progress is progress

There was a phase early on in my journey where I lived and died by the scale.

I weighed myself every morning and my mood for the day would be dictated by that number. Back then I didn’t understand that weight fluctuations were normal yet. Every time I saw a number that was stuck or went in a direction I didn’t want I’d be upset and stressed for the day. I remember there were a lot of times where I felt clothes looser, or saw a slight change in myself in the mirror I’d go into the next morning’s weigh-ins with huge expectations.

Unfortunately those expectations were usually not met.

It’d feel like I did perfect in the day, but the scale says otherwise the next morning. I’d be hard on myself for it, thinking I must have screwed something up during the day in my diet.

Those days really sucked.

I’m not going into daily weight fluctuations today. There’s a previous letter that fully covers that.

Today I wanna talk about the different signs of progress.

The scale isn’t the only area to see progress. There are many other indicators as well. When you spot any indicators of progress, that means you’re on the right track. That means you’re doing well, and that all you gotta do is keep going. Don’t let the lack of scale progress make you believe that you’re not doing well or lagging behind.

Remember the scale is just a measurement of what you currently weigh.

It doesn’t measure your self worth.

Daily weight fluctuations are normal , and so the only number on the scale to take more seriously is your weekly averages, where by comparing weekly averages from a couple of week you get to see the general direction of where your weight is going.

That takes a lot of time to track.

In the mean time if you’re experiencing looser clothing, seeing slight changes of yourself in the mirror, noticing differences in before after pictures, those are all positive signs of progress and all just says one thing:

You’re doing great!

It’s totally possible to experience progress in one area but not another. Your weight can be stagnating for a week or two, but you also feel your pants to be looser. That’s super possible. What do you doin that scenario? Nothing.

You keep going.

Cos all progress is progress. If you’re making progress, you’re on the right track. If you’re on the right track, you keep going. You keep going, and more progress will be made.

Progress goes beyond the physical stuff too.

Been able to keep to your diet consistently for 7 days without much struggle? Progress! Been feeling more confident with yourself when dealing with food or self image? Progress! Feel stronger, groceries feel lighter and going up the stairs feel easier? Progress! Being able to stick to a 3x a week exercise for a full month? Progress!

Progress doesn’t all occur at the same time.

If you experience one and keep going, it’s likely you’ll experience another over time. You keep a chain of little progresses together overtime, that will eventually translate to show up on the scale.

Don’t let the scale be your end all be all.

Be kinder to yourself.

Identify that you’ve been putting the work, and there are little things to show for it.

Remember the journey is a super long one. It boils down to changing lifestyle and habits which require time. A lot of time. Short term are you gonna see some differences? Sure! But nothing significant. Kinda like saving money. Saving money for 3-4 weeks really isn’t gonna feel like much at all compared to saving for 3-4 months, or 3-4 years. Losing weight and keeping it off is a “years” game.

When you have realistic expectations on the timeline of this journey, you’ll stop constantly look for short term significant results. You’ll be kinder to yourself for little mess ups and not have your day ruined cos of it. You’ll start to see that your mess ups are really no big deal at all as long as in the long term you stay on track. When that happens then this journey just becomes a matter of time, and if this journey is just a matter of time that means it’s not a question of whether or not you’ll reach your goals. Reaching it is for sure, the unknown is just “when”.

Progress is progress, regardless of its shape or form. The scale is merely one place to see it, many many other places to identify it too. Look out for them. Acknowledge and accept them. No matter how small, progress is still progress. It one hundred percent adds up over time.

Keep it up, you know you can do this.

— Po