Are you measuring the right things?

Weight loss. The name says it all. Losing weight. To do that you need to know how much you weigh now and after a certain time, you measure again. If the number is lower, you've lost weight, if its higher you've put on weight. Pretty simple.

The problem...weight loss is a bitch. The scale can really screw you up. Sometimes its up, sometimes its down. Life gets in the way. You have this event, that event, this thing you need to go to, that thing you need to go to a holiday here a weekend away there.

Then scales all over the place. You look at it and have absolutely no clue what to do, it leads to frustration, anger, anxiety, depression, beer, pizza and everything else.

But what if theres another way. Think of it this way. We call it a weight loss journey. However, for most people its actually about the destination. Hitting a certain weight. However, with my journey, I know hitting that particular weight isn't actually the be all and end all. What's more important and fulfilling to me, is becoming a certain person. And looking good. I dont just want to look good and not be able to hold on to it. I've done that.

I dont just want all the habits and to be able to do the things that I need to but not really look as I want. So it is about the aesthetics. Its just that I know what is going to be more fulfilling for me. Thats about who I become. But what does that even mean?

To me it means, having the habits, knowledge and skills to regulate what I eat so that I can enjoy social events, enjoy holidays and just navigate through everyday life and still be fit, healthy and have an aesthetically pleasing body.

Well if thats what I want, then why should the scale weight the be all and end all? Why is that the only marker or even the most important marker? Well, it shouldn't be.

Its one thing. One indicator. Its important to measure exactly what we want. Well...not even that. Its about measuring what we really want. How close we are getting to what we really want.

for example, for me its about how consistently I show up as the person I want to be which is measured by how clean I ate, whether I portion controlled or the extent to which I portion controlled. For example, I might go out to eat with friends. Did I choose the healthiest options available? Maybe not, and thats OK but did I portion control? Did I have starters or just mains? Did I have desserts? Maybe it wasn't that "clean"but given the particular circumstances was I self-controlled? Thats the sort of things I measure. Adherence - so how controlled was I given the circumstances, and cleanliness - how clean did I eat? And its not about the daily score. Its about the score over a week or a month. Yes its subjective but it's something that measures whats actually important to me, not some measure devised by society.

The point being...measure what you want and what is meaningful to you. Don't just focus on scale weight. Then you can track your actual goals, not something related to your goals.