new pounds old pounds crazy pounds
As you might have heard, I am called Scale Junkie because I was the woman who would get on and off the scale a dozen times a day. It got so bad my husband had to hide the scale from me and only bring it out once a month for me to weigh in. That finally broke my addiction but it didn't change the way I look at the numbers on the scale.
The other day I talked about how much weight I've lost and gained over the past three years but I didn't tell you that I decided to resign from my position as human yoyo. Thats right, this former Scale Junkie decided that she's done with the up and down of the scale. Of course I realize that everyone has some fluctuation on the scale but lets face it 5 pounds is a fluctuation, even 10 pounds could be called a fluctuation...20, 30, 40 pounds? Not so much. That means one of two things. I can either just go up and up and up or down and down and down. Clearly up isn't an option so down is the choice.
At the beginning of the year I said I would announce how many pounds I had lost for the week, then how many for the year and how much from my all time high and then I did what I tend to do when I do these sorts of things, the scale went up and I quit. So then I'd get back on plan and drop a few pounds but were those "real" pounds since I had already lost those pounds and they were part of a regain? Should I only count new pounds? What was my starting weight for the year again? I couldn't remember.
I asked a friend of mine recently how her weight loss efforts were going because she told me daily of her strict menu. She said she was three pounds away from her lowest point from her beginning of the year weight loss so she hadn't lost anything yet. She went on to explain that she was still 18 pounds over her lowest weight from last year and 40 more pounds from her goal. I asked her how many this time around and she said 30 pounds. I thought WOW 30 pounds is great! She told me that they don't count though because they were old pounds.. As soon as I heard it coming out of her mouth I saw the insanity of it all. Her method of counting pounds lost and gained matched MY way of counting too but it took hearing it from another persons mouth for me to realize that the past is the past and there is no such thing as new pounds and old pounds. I weighed 6 pounds and a few ounce when I was born, those are the orginal pounds, anything over that is what? New pounds? Old Pounds? Crazy pounds?I vote for crazy pounds.
I've come to a decision that I'm sick and tired of counting the pounds as new pounds, old pounds, this years pounds, blah blah blah. I'm counting from my all time high to where I am at the MOMENT. It doesn't matter that I was at 40 pounds lost at some point or that I was at 70 pounds lost last year, the yoyo is gone and I'm just saying from today....59 pounds gone as of today.
31 comments:
I don't know how you did it will all that counting. For me, I am still down 48 pounds from where I was when I started this journey. To hell with the highs and lows!
Congratulations on 59 pounds gone! That's how I look at it too, although I'm not sure what my highest weight was. I was too afraid to get on a scale back then.
Your oldpounds/newpounds/lostpounds/gainedpounds/crazy pounds was making me dizzy. I didn't understand it at all :)
Oh I understood that only too well! I started this year with a complicated spreadsheet detailing highest weight, weight lost in 2008, weight lost in 2009, weight lost this week, etc. After two weeks I looked at this things and thought, "Who cares? Start counting from the highest weight, which conveniently happens to be Jan 2008 and work from there. So, I am down 39.8 pounds from then. And I think that's fantastic! No more crazy pounds for me!
Well done on the 59 pounds! Almost time for a new badge for both of us!
As a lifelong yo-yo-er, I'm with you on the pledge to stop that distructive behavior.
Personally, I realize that I have two "highest" weights. Weight number one struck fear into my heart until I was in my mid-30s. I never went over that weight, and I considered it the absolute top.
Then pregnancy and childbirth, health issues and age got in the way and my "never go over weight" got left far behind. Weight number two was reached at the end of 2008.
I shaved a few pounds off that weight, but in the worst way possible: I went on a strict diet. I gained most of that weight back in short order and then I made the best decision of my life: I stopped dieting and started eating intuitively (my inspiration was Paul McKenna's "I Can Make You Thin", though I don't follow his rules to the letter anymore).
I count my weight loss from the beginning of January. It wasn't a new year's resolution thing. It's just when I started changing how I eat. I've lost weight extremely slowly since then but it is coming off. I think that blogging is helping me to stay on track too!
Congratulations on your weight loss and your great blog. Keep up the good work!
OOOOOHHH my this so hit home with me today.. I was scale hoping this morning and I am Up.. I thought I should be down.. I feel down in weight loss sort of way.. but the numbers do not reflect my actions of late.. and then I think about the pounds going up and the pounds coming down.. and where they stop and where I start and why am I so nutso about the scale and why do those numbers mean so much to me... its not a reflection of the person I am .. its my body.. and if I treat my body well eventually the pounds will go too.. thats the way I am trying to see it now.. its hard.. but I am trying..
OHH and by the way YAY on the 59 pounds.. boy I wish I could say that...
Love this post!! I too count "Old pound" but NOT anymore!! Thanks for this post!!
Here, is the problem . . . we are number people! Your post makes so much sense. I also could be considered a scale junkie (when I weigh, I weigh at least three times so I can get a consistent number).
Thanks for seeing the insanity in all of this. A pound is a pound. Kudos on 59 pounds gone. That is amazing!
And thanks for your posts. You really have a gift of writing.
59 pounds is awesome, how ever you look at it. I hadn't heard the theory of old pounds like your friend was describing. having gained/lost/gained/lost so many times over the years I just started each battle with beginning weight and ending weight for that battle. worked well for me. Now I'm at the "I'm not getting on the scale because I won't like the number" and going by clothes that I can fit in because I know approximately what pounds I was when I could wear that particular item of clothing. Once I get to a number I sort of like in my head, I'll step on the scale. I don't know why the scale rules me, but it does.......
keep on going down, down, down, down down!
betty
Wow I would have been confused the first time I tried that...actually got confused reading your blog. I do it from when I first started my mission. I don't go off of what I was last year or anything once I decided that I was going to do this that is the weight I used. Goodluck with your new tally style and congrats on the LB's lost and the most important on the say NO-No to Yo-YO.
The Fit Mission's latest blog www.thefitmission.com
Crazy pounds indeed. And 59 pounds is awesome!
- Sagan
59 pounds is awesome, i think its great that you found a better way to look at the pounds you have lost. I take them as they come from my highest weight.
Congrats on the 59 lbs! Bye Bye forever :)
I started my weight loss plan (this time) on February 17th so I'm counting that weight, however if I were to count the pounds lost from my biggest weight then the figures would be different. For me personally its about the day I started the plan from that day on I've lost 56 pounds which is great, also the weight I was at when I started gaining was 128 so I gained 171 pounds (GOOD GAWD!!!!) but I rather concentrate on what's lost since that day in February, it keeps me sane so to speak.
I definitely understand this crazy pounds counting. Ugh.
Congrats on the 59 pounds goooooone!
Crazy, funny, oh-so-true post! hehe
Celebrate those 59 lbs., girl! You worked hard to lose every one of them... and you should be proud that you did! Good for you!!! :)
Fabulous 59! Woot Woot!
Don't we just drive ourselves silly sometimes?! 59 pounds is great -new old or otherwise! They're gone!
Awesome post as always! I totally agree with you on the "crazy pounds." A pound is a pound is a pound. 59 is great, by the way!!
And yes, we'll have to have coffee soon. We're moving in at the end of next week!
59 pounds?! Brava, my dear. You inspire me with your insight and determination, as well as your struggles.
It's nice to know I'm not alone.
I go from my highest weight, of my knowledge, and stick with that. Good for you- weigh to go!!!!!!!!!!!
59 pounds down is awesome. I think you've got the right idea. It's sad that we even have to come to that point of counting up and down pounds and manipulating the true numbers.
Path to Health
I agree -- Crazy Pounds!
I know how much I've lost & kept off since I started last year which is my highest weight but it is all about the here & now.
I picked a day to start & that is my baseline. No more 'old pounds' or highest weight amounts or any complicated math charts.
Bravo on the 59lbs. That is an impressive number.
I can see how this would get confusing (and discouraging). I always just count from my starting weight at the time I start, lol. But since I started this time around at my highest weight ever, I guess I'm good! :-)
Congrats on hitting your 60 pounds (read it in the comments on the HYC update). That's amazing. You are an inspiration in so many ways. Keep it up!
I know that I shouldn't be surprised - but I was totally surprised that other people count this way too! I had lost a total of 70 pounds, back around September 2008, since then I have yo-yo'd and now am at 67, but I really consider them "old pounds" and that I am "getting back to where I should have been and used to be". Which is just plain silly. Every effort counts!
First of all, WOO HOOO on the 59 pounds!!
Secondly, thank you very very much for this post. I gained over the winter and ever since then I'm shuffling numbers, "well, I lost 2 pounds this week, so I've only gained 18 since such and such"
From now on I"m going back to my grand total number. Who cares that I gained some this winter. It's what I'm doing now and the grand picture that matters! So here goes. "I've lost 110 pounds" Ok, that wasn't tooo difficult! THANKS!
Amen to that! Let's just always look at the best....I am counting from my highest point to where I am now...over the years I have literally gained and lost hundreds of pounds! But I have decided to stop the insanity and just look at myself from my worst point until now.
This is hysterical and at the same time sad and true. I'm so guilty of all of this. I've been known to step on the scale several times a day and the number that comes up can make or break my whole day.
And as for old pounds vs new pounds...I'll tell you that anyone who's lost a considerable amount of weight has been known to do the same thing. The madness must stop...and yet, it's comforting to know that I'm not the only crazy one.
Good for you! 59lbs is awesome! :)
First: CONGRATS on being 59 pounds down. That is a fantastic achievement!
Second, I can really identify with this post! But I am with you and am counting down from my highest weight. I have lost them all, regardless of when or in what order, and I am claiming all of that hard work! Great post!
Exactly! The battles aren't important it is the global war on fat that is the ultimate test of our progress. 59 pounds ain't nothing to sneeze at. That is a whole lot of progress.
Thanks for commenting on my blog. I've read yours for so long it feels like a treat that you found me.
Post a Comment