Putting the scale away!

I had put it out there a few days ago that I was considering a monthly weigh-in.

I decided back in December that I was going to do Chalane Extreme (a 90 day strength focused program) when I finished the 30 Day Shred. The idea of taking the time concentrate on muscle building is just plain smart weight-loss, even smarter if you have been doing it all along. More muscle = more calories burned.

Since I am on this journey long-term, I need to think about long term goals. When I get to maintenance, do I want to be stuck to a 1200-1400 calorie a day diet to maintain... OR would I like to be eating 1600-2000 calories a day plus some exercise calories on top? I mean really, which one would you choose?

In addition to doing the Chalene Exteme Program, I have increased my daily calories to my BMR which right now is 1850. I'm doing this so I can maintain current muscle as well as build new muscle.

The scary part of these changes is that during the transition, the scale may not show an accurate reflection of what is really going on with my body. I am going to have to TRUST that I am doing the right thing for my body and wait a little longer to see those benefits on the scale.

I had a few people with "mixed" feelings on doing a monthly weigh-in. The common question is: "What if you get off track because you don't have to weigh-in?" My answer for that now is:  I seem to be on the right track nutrition-wise, and I don't feel in any danger of falling off that wagon because I still keep my food diary public for all my MFP pals to see and I will still be logging every morsel of food that enters this body.

Knowing what I do about increasing calories and starting a new fitness regimen, I will most likely see no-loss or even an increase in the first few weeks and I believe that weighing (while I try my best not to take the scale too seriously) may just be discouraging.

I'm going to have to put my inner instant gratification whore away for a while, measure my progress in inches instead of pounds and really remember that I am doing this for long-term gain.

This has been a hard decision to make because I desperately really want to get to my goal of seeing the 100's for my 30th birthday.  I may still make it there, but I also have to prepare myself for the fact that I might just have to look like I weigh in the 100's on my birthday.  Eventually I may even have to raise my goal weight too, if I am doing lots of strength training and toning, I may look better at 160, than I once did at 149.

So, I will still do weekly recaps of food and exercise, but I'm not going to weigh myself until March 1st, when I will also do my next progress photos!