Making progress

I see the numbers on the scale trending downward. Some days I find I’ve lost a good bit then the next day or two I find I’ve regained some, but the general trend is downward.

Between the initial weigh-in and this morning, I’ve lost 15 pounds. 🙂

I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts, especially about investing, weight loss, and anxiety. A common theme I’ve found – especially between investing and weight loss- is that the day-to-day numbers only matter to someone who’s only interested in the short term. Say you’re interested in making money this month or this quarter, then you’ll be watching your stocks’ prices day by day. If however you’re on a journey, for 12 years or 50 years or the rest of your life, the number day by day is just noise to you. What you watch for is the trend. And what you know about the company’s practices and any changes in management. Also what the true value of the stock is, regardless of the economic situation.

Same with weight loss. While I still weigh myself almost every day (some weeks), the important thing is the trend downward. And what I know about the way clothes fit and the way I look and what changes I know I’ve made in my eating and exercise. If I know I’ve been sedentary but eating like I’m very active I know I’m delaying my weight loss progress. If I feel awful because I’ve been eating very hearty foods or huge amounts of non-fiber foods, then I know I’m heading in the wrong direction. If I’m sitting there watching TV with a tub of ice cream in my hand, I know something’s up. And I need to take action before things go wrong.

For now, while I’m not losing as fast as I would’ve liked, I see I’m trending down again. And that feels good.