This sounds a little silly, but I’m doing something big today: I’m putting away the scale. I know this is the epitome of first-world problems, but here’s my rationale: when I run, I feel invincible. I feel strong and proud of myself. But nothing kills that runner’s high faster than stepping on the scale and seeing…nothing. No change (or even negative change!) after good choices and hard work. This has been happening for a few weeks now and is making me reassess my health goals: am I running and eating better because it makes me feel alive or am I doing it all because I want to be thin? Losing weight may come – or it may not – but I don’t want that to be the driving force anymore. So the scale is going into storage for now.
INTENTIONS FOR THE END OF MAY
- put away the scale – maybe only one check-in on the first of every month?
- start incorporating more stretching on off days, especially for my hip muscles
- tidy up the school room for summer and take inventory of supplies needed
- make a plan for screen use during the summer and stick to it
- get my car to the mechanic for an inspection
- renew library cards
- buy a new push broom
- practice what I preach to the kids and floss every.single.night (not randomly, like I usually do)
- paint my toes
- make energy bites
- buy an ice cream maker (100LT #52)
- string lights throughout the back porch
- borrow a power washer and start prepping the front porch for staining
- scrub bird poop off the porch (the con to having baby birds)
- plan a day with my mom
- give all of the boys haircuts
PREVIOUS INTENTIONS
If you’re reading on your phone or in a reader, be sure to click over to see what I checked off the list!
- WATER – drink lots and lots of it (I need to be better about this)
add a consistent strength training day to my weekly exercise load(not my favorite day of the week, but necessary to stay injury-free)find two new podcasts to listen to while running(listened to a few episodes of Another Mother Runner and The Lazy Genius)mail in the kids’ finished standardized testingmake a list of the remaining assignments/readings for the last few weeks of school- plan a day with my mom
buy a succulent (100LT #48) and some herbs for the kitchen window- look into getting an ice cream maker
- renew library cards
- finish reading Dorothy Day’s biography (still plugging away on this one – almost done!)
read two books sitting on my nightstand(I read Make Your Bed and The Art Detective )- decide on new summer sandals, one casual pair and one for church (still undecided – I think I want Birks for the casual ones, but haven’t found a dressier pair I like yet)
buy sandals for P(I found an old pair from his big brothers for him to wear – adorable!)- make oobleck with Sophie (100LT #93)
buy tiny hooks- string lights throughout the back porch
- borrow a power washer and start prepping the front porch for staining (all the rain postponed this, but I need to get it done soon)
What about you? What do you hope to accomplish in the next two weeks?
I love your idea to ditch the scale! I went through a similar phase. I started Jazzercising 4-5x/week over a year ago. At first I dropped 5lbs, but the scale hasn't budged since. I am still a solid 20lbs more than I was 5 years ago when I got married…. but I feel GREAT. Stronger and healthier than I can ever remember feeling. Staring at the scale every day just brought me down! Instead, I try to focus on how I'm feeling. Good for you!!
YES! I can totally relate. I'm definitely data-driven and like to plot the numbers, but I don't think it's worth feeling defeat every time I stand on the scale. I worked too hard, haha! I just heard about a book called Intuitive Eating and I think that's the direction I want to move toward – like you said, focusing on how I'm feeling and being aware of what I'm doing and eating. We'll see how it goes!
Absolutely! I have found to be better mentally when I eat intuitively. I'd also recommend "Health at Every Size" — fascinating read!