Non-Scale Victories
Today is day 30 of my Whole30! Yes, my friends, I have managed to survive this.
Actually, I'm doing really great. This program has really been a good catalyst for me re-engaging with healthy habits and developing some new ones. I don't regret the "suffering" and if anyone would ask if I would ever do it again, I would resoundingly say "Yes!" (I would recommend it for anyone as well... you learn a lot by taking the Whole30 challenge)
The question that most people have asked me about "Day 31" (tomorrow) is "So, what are you looking forward to the most when you're done?" Obviously, the expectation is that I'm going to go grab my favorite non-compliant food and enjoy it. A coworker of mine told me that I should eat a cupcake, and I think she's going to bring one into the office tomorrow. I think that if I went from "no added sugar whatsoever" to "frosting overload" I may go into diabetic shock, so I may not go along with that plan :-)
Honestly, the one thing I'm looking most forward to is getting on the scale. One of the BIG rules of Whole30 is that you are not allowed to weigh yourself for the entire duration of the challenge, so I have no idea of whether I've gained weight or lost weight or how much I've lost or gained!
For the record, my clothes are much looser, so I don't expect to see a gain. In case you were wondering.
For those of you wondering "why no weighing yourself?" It's really for two reasons. First, during the first couple of weeks your body is adjusting to the change in its inputs and you may actually gain weight (you definitely see a little bloat), so constantly weighing yourself can be discouraging. However, the primary reason (especially if you track with Whole30's blog and their Facebook community) is that they don't ever want this program to be considered in the minds of people taking the challenge as a "diet." Here's why:
In a diet, you are really focused on one thing (and we as Americans like simple, quantifiable goals) - what a $20-$30 piece of plastic says about you when you step on it. It's amazing how much of our self-worth is wrapped up in the number from this device and if we're not careful it will drive our behavior considerably, especially if we are "on a diet" to "lose weight." It's short-term, narrowly focused, and once we achieve our goal (the right number on the scale), we are done and we can get back to eating ice cream and pizza and drinking beer (if you're into beer).
The Whole30 people take the scale out of the program because they have designed the challenge to be such that we get out of our comfort zone, make some lifestyle adjustments, and evaluate ourselves throughout the process. In our group, we have been celebrating many "Non-scale victories" when we were in days 20-30 of the program, and many of these are significant. We're sleeping better, fitting comfortably into clothes that were an aerobic exercise to put on before, have cleaner skin, digestive issues are gone, etc. It's been very encouraging, and this process (not the hypothetical number I'll get to see tomorrow) is why I'd do Whole30 again.
It's got me thinking, however, about the other areas of our lives that we apply this "this is the one thing that matters and I'm a failure if I'm not (there... whatever "there" is) yet. So, perhaps you and I can take this "Non-Scale Victory" mindset into some of the other areas of our life that we tend to assign a singluar, narrow goal to define our worthiness in this part of our life and our success.
Actually, I'm doing really great. This program has really been a good catalyst for me re-engaging with healthy habits and developing some new ones. I don't regret the "suffering" and if anyone would ask if I would ever do it again, I would resoundingly say "Yes!" (I would recommend it for anyone as well... you learn a lot by taking the Whole30 challenge)
The question that most people have asked me about "Day 31" (tomorrow) is "So, what are you looking forward to the most when you're done?" Obviously, the expectation is that I'm going to go grab my favorite non-compliant food and enjoy it. A coworker of mine told me that I should eat a cupcake, and I think she's going to bring one into the office tomorrow. I think that if I went from "no added sugar whatsoever" to "frosting overload" I may go into diabetic shock, so I may not go along with that plan :-)
Honestly, the one thing I'm looking most forward to is getting on the scale. One of the BIG rules of Whole30 is that you are not allowed to weigh yourself for the entire duration of the challenge, so I have no idea of whether I've gained weight or lost weight or how much I've lost or gained!
For the record, my clothes are much looser, so I don't expect to see a gain. In case you were wondering.
For those of you wondering "why no weighing yourself?" It's really for two reasons. First, during the first couple of weeks your body is adjusting to the change in its inputs and you may actually gain weight (you definitely see a little bloat), so constantly weighing yourself can be discouraging. However, the primary reason (especially if you track with Whole30's blog and their Facebook community) is that they don't ever want this program to be considered in the minds of people taking the challenge as a "diet." Here's why:
In a diet, you are really focused on one thing (and we as Americans like simple, quantifiable goals) - what a $20-$30 piece of plastic says about you when you step on it. It's amazing how much of our self-worth is wrapped up in the number from this device and if we're not careful it will drive our behavior considerably, especially if we are "on a diet" to "lose weight." It's short-term, narrowly focused, and once we achieve our goal (the right number on the scale), we are done and we can get back to eating ice cream and pizza and drinking beer (if you're into beer).
The Whole30 people take the scale out of the program because they have designed the challenge to be such that we get out of our comfort zone, make some lifestyle adjustments, and evaluate ourselves throughout the process. In our group, we have been celebrating many "Non-scale victories" when we were in days 20-30 of the program, and many of these are significant. We're sleeping better, fitting comfortably into clothes that were an aerobic exercise to put on before, have cleaner skin, digestive issues are gone, etc. It's been very encouraging, and this process (not the hypothetical number I'll get to see tomorrow) is why I'd do Whole30 again.
It's got me thinking, however, about the other areas of our lives that we apply this "this is the one thing that matters and I'm a failure if I'm not (there... whatever "there" is) yet. So, perhaps you and I can take this "Non-Scale Victory" mindset into some of the other areas of our life that we tend to assign a singluar, narrow goal to define our worthiness in this part of our life and our success.
- Dating: What are some non-marriage victories that you've seen happen in your dating and relational life? How is your dating life making you a better person and helping you relate well to others?
- Career: What are some non-promotion-to-(insert dream job) victories that you can achieve in the current year or quarter? Where are opportunities for growth that don't necessarily have money and titles attached to them?
- Financial: If your goal is to be independently wealthy, debt free, or buy that (house, car, etc.) - what are some victories in-between what you define as ultimate success that can give you perspective down the long road to that goal?
- Spiritual: What is the Non-Mountaintop-Experience victory that we can look and see God working in our life even when we don't have these "super revelations" from Him? Are we faithful to Him even in the seasons when He seems silent and are we obedient to His command to be in community and to stay connected to Him through prayer and through meditating on scripture?
These are some thoughts... and of course you may have your own "non-scale victories" if you are resolving to lose a few L-B's this year.
And yes, I am looking forward to a scale victory... and feel like a Biggest Loser contestant on the day of the weigh-in not quite knowing what the reveal will be. Regardless, the non-scale victories have made the experience a success for me.
Cheers!
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