Friday, March 22, 2013

The number game

Yesterday I was talking to a friend.  I was talking about the focus on numbers.  It is so easy to get totally immersed and obsessed with numbers on this journey.   It starts with the calories.(or points for when I was a WW girl).  I swim in the calorie count of the food.  I wallow in my caloric budget.  I jump for joy at the earned calories.  It's numbers....numbers....numbers.   As if that isn't enough to be focused on, I then live for the number on the scale.  I step on the scale and hold my breath waiting to see what number I will be blessed/cursed with.  I obsess about that number too.   And then I started running and all of a sudden there is a whole new realm of numbers.  How long can I run/jog before I have to walk.  How many miles?  Pace?   GRRRRR

At the beginning of the year I refused to set goal weight resolutions.  Instead I decided to just do what was right and allow the weight to come off in it's own time.  Does that mean that I'm not tracking my progress?  No.  I still track by weighing myself.  But I'm trying to take the focus off of the numbers.  That got me to thinking.  If I was in perfect shape would the numbers really matter?  If I was fit and active and all my healthy indicators (cholesterol, bp, etc etc etc) were in check would I be obsessed with the number.  What about if I looked like I was a size 6 but really weighted 250 pounds. Would I still be obsessed with the number?  How warped is my mind right now about the numbers?   I'm trying to learn to 'KNOW' the numbers but to not obsess with them.  I'm trying to take the focus off the numbers.

The numbers are not important to me.  I'm focusing on the benefits that my body is getting from these changes.  OK, that's what I'm trying to convince myself. Will I ever fully succeed....probably not, but if I can at least not obsesses with the numbers than I will call it a victory!


So tomorrow is a 5K on the battlefield.  I'm registered and ready to run! Sherry and I have decided to try to run it.  However, we are both in agreement that we are going to do what our bodies allow. If we end up walking more, so be it.  For a while we were totally focused on the number  "have to beat this" or "do that".   Yesterday we talked and that is not the focus any longer. The focus is the victory of completion!

All this talk about taking away the focus on the numbers, last week I hit my 20 pound mark. (big loss....probably gonna be a small loss this week, but I'm OK with that).  So on Monday I ordered my next charm.  I chose a tennis shoe.  During this 10 pounds I really worked on this running thing.  The jury is out if I will continue, but this 10 pounds lost can be identified with running....and also the shoe can mark the victory of actually completing the couch to 5k training program.  (pardon the weird picture...I don't know how in the world I had my hand when I took the picture, but my hand really looks deformed.....it's not!)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Good luck with your 5k. :D

:-) Marion

timothy said...

have a GREAT 5k and just enjoy the accomplishment whatever the time you do it in!

Gwen said...

Congrats on reaching 20 lbs, and good luck with the 5K!

I'm also OCD, so I totally relate on how easy it is to get caught up in the numbers and SO immersed in our new healthy lives. I suppose we are trading one set of addictions for another, but as long as the end result is a healthier body... :)

And, on a side lighter note, unless one is 8 or 9 ft. tall, I don't think 250 lbs. would ever fit in a size 6. haha! :)

Shelley said...

What a cute charm, and a great gift to yourself - congrats on hitting 20 pounds lost!!!

Good luck with your race tomorrow - just go for it and have fun. Can't wait to hear all about it!

SANRDJ said...

good luck with the 5K!!

Cathy said...

I LOVE your charm bracelot. I had one when I was a teenager (one of the old kind) and loved it, but lost it somewhere along the line. I would love to get a new one and put my milestones on it. Not just weight and fitness related milestones, but life ones too. I'm thinking I'm going to have to go look for one I like this weekend. =)

Oh, and CONGRATS on 20 lbs lost!! It took me a year to reach that number. =)

Cathy said...

And I wanted to add . . . good luck with your 5k! You'll do great. =)

Anonymous said...

Good luck with the 5k

twogirlsmama76 said...

Good luck running buddy!! We got this!

Debsdailylife said...

I love that tennis shoe charm!! And I so get the number thing!! Im so determined to see a lower number on the scale and the pants size!!! Sometimes I have to step back and stop the maddness!!
How did the 5K go for you?