I’ve definitely lost inches on my body—and gained muscle mass— but I only know this because of how I look and how my clothes fit. I don’t weigh myself or take measurements.
I’m not on a weight loss journey like some health and fitness bloggers are, so weigh-ins and measuring are not part of my life, nor do I want them to be. When I watch shows like The Biggest Loser or Heavy, I completely understand the weigh-ins because they really have to track their progress to make sure that they are losing the amount of weight they should be and to ensure their eating and workouts are effective.
When I made the decision to work out regularly, I did it for my health of course and to improve the look of my body by toning it. So, that’s how I assess my progress nowadays—by what I see in the mirror and how I feel.
In the past, I’ve weighed myself regularly and measured myself and I became obsessed with the numbers and that’s not where I want to be.
I want to feel good about how hard I work and in order to do that, I can’t obsess about the numbers on the scale or how much my hips measure. I’ve been there, done that—and I never feel happy because I feel like I’m not getting results (even when I am.) Now, all it takes is just looking at myself and pulling my skinny jeans on to know that the results are there.
I was shopping at LuluLemon with Candice this weekend (and OMG do they ever have amazing stuff out right now!) and I even proudly flexed in the mirror as I tried a tank on. That’s how I measure success these days.
How do you measure your workout success? To clarify, I’m not saying I never weigh myself—I do. Maybe once every 3 months or so.
Speaking of LuluLemon—hello gorgeous! I’m absolutely loving all of the stuff they have in store right now and I’m tempted to pay a visit again next weekend and make a purchase or two.
Here are my top picks:
Wunder Under Crop- Organic
Speed Up Tank
In more health news, I finally switched to regular oatmeal for breakfast and I LOVE it! In my last post where I mentioned it, a lot of my lovely readers encouraged me to switch because the flavored formulas had so much sugar in them.
This morning I tried the Quaker brand rolled oats for the first time and they were awesome. I prepared them just with water, put it into the microwave and then I added some honey and cinnamon powder. To top it all off, I also added fresh blueberries and strawberries. YUM! The best part? It kept me full until lunchtime at 12:30 p.m.
I had my veggie soup for lunch, almonds as a snack, peanut butter with Kashi crackers as a snack, some chicken and pasta for dinner and a few bites of H’s cinnamon bun for dessert (I had to restrain myself from eating the entire thing!)
Since my colonoscopy is next week, I want to start eating well now and continuing to eat well after “the great cleanse of 2011.” I’m praying the cleanse will eliminate my sugar cravings. I can hope, right?
Thanks for reading!
xoxo,
Veronika.
Aggg I have never shopped here but I want to start bc I REALLY want to start working out. 30 is hitting pretty hard like I said! HA!!!
I wish I didnt weight myself, I think it is not a good thing to do but I still do it!
I hope you liked my post, it was personal so I thought you would enjoy that!!!!
Cant wait to meet up again, we need to plan something!!
XX
I absolutely LOVED your post 🙂
great picks! I have to stay away from Lululemon bec everytime i go in there i want the entire store!! love it all
Love the Run Speed Shorts and omg, could that model have more gorgeous legs?!?! I think not.
I love your post and your goals for working out. I am on a weight loss journey so I do weight myself at the doctor every week. However, I am battling an eating disorder that requires the measurement of success to be my weight and blood work. Whataever works, I say! Good job with your journey to health. And good job getting a colonoscopy. I had colon cancer at 45. Had symptoms from 39 years old but no one checked cuz they said I was too young. I am proud to say I am a 5 year survivor. So – take care of your body – it's the only you get! Cheers!
Girls Day Out gdo-family.blogspot.com
You seem to be doing such a great job with working out and eating healthy! As of yesterday, I have started my own regimen and am so motivated! I am excited to start seeing results in the future. As I get older, I am starting to notice that my metabolism isn't as high as it used to be! I also just want to start feeling better. I am starting to feel winded after climbing a flight of stairs!
If you are liking the oatmeal one thing you might want to try is overnight oats. You fill a bowl with some oatmeal (the old fashioned rolled oats kinda) and then add some milk (cow's milk, soy milk, almond milk whichever you like) just enough to get the oatmeal soaked. Wrap it in saran wrap and place it in the fridge over night. In the morning it will be nice and soft and then you can add things to it like fruit, cinnamon or anything you would like to flavor it with. Enjoy!
I love plain oatmeal! I always add cinnamon (sometimes nutmeg, too), and a tad bit of sugar. It's great with apples, too. Glad you like it!! I need to catch a bit of your motivation because I am an avid yogi but I have been so bad lately!! –Meg O.
I am the same way about measuring success- I go by how clothes fit and how toned I am, I tend to obsess if I weigh myself more than once a month or so.
I am happy to say that after 3 weeks of drastically cutting out alot of refined sugar that I was adding to drinks and food my cravings for sugar are gone! I had a friend tell me that would happen but I didn't believe it until I was able to turn down sweets at work and not even think about it :). Good luck!
I love LuLuLemon!! Great pics.
I think you have a great attitude about working out. I measure success by how I feel! I workout because it makes me feel better, I like being strong and want to stay healthy! I don't obsess on a scale or with a measuring tape – I can just feel how I'm doing.
My mom always told me go by how your clothes fit!
I just started working out again 🙂 It feels good…. but I still can't wait to get back to the US where I will have a much better gym and where I plan to start doing pilates reformer classes!
I love the lulu scoop tank… great support and so flattering!
Steph
BTW I WISH I could eat oatmeal. About once a year I try to eat it but I can't get past the texture – it literally makes me gag. Sucks because I know how healthy it is …. I have this problem with cottage cheese too.
ahhh – I have the first 3 lululemon items you posted and LOVE THEM. I went back for another pair of the speed shorts. They are too die for.
The top is super comfy because the straps don't dig into your shoulders
New workout clothes make me so much more motivated! Those shorts look really comfy for running.
I have found a few ways I like to measure my sucess but the biggest is how I feel. When I eat well and workout regularly I feel energized, confident and strong. I haven't been feeling that way very much lately but your posts help give me some push to get back into what makes me feel my best.
I've had IBS for 20+ years now. (since I was a kid). I've had pretty much every test under the sun – colonoscopy, barium enema, and keyhole surgery etc to check for bowel, bladder, stomach, uterine, ovarian, cervical, liver and kidney cancer. I've also been tested for Chrones Disease, colitis, ulcerative colitis, celiac disease and allergies to wheat, dairy and numerous other diseases, syndromes.
After years of tests there was no other diagnosis other then IBS. I control it by diet and exercise. I eat very little wheat, diary and legumes as I really can't digest them well and they will trigger an attack so severe I cannot leave the house for 2-3 days at a time.
After working with a gastro specialist, a dietitian and a nutritionist… What has helped me is a "binding" breakfast. I have steel cut oatmeal (that soaks in the fridge as Laura suggested – I use water, not milk) and then I sweeten it in the morning with blue agave syrup.
I also have a banana mid morning.
I have 40mg of flax seed oil and omega 3 daily.
I eat very limited white stuff – bread, pasta, rice, flour, sugar. In the last few months I've been learning how to bake with the blue agave syrup rather than sugar, and using spelt or other flours instead of white. It's a learning process!
When I have bread it's Squirrly bread made with sprouted oats not wheat.
I didn't mean for my comment to be quite so long, but I understand your pain, frustration and inconvenience with IBS.
I hope everything goes well with your colonoscopy.
@tinker—thanks so much for sharing 🙂 wow! not being able to leave the house for 2-3 days is very intense. I can luckily say that i've never been that bad…I have bad days and bad weeks but I can usually get through it within several hours.
This was a beautiful blog. Thanks for sharing this post. Keep it up.