Breaking the Bathroom Scale Habit

After gaining 50lb this pregnancy (and still being up 25lb from the last pregnancy), I am beginning my journey "back down the scale". At this heavy of a weight, my energy is terrible and my health can't be great either. I have my age going for me, but that advantage fades a little with each passing day. I know it will catch up with me if I don't get ahold of things now.

Photo by ja ma on Unsplash

My first two weeks postpartum, I ate pretty much whatever I wanted including two or three desserts/sweets per day, lots of bread and cereal, and lots of milk (which I normally don't drink and typically causes me to gain weight). After giving myself that time of freedom as I recovered from childbirth, my husband and I committed to a change in our eating habits. I still can't really workout -- just taking short, leisurely walks for now. But I can eat in a way that is healthy and still provides me with more than enough food I need to produce milk for my son.

We are only on our sixth morning of this new routine, and I so desperately wanted to step on the scale this morning. If I could just see that I've lost a couple pounds, I could stay motivated, right?

Well I know from past experience that the number on the scale is deceiving. It can also become a roadblock. If I get to a weight that I deem "acceptable", I start to slide on my new habits. A cheat treat turns into a cheat day which turns into a cheat weekend. Sometimes I completely abandon my new habits and won't eat something green for months.

The yo-yoing has to stop.

The number on the scale is exciting and does reflect one small portion of my progress, but how I feel and how my health has improved are the ultimate goals -- and those can't be measured on the bathroom scale.