Skip the Scale

Welcome to the December Fit Challenge. Did you have a nice weekend? Did it include any goodies? If so, you might want to skip the scale for a few days.

Here’s what I do.

Weigh Less Often

Lots of controversy around the bathroom scale these days. At my age I certainly don’t want to be addicted to anything, much less to weighing myself.

We know all the arguments about “muscle weighs more than fat, la la la.”

Ok, my days of gaining muscle are over. I’m trying to maintain here, folks!

That’s my reality.

But at the end of the day, the scale is still a really good measure for me about controlling what goes in my mouth.

And in order to keep my clothes fitting and feeling reasonably good in my skin, weighing myself daily helps me.

If I’ve eaten a meal later in the day than normal, consumed extra salt, eaten sweets, drank too much wine, the scale is going to disappoint me.

What’s the point in going around depressed about that? I enjoyed myself and now it’s time to pay the piper and get back down to it.

Weighing myself after a splurge weekend is not indicative of my overall position.

So I skip it for a few days.

Wait Three Days

By waiting until Wednesday after a weekend spree, I find I can accurately gauge the damage I’ve done to myself if I’ve course-corrected Monday and Tuesday.

Now, if weighing yourself makes you want to jump off a cliff, please skip it entirely!

Healthy Holiday Swaps

Nutritionist Andi Coffee shared these pointers this week:

• Chop vegetables and add them to soups, stews, salads, and casseroles. This will increase your fiber intake and help you feel more satisfied with less calories.
• Add seasonal fruit such as apples, pears, or pomegranates to salads in place of dried fruit.
• Try mashed sweet potatoes with orange juice, ginger, and cinnamon in place of marshmallows, brown sugar, and butter.

Wrap Up

Okay off this computer and to the gym I go! Have a wonderful holiday week!