I’ve been working out consistently six to seven days a week for the last two months. And I’ve gained weight.
I know some of it might be muscle but it’s not as though I’m losing inches either. This is one of those times when I have to ask myself: what were my goals to begin with? The reason I began regularly lifting weights was that I wanted to get stronger and I have. But I think my unspoken, unwritten goal was to lose weight which is not really the focus I wanted.
I’ve been trying to break free of the numbers on my scale for years. Because I know they aren’t the final word. I know they mean something, but they are more of a barometer of the general trend than a detailed picture of my health.
I am trying to make more conscious choices in the kitchen. I’m not much of an extremist when it comes to food. I don’t like saying no sugar ever or no carbs ever. But I do try to limit my carbs to veggies over grains and stick to protein and veggies as often as possible. I found a coffee combination I can live with (coconut oil, collagen powder, 1 tsp or less of cacao and coconut sugar).
Last weekend I didn’t workout. At first I felt kind of bad, afraid that I would lose all the progress that I made. But then I worked for hours in the garden. I helped hubby assemble our raised beds, then hauled 12 bags of soil from the local garden center to fill them and put up chicken wire. It was hard exhausting work and it needed to be done. But I wasn’t a sore as I would have been in the past. I wasn’t so tired by the end of the day that I passed out early. In fact, I felt pretty good.
Sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture. If my goal is to have a stronger, healthier body and be more equipped to live my life, I’m doing that. In fact, I may not have to workout six or seven days a week to make that happen, (unless I enjoy it, which I usually do) especially if I’m doing heavy work in my regular life.
I wouldn’t mind being a little smaller and fitting well into my favorite clothes, but that is a self-defeating focus. There are too many variables that change the numbers on the scale in a given day, or how my jeans fit in a given month. Looking at larger trends and real life gains is more functional long-term.
I still plan to start running again (or at least walking really fast), and I would like to keep working towards healthy and sustainable eating habits. For me that generally means less sugar, more veggies, plenty of protein and avoiding mindless stress eating. But I want to remind myself what my ultimate goals are, to be strong enough to keep up with my kids, stay active and healthy as I age and have enough energy to enjoy my life.
If you are interested, Fit2B Studio is one of the ways that I keep fitness in my life. I love Beth Learn’s philosophy of fitness and the way she is constantly encouraging her members to be kind to themselves.
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