Celebrating Success

I find it very difficult to find joy in the successes I've already had. It's something I need to work on. Many times when I look in the mirror, all I see is the work I have left to do. When we look at ourselves, we don't see a silhouette of who we were; all we see is what we are. Maybe if we had that outline of ourselves at 50, or 30, or even 10 pounds heavier we could cut our bodies a little slack.

Today I had a little glimpse at that "silhouette" of my past, if you will. I had a health assessment at my gym. A personal trainer measures your body fat, takes your weight and height, and measures your flexibility, strength, and other stats. After all the measuring and evaluating, the trainer gives you some info about your progress since the last health assessment you had, which for me was when I joined the gym in September.

I had lost 21 pounds overall, but gained 9 pounds of lean body mass, which means I lost 30 pounds of fat just since September! My body fat composition was 41.3% (I cringe just typing that) and now is 26.4%. That's an almost 15% drop in body fat! My metabolic rate, which is the number of calories your lean tissue uses each day, has increased by over 100 calories. If you think back to other posts, I've said that your body burns more calories at rest when your lean body mass increases, which is effectively done through strength training. Here's the proof! It's very important to exercise properly and not just reduce calorie intake to lose weight because otherwise you are robbing your body of important nutrients and most likely slowing your metabolism.

In response to some questions I had about improving and continuing my weight loss, the trainer asked me what I usually eat each day and what I do for exercise in a typical week. I told him, and he told me to keep doing what I'm doing, maybe adjust a few things here and there. He said that he wished he could get all of his clients to do what I've done by myself. Then to top it all off, he asked if he could recommend for my "success story" to be put in the gym newsletter. Obviously I was completely flattered, and a bit shocked!

Sometimes all it takes to feel proud of yourself is a little blast from the past. Even though I've changed my goal weight, and now have 10 pounds to lose for optimum health, I feel more confident than ever because I see how far I've already come. And a little praise and recognition doesn't hurt either! If you are lacking that feeling of accomplishment, try climbing into an old pair of "fat" jeans or comparing some old pictures to new ones. Make yourself remember! It is important to celebrate what you've accomplished, but what is most important is to love yourself for who you are now. If you don't, no amount of weight loss will ever make you happy. (Trust me, I know!)