Celebrate Progress over Perfection: My Measure of Success

I thought I would share something about my own journey today.   I started to write about this on my Facebook Page but what was going to be a quick comment, turned into a bit of a story and hence my first Blog post is born... 

A bit of background on me, I have been challenged by my weight most of my life and have gone up and down countless times and basically have allowed the number to rule how I felt about myself, and myself within the world. The scale has been a number that has messed with my brain, my emotions and in the past I have let it define who I am and whether or not my journey is successful...When I turned 30 and moved to Australia  I decided to make some changes and be a different version of me. I am 45 now and still on this journey , though I have made some huge leaps and bounds of progress. 

Now back to why I am writing this and to my awesomely aha moment....

Today was my measuring day and as I had been a bit indulgent over Easter (ok well a bit over the top really as I reckon I would now bleed chocolate)  as bunnies, eggs and a never ending supply of chocolate kept finding its way to my lips. The old me was a bit nervous and apprehensive about what my monthly results would be, but the now version of me knew that a few days of chocolate frenzy could not undo the past 4 weeks. 

As I stood on the scale ( I only do this once a month) I looked down to see and what I found was the needle had not moved from the previous months position... I felt disappointed however as quickly as I felt my disappointment appear I felt it wash over and away from me as I told myself this is only a number and it is not a true measure of what I have done.(and this was my first aha moment ) Historically, if this had happened I would have beaten myself up, told myself how bad I had been and then proceeded to the fridge and or cupboard to further consume whatever I could find. 

The newer version of me now  knows that weight can fluctuate hour to hour, day to day and at this time of the month I am holding fluid - just part of being a woman, so I jumped off the scale in anticipation to find my tape measure to see what she had to say.. 

Over the last month I have been doing my personal BMR program - which for me consists of running, walking, yoga, pilates, meditation and resistance training.  I do different things on different days based on my schedule that I happily fill with work, Uni, studying  and fun. 

Back to my Measure day - I found my tape, pulled out my progress book and flipped to the page where I have a created a month to month measurement chart so I can keep track of my journey. 

I took all my measurements, some stayed the same and some decreased - with an overall body composition change in 3.5 inches off.  Once upon a time I would have let the number on the scale be the only measure of my successes, but not I know that the scale is not and measurements are a truer assessment of progress.  Yippee for me I say, for over the last month I have decreased in size and have become healthier and a wee bit smaller. 

So what I realized is that even though I had a few moments of chocolate frenzy (ok maybe a few days) all the amazing efforts I had done over the last 4 weeks was not undone. I may not have lessened the number on the scale, but I did lessen my overall body composition. Muscle is more dense than fat so when you lose fat and are composed of more muscle you will be more compact and leaner and the best part is when you have more muscle you burn more calories because muscle uses more to fuel to move it around than fat. 

The reason I write this is to remind myself, and anyone reading this, that having a few indulging days does not completely wipe out the accumulation of an entire month. That you can have a few chocolate bunnies and get back on your track the next day or even in the next hour without completely throwing in the towel and giving up.

A journey is about progression not perfection (whatever that is ... and really I don't want it) and sometimes we take a step back and sometimes 10 steps forward. So honour what you are doing and what you have done and remember that progression is the true measure of your journey. 


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