The numbers game....

today I want to play a game.....

A number game if you will

no not that kind of number game lol

the kind involving everyone's most hated tool that they have in their house

the Scale

people are always intrigued as to how long I have been living a clean lifestyle and how much weight I've lost how much a week did I lose etc etc etc

I also get those people that come to me and say "i've been in the gym busting my ass for two months and I've only lost 5 pounds. what am I doing wrong?" my answer to them is simply this

you're weighing yourself.

I'm not saying that I don't weigh myself because I do BUT I don't attach myself to the scale.

As you go throughout your day your body weight changes so in the morning you may have gained two pounds, according to the scale, but it could be a multitude of things water weight, full intestines, the list goes on and on....

I weigh in every saturday morning at the same time each week that is a healthy way to track weight weighing yourself once a week at the same time on the same day makes you accountable for your weight loss goals...this saturday though will be my last weigh in for the month of March due to the fact that I am starting a bootcamp next week and I want to see what a month in the bootcamp does for my body and I want it to be a drastic change.

weighing yourself once a month on the same date at the same time is a healthy option to otherwise you become so dependent on the scale and  when it doesn't give you the number you wanted or think you deserved you get frustrated and think this isn't working why am I doing this and give up all together....

one of the biggest motivators to myself in this journey that has keep me going, besides losing weight and feeling great, is measurements.  I measure myself once a month at various spots on my body.  I do both bicep's (little unknown fact for you is that everything that you have a pair of on your body one will be bigger than the other see you learned something lol) I measure around my stomach using my belly button as a guide my hips about where my pants sit and both of my upper legs  I then add all them up and, along with my weight, write it down on a calender that hangs right next to my door of my bedroom.  it's something I have to see each time I go out of my room and makes me visually accountable for keeping me focused.

another great tool to use is pictures.  I knew that before I started my weight loss journey I looked like this

the picture on the right is me at the end of september and the picture on the left is myself at the end of October you can see a small difference there
I religiously took my pictures on the first satruday of the month and would put them side by side to see my progress coming to work...I did this for three months and then life happened and while I still ate clean exercised and took my measurements I didn't feel the need for taking a picture anymore....so randomly I decided to take another picture one day in the mirror about three days ago and it turned out like this




I know I am laying down lol but that's the best I could do with my imageing on my phone lol

so I thought ok so I've lost a little bit i can tell in my stomach

it wasn't until I took these two pictures and merged them and this is the final result




see what taking pictures can do for your progress and motivation?!?!?!?  I look completely different now and seeing these two pictures side by side it gives me a boost of confidence and motivation that I need to keep on moving on!

so basically what I am trying to say here is that don't just keep jumping on a scale after a few days of working out thinking that you're going to see great results it takes time

you didn't put the weight in two weeks so you defintley won't take it of in two weeks

one of my favorite sayings is "never give up what you want the most for what you want right now" and it's true I know I am a work in progress but each day i wake up I'm better than I was the day before...

until next time guys!

live healthy be healthy!!