226.2 AND Non Scale Victories

The scale says that I'm 226.2.   This is what my weight tracker on Spark People looks like:

The dip in the middle of January was when I was sick after starting my Vitamin D treatment.  When I look at it, I'm reminded that while I feel frustrated with where I am, I am in a good place.  My weight has steadily decreased since December, even with not being able to work out until the first part of February.  Even more, what this says to me is that I can maintain a weight within about 5 pounds.  I told Pete that if we could combine his ability to lose weight and my ability to maintain weight, we'd be a superhuman!  He laughed.

I got in 5 days of exercise last week.  And in that I discovered sore hips.  They were so sore one night I realized that I was walking like a gun slinger in the OK Corral.  I got out the purple foam roller and had Pete roll me out.  Man can that guy apply pressure.  It was definitely one of those "hurts so good" things.  But it helped.  Then I asked one of the trainers at the gym how to stretch out my hips and ever since then I've been good.  This is a non scale victory!

I had an epiphany at the gym.  I realized that I was limiting myself to jogging intervals by staring at those minutes and seconds ticking away.  If I cover up that part of the treadmill and instead focus on the distance and aim for more each time, I am able to jog longer.  I did a 5K in just under 50 minutes which is a record for me. The trainer also reminded me to break up my cardio to give my body a rest and so that it's not used to one source of cardio.  So I tried this machine:  Cybex ARC Trainer.  Man what a workout!  I can feel it in my chest, my arms, my core and my back.  In addition, my legs were burning!  This is a non scale victory!

My last victory was the best.  Pete and I had a motorcycle event to go to on Saturday.  Friday afternoon I went shopping for something to wear.  For giggles I went into the Gap Outlet to see if I could find anything.  I did.  Lots.  I fit into not only the XXL, but some XL and some L items.  This is the same person who had a Gap Groupon about a year ago and had trouble finding anything that would fit me.  So I went home and pulled out some of the shirts that I've bought in the last couple of years that turned out to be way to small.  Some of them fit!  I had this awesome motorcycle shirt that I've worn once and it was so tight I was uncomfortable.  I put that thing on Saturday night and rocked it!  I got so many compliments on how good I looked that I felt awesome. 

Lesson:  the non scale victories are just as important as the scale.