Don’t Focus on the Pounds, Focus on the Benefits
We live in a world of numbers. There’s no getting around it and there’s no sense fighting it. We track our progress with numbers, we track our lives with numbers, and we compare our numbers with the numbers of people around us. Whether it’s the number of cars or the number of dollars you earn, it ultimately comes back to numbers. We need to teach ourselves to stop and the way we do that is by starting with ourselves.
The point of losing weight is be healthier, feel healthier, and to live a healthier, richer, and more rewarding life! While keeping track of numbers is very important, it’s more important to focus on the other benefits weight loss can have on you. Focus on how it’s easier to get up in the morning, how much much energy you have to do the things you enjoy, and how your approach to eating food begins to change. Focus on how, while the weights numerically may be increasing, your muscles are more defined and how you can see your biceps more and more clearly when you flex in the mirror (you know you do it!). Dropping a couple pounds is great, but celebrate the effects it has outside of the number.
Another dangerous reason against focusing on the pounds is that muscle weighs more than fat. As you weight train, you may not see the pounds fall off the scale because it’s being replaced with heavier lean muscle. You may see the felt melt away from your body but it won’t be reflected on the scale - that’s okay. It’s what’s happening in the mirror that matters, enjoy it!
