Measuring Up, go figure!

Before I launch into today's post, thought I'd share a pic of last night's veggie that we had with our grilled salmon and baked sweet potatoes -- broccoli rabe sauteed in a bit of olive oil with onions, garlic, mushrooms and grated carrot. OMG--delicious and nutritious! I know that this veggie is an acquired taste because of its bitter tones, but having grown up in an Italian neighborhood, I learned to LOVE it.


At only 20 calories a cup, this is a food you can really chow down on and not worry about messing up your food plan. I always cook extra and throw it in my scrambled egg whites the following day. YUM!


One of the many health benefits of this vegetable is that it is rich in certain phytochemicals, including sulforaphane and indoles. These are chemicals which are proving to protect us against cancer.


Ok-- now that I'm done with my broccoli rabe commercial, on to my post. LOL





If you are familiar with me, you know that I do not own a scale right now, haven't weighed myself in ages, and probably won't be doing so any time in the near future.


You see, having a scale is a way I have sabotaged my weight loss and fitness efforts in the past, and I am actively trying to avoid self-sabotaging behaviors and patterns.

In the past, I'd have a scale and be "on a diet" and I'd tell myself that I would only weigh once a week................... but it never worked out that way. I would be hopping on that scale everyday. Yup, every morning I'd let that scale tell me how I should feel about myself and whether or not my efforts had resulted in "progress," etc., etc..............


And as if that isn't bad enough, I didn't restrict this torture to mornings only, I would be hopping on and off that bad boy day and night, moving it from one room to another or standing different ways to see how it would affect the numbers.................

That's why this time, as part of my quest to do things differently, I refuse to have a scale in my house. If there were a scale here, I'd become a slave to it. Yes, I would become its bitch and in no time flat I'd be letting it have WAY, WAY more influence on my self-perception, self-esteem and indeed my entire life, than a hunk of metal deserves.

It's appropriate that scales are generally kept in the bathroom. After all, they are usually pieces of shit. Ask any overweight person, they'll tell ya! LOL

In striving to get a healthy body and healthy self-perception, a scale is something that I have put aside for awhile until the day comes when I feel that I can keep its numbers in perspective and use it as a tool instead of becoming its bitch.

Anyway, not having a scale, I took my measurements back at the end of July when I joined the gym. I also started an exercise log that runs for 13 weeks and has a page where you can record your weight, measurements and other stats--- so I put my measurements in there.

I planned to only measure myself once a month when I post my progress pics here but........ the other day, I was picking up the house as we were having friends over for dinner, and I came across the tape measure which I had left laying around when I posted my monthly progress report a couple weeks ago.

By coincidence, that day marked my first completed week of the ChaLEAN Extreme program, and I FELT different, and there was the tape measure, and no one was around, so...............

I whipped my shirt off and measured my waist ---- one inch down in ONE week! Holy crap!

So I measured my hips, ANOTHER inch down! My arms measured slightly smaller too!

Wow, ChaLEAN really is extreme!

The good news is - I was and still am amazed by the results I am getting with the ChaLEAN program. The bad news is, I measured myself before my next progress report-- when I promised myself that I wouldn't do that because it has led to obsessive behaviors for me in the past.

There's no point in not having a scale in the house because I become its bitch, only to have a tape measure and do the same thing. This is the first promise to myself that I have broken since I came back from South Dakota in the middle of July and decided to get really serious.

I don't want to break promises to myself. I put the tape measure away until my next progress report with pics in mid-October.

Right now I am trying to practice something else that's hard for me --- self-forgiveness. I broke a promise to myself and that wasn't good. But I can't blow it out of proportion and let that one slip define me as a failure== something I have done in the past. We all know where that leads -- to the nearest fast food drive-up. Can you say super-size it?

And so I put it behind me and this morning treated myself to a nice, long walk at the beach/boardwalk in my town. I am so lucky to have this----it's a gorgeous place to walk, run or bike. It was good to get a break from walking my hilly-ass neighborhood. Since most of the path is flat, I pushed myself to walk as fast as I could and really worked up a sweat.

I followed that up with a quick circuit at the gym to hammer my large muscles with heavier weights than I have available at home. I vibrated my way out of the building as my arms and legs were shaking.

And so, if you've fucked up lately, please forgive yourself and move on. Forgive yourself as you would any friend-- one thing about this getting fit business is that learning how to be a friend to yourself is part of the package-- and there's no way you'll succeed without it.

Do something nice for you today!