm 5'2, female and 27 years old. I naturally weigh just north of 130lbs (usually 132-134 range). I call this my natural weight as it seems to be where my weight averages when I'm healthy but not obsessively healthy. I've always been very muscular for my size so people tend to guess my weight much lower than it really is. A couple years ago I had a really bad relationship with food and exercise and convinced myself that life would just be soooo much better if I weighed 120. So I over-exercised, under-ate and obsessed about every calorie in my world. When I finally met my goal of 120, NOTHING CHANGED. I still judged myself based on how my stomach looked each day. I still obsessed about every calorie. It was a very negative world.
In the few years since, after much hard work mentally, I was able to quit counting calories and just eat intuitively. Also, I haven't weighed myself since. I don't own a scale so that I'm not tempted to stress about the dreaded number it will produce.
Fast forward to recent months and this year has been one of my healthiest. I cycled a century a few months ago and recently finished a new workout program where I was able to increase all my weightlifting by about 20%. I usually make good food choices about 75% of the time, but I don't deny myself dessert, ever. I am also in the best headspace with my body image. I love my body and appreciate it. I have no concerns about wearing a bikini or a crop top. I am in the best mental and physical fitness of my life.
Over Christmas, we stayed with some friends and they had a scale in their guest bedroom. I haven't weighed myself in years. When I go to the doctor and they weigh me I ask that they keep the figure to themselves. This is what has been best for my mental health and body image. But I figured, I'm in the best shape of my life and mentally strong, so why not see what the scale says? Spoiler alert: it was a bad idea.
I know wholeheartedly how the scale isn't a full picture of fitness. At my height, even my natural 132lbs is very near "overweight". I know I shouldn't let this arbitrary number ruin my day. But it did. Even though I don't look or feel it, i have gained 15lbs. And two days later I still can't stop thinking about it. I did more research and estimated my body fat (thinking maybe that number would make me feel better) and the rough estimates put me at 27% body fat, which is "normal" but not considered "fitness" level.
Okay so here's where I need your help blendfriends. How do you manage the scale? Are these numbers at all important in my fitness regime? I ignored the scale and now I'm "overweight" but I feel my absolute best. So should I continue to ignore? Are there metrics you like to use otherwise? I'm not trying to lose weight so measuring my waist/hips/etc doesn't really help as I don't have a goal to get smaller. What healthy metrics are more important than just weight?
Thank you all for the advice and thanks for reading this far. Wishing you all a fabulous Sunday :)
Relationship with the Scale
Hi blendfriends!
A bit of background on me: I'm 5'2, female and 27 years old. I naturally weigh just north of 130lbs (usually 132-134 range). I call this my natural weight as it seems to be where my weight averages when I'm healthy but not obsessively healthy. I've always been very muscular for my size so people tend to guess my weight much lower than it really is. A couple years ago I had a really bad relationship with food and exercise and convinced myself that life would just be soooo much better if I weighed 120. So I over-exercised, under-ate and obsessed about every calorie in my world. When I finally met my goal of 120, NOTHING CHANGED. I still judged myself based on how my stomach looked each day. I still obsessed about every calorie. It was a very negative world.
In the few years since, after much hard work mentally, I was able to quit counting calories and just eat intuitively. Also, I haven't weighed myself since. I don't own a scale so that I'm not tempted to stress about the dreaded number it will produce.
Fast forward to recent months and this year has been one of my healthiest. I cycled a century a few months ago and recently finished a new workout program where I was able to increase all my weightlifting by about 20%. I usually make good food choices about 75% of the time, but I don't deny myself dessert, ever. I am also in the best headspace with my body image. I love my body and appreciate it. I have no concerns about wearing a bikini or a crop top. I am in the best mental and physical fitness of my life.
Over Christmas, we stayed with some friends and they had a scale in their guest bedroom. I haven't weighed myself in years. When I go to the doctor and they weigh me I ask that they keep the figure to themselves. This is what has been best for my mental health and body image. But I figured, I'm in the best shape of my life and mentally strong, so why not see what the scale says? Spoiler alert: it was a bad idea.
I know wholeheartedly how the scale isn't a full picture of fitness. At my height, even my natural 132lbs is very near "overweight". I know I shouldn't let this arbitrary number ruin my day. But it did. Even though I don't look or feel it, i have gained 15lbs. And two days later I still can't stop thinking about it. I did more research and estimated my body fat (thinking maybe that number would make me feel better) and the rough estimates put me at 27% body fat, which is "normal" but not considered "fitness" level.
Okay so here's where I need your help blendfriends. How do you manage the scale? Are these numbers at all important in my fitness regime? I ignored the scale and now I'm "overweight" but I feel my absolute best. So should I continue to ignore? Are there metrics you like to use otherwise? I'm not trying to lose weight so measuring my waist/hips/etc doesn't really help as I don't have a goal to get smaller. What healthy metrics are more important than just weight?
Thank you all for the advice and thanks for reading this far. Wishing you all a fabulous Sunday :)