Looking Beyond the Scale

Day after day I step on Wii Fit hoping to see that my BMI has gone down just .2 to make my day. But what do you do when you step on the scale, just to see that the number has not moved, or has gone up .2. IT HURTS. It’s a reminder that you still have this weight on you and that it is time to work harder.

Starting my weight loss journey was not easy. We all want to lose weight fast although we gained it slowly. It seems like a basic concept, but actually it is so hard to process. I started my weight lost in August of 2010. It hasn’t been easy, nor will it get easier. For my 21^st birthday my best friend bought me Wii Fit Plus. It was something that I had been wanting for a while. I went back to my apartment, ripped it open, put it in my Wii, and turned on the board. I had heard all the hype about the new games and I was ready to play them. I stepped on the Wii board, and it said, “Your weight has exceed the maximum weight.” It then gives you the option to reboot. I think I reboot five times hoping that it was wrong. Nothing changed. So I put my balance board under my bed, I sat on the floor and cried. I think my roommate came to my door to get something; she heard me crying and told me to open the door. I couldn’t I had to get all out right then and right there.

My breakdown didn’t change anything though. I “said” that I wanted to lose weight but I didn’t do anything different but run up the stairs to my apartment. I thought that should help a whole lot since I lived on the 3^rd floor of an apartment building with no elevator. Still, nothing changed.

The summer came and I had made up in my mind that “The Time was now.” That was our young adult motto for 2010, so I applied it to my life. Summer was here, I wasn’t going to have beach ready body, but I had to start working on it. Summer school was here, and the only thing I had to do was go to a 3-hour class, do homework, and workout. Sounds easy. But it wasn’t. I work up 7 to go to the gym, by myself, and I hated it. My iPod didn’t help, talking to myself didn’t help, and looking at hot guys didn’t help. I needed a person to motivate me, but I didn’t get what I wanted. I had to push myself.

After the whole summer of working out, STILL NO CHANGE. So I’m going to the gym, working out, sweating, but the scales look EXACTLY the same as the beginning of the summer. I had started to workout, but I didn’t change my eating habits. I was always a person who was up for a diet, but I know that with a diet, I would be off of it soon.

School started, and my best friend said she going to start going to the gym with me. I didn’t believe it cause she had said it before, but it never happened. She was little and I didn’t think she needed to be the one going with me to gym. I need a big girl so we can work hard and push each other. I was wrong. She pushed me, and I pushed her. Everyday at 9 am, we were in the gym. Change started to come as I was working out harder and eating better. My final semester at NSU was a little sad because I was leaving my friends. I was so glad that I got to see my best friend everyday though, we got closer and met new people as we went to the gym everyday.

I love how people start to become friendly after they have seen your face a few time. We had hit VIP status at the gym. Everyone knew our names or our faces, so it made it fun to go. Talking to everyone and learning about people is what I love to.

Talking with a friend of mine, he told me I should do P90X. I was scared of it because I had seen too many of my friends on Twitter talking about it. He told me he didn’t want me to have surgery and I needed to get the weight off the old fashion way. So he gave me the DVDs and I tired it. It would not have made 90 days of working out if it wasn’t for my BeachBody Coach pushing me, my friends on Twitter not letting me quit, and praying that I would make it. There were days that I cried, days that I said I was going to quit, but I never did.

Day 90. Ninety days had passed. I had graduated from NSU the day before day 90. One chapter of my life was complete. Now a new chapter has to start. Fifty pounds lost, and I was feeling better. Two dresses down, and I was feeling better. None of this helped, because I still didn’t like the way I looked. I am still “fluffy,” and I still have a lot more weight to lose. I was a little smaller, but in my head, it felt like I had only lost 10 lbs. on a journey to lose 5000.

I went to get on the scale at the gym, on day, and there was a post-it note that said, “The number on scale doesn’t mean anything, you are beautiful- Operation Beautiful.” So being the Googler that I am, I went to Google Operation Beautiful and I loved it. They simply left post-it notes on mirrors or scales, to tell women they are beautiful no matter what. This was a something that I could do, and I loved. I carried a pack of post-it notes in my purse and started to leave them around. It had to take the advice that I was leaving on mirrors everywhere. I had to look at the real Brittany. I was beautiful no matter what size I was.

As ladies, we tend to worry too much about our weight. Yes, being healthy is VERY important, but it is a process that takes times. Rome wasn’t built in a day. We want to see results the first day we workout and it wont happen most of the time. It’s a lifestyle change, and it is something that we are going to have to do for the rest of our lives. So get ready to workout for life. Have fun with it and enjoy it. There are so many things you can do just to get moving. If you have not tried Zumba, try it, its fun. Look beyond the scaled and know that you are beautiful.