“Comparison is the thief of joy.” – Theodore Roosevelt
This quote is so true. Judging or comparing our progress against others’ removes the joy we get from our own success. The unfortunate part about this is keeping positive and having joy makes us more likely to progress faster, and helps keep us motivated.
The Scale
The scale, for many of us, is the ultimate measure of weight loss “success” or “failure”. We see some people losing 10 lbs a week, yet somehow we only lost 1 pound this week (or even gained). It’s hard not to immediately think “This isn’t working” or “I must be doing something wrong”. But thinking this way only hinders our progress, and definitely doesn’t help speed it up.
Many Weight Loss Factors
Lets face it, weight loss is not an exact science. And weight loss doesn’t automatically translate to “fat” loss. Muscle and water both carry “weight” and can shift. There are many factors that play a role in affecting weight within our bodies, and every body is different. Hormones, metabolism, genetic markers, physical makeup and neurotransmitters all influence our weight in one way or another. ESG is a tool that helps reduce the impact of some of those factors, but weight loss speed is still very individual. The scale or BMI chart is the “easiest” way to measure progress, but not the “best” way…
Body Re-composition
If you’re still stuck on the number on the scale, I highly recommend googling “body re-composition” and looking at the photos of people who weigh the same in each photo, but look very different after they did weight training. For example, Adrienne Osuna posted her before and after pictures on Instagram here (also shown below), and this is just a 2 pound difference! The amount of fat loss she had is much more than 2lbs, but if she judged her success by the scale she probably would have given up a long time ago.
So lets decide to be kind to ourselves and not let others’ progress discourage or derail us in our journey to health!
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