Let’s talk about numbers, shall we? When dieting, exercising and attempting to get healthy there are all kinds of numbers that matter, numbers that one monitors – sometimes with trepidation and sometimes with outright glee. There’s the number on the scale, the number on the BMI chart, cholesterol and triglyceride level numbers, blood pressure numbers, waist measurements, resting heart rate numbers and the list goes on and on, ad nauseum.
I’ve read countless articles on dieting and weight loss, some helpful, some not so much. Although some say that daily weigh ins are helpful, it seems that the majority of the articles that I have read advise against this practice, some even accusing the offending weight checker as being obsessive. They say things like “don’t judge your success by a number on a scale” and “judge your success by how your clothes fit”. Well boys and girls, what works for some people doesn’t always work for everyone. Yes, I might be that slightly crazed, obsessive weight checker, but this works for me, people! I weigh myself every single morning and record my weight. It keeps me on track and it keeps me 100% honest. I keep this goofy spreadsheet and I will actually put a notation by a weight that may have inched up that says “I ate popcorn at the movie last night! OMG! I’m SUCH a moron!” It serves as a reminder to me that there are consequences to my ill-advised dietary indiscretions and somehow this really seems to work for me.
My little spreadsheet also chronicles those disappointing diet plateaus, pointing out in glaring relief the stretches of days when my weight doesn’t budge an ounce. And that can be uber discouraging. In fact, in the past I found those plateaus would often send me into a depression fueled food binge, which would then bring about a disappointing weight re-gain, followed by more depression, eventual defeat and giving up on the whole diet and exercise debacle, convinced that it was NEVER going to work for me. This time, though, I changed my mindset. I know that plateaus are all part of process and that patience is a virtue and blah, blah, blah. But most importantly I refuse to let a plateau ruin all of my progress the way it used to. I have a column to the right of my weight column, in which I record minutes of exercise. I have seen plateaus busted by simply upping the exercise minutes by 15 minutes a couple times a week and then I am off to the races again. Seeing those numbers lined up side by side help to keep me motivated to stick to my eating plan. Although I don’t log everything I eat (another long held dieting best practice that has never really worked for me) I do log those rare eating mistakes. Since I don’t like seeing those snarky little side notations on the spreadsheet, I am inspired to keep my spreadsheet pristine. OCD much?
So, I have a few magic numbers that I am keeping as personal milestone goals. A weight milestone, a BMI milestone, a blood pressure milestone, a lipid panel milestone, a clothing size milestone…….and some of these are not even my ultimate goals, just shorter term goals to help keep my motivation levels high as I achieve each of them. I am now at the lowest weight I have been in nine years, but there is a number on the scale that I haven’t been below in ten years and want to hit that elusive target before ten years becomes eleven years and I am soooooo close!
And I got the call from my doctor’s office today with one a set of magic numbers that meant I had achieved one of my ultimate health goals and made my doctor very happy in the process. My lipid panel results are in and my cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides are PERFECT!!!! This was a biggie, because even on a statin, my triglycerides were always elevated. No more sad eyes from my doctor! In fact the nurse told me several times just how happy he was with my results. It seems that erasing bad carbs from my diet erased the excess triglycerides and my total cholesterol is the lowest it has been in years. Pretty powerful motivation to keep up this new, healthier lifestyle.
I will keep you posted as I reach some more of these magic numbers. Do YOU have a magic number or numbers?
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