Guest Post by Amy: Not Just Numbers

Hello! My name is Amy and I am the author of the blog Triple12. I graduated from college last May at my highest weight ever. Annoyed and slightly ashamed, I decided to lose some weight. Towards the end of December, I started to look at the (very little) progress I had made and decided that I needed a more exact plan. But I didn't just want to become healthier. There were quite a few things I wanted to change. So I created Triple12. I have 12 life goals that I would like to reach in the 12 months of 2012 (12-12-12). Each month, I have one main goal to focus on. Each week, I have a small achievement that I must accomplish. These achievements can be anything from workout 5 times a week to read the actual paper newspaper cover to cover twice in the week, etc. With each week, I not only attempt to create a new good habit, but I continue with the previous achievements. And ideally, as the weeks add up, I create the habits that make my goal possible.

But enough about me. Let's talk about this blog post.

We are a society ruled by numbers.

We focus a lot on the numbers on the scale, count down the days until vacation or the weekend, count how much money we have (or wished we had), spend hours standing in line for everything and anything.

It's a wonder we haven't turned into gigantic numbers.

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Don't get me wrong. This isn't a completely horrible thing. Without focusing on numbers everyone would be late to work and my blog would not exist (or, at least, it wouldn't have such a wonderfully creative name).

The problem is when certain numbers, like the ones on the scale, start to define us.

I'm not immune to this either. In fact, I've started to realize that I have been weighing myself several times... a day. I've become so obsessed with the number on the scale that I'm hopping on to check to see how much my dinner will cost me. Or how much I weigh right before I go to bed.

It's ridiculous. I know it's ridiculous. So why do I keep doing it?

Because I want to lose weight. And I think I've tricked myself into thinking that one time, if I step on the scale at some other time than first thing in the morning, I will see a dramatic change.

But I won't. And every time I jump on that scale and don't see anything out of the ordinary, I feel bad. Clearly I'm not working out enough. Or maybe I should have skipped that candy bar at lunch. I start to think about all the things I've done wrong.

It makes me feel bad.

And I don't like feeling bad (who does?).

I need to start focusing on other things, or at least, other numbers. For example, I just finished my first spinning class in over 4 years. Not only did a I get a fantastic workout, but I also pushed myself the entire time.

And then there was the time when a coworker came to my desk and said, "Amy, you look great! I can tell you've lost weight."

Or how when I went to Disney World to visit my sister last month, I had no problem walking around for 12 hours a day. Okay, my feet did hurt and I had to relax towards the end of the day, but still. That's a lot more standing and walking than I would have been able to do at my college graduation.
People call these non-scale victories. But I don't understand why we need to differentiate between the two. If I have a week with non-scale victories, but a scale defeat, do they cancel each other out? Is there some checks and balance system? No. There's not. In my mind, there shouldn't be two different types of events that cause mini happy dances. A victory, whether on the scale or not, is a victory and should be applauded.

Those are the things I should be focusing on. Those are the things we should all be focusing on.

Because we are so much more than a number on a scale.

We just need to remember that.

Love times 12,