No new weight loss this week; I’m learning that these stops along the way are opportunities to learn.

That lesson, right now? A reminder to respect myself, to understand the big picture, and widen my focus. All of those things are indelibly connected.

Respect, Yo!

I get tired of the weekly battle of getting through the weekend without putting on too much water weight, and then trying to get it off during the week to see if I’ve actually lost anything. It’s frustrating and, at times, enough to make me want to rip my hair out, in hopes of achieving just a little bit of a loss on the scales.

While I’ve been ultra focused on that, though, I’ve completely missed that my body’s been changing without ever showing a change in that scale number. I’m still losing inches, despite the yoyo weight dance my scales have been showing me. I actually got into a size 20 this week — I don’t remember the last time I managed that, and while I expected the skort to be tight, it fit. That’s a non-scale victory, and I should be paying more attention to those.

I was at a meeting for a club I’m part of, late last week, and was absolutely stunned when a few of the members came up and talked to me about how they’ve been watching my weight loss and changes, that they’re rooting for me, and consider me an inspiration. I don’t do this for the praise, but that was an eye-opening moment. I so often forget that I’m not fighting this battle alone.

It’s things like these that keep me from just throwing my hands up in frustration. Yes, my weight loss is slow, but I firmly believe that taking these opportunities to ground myself and get my head straight will help me make this change a permanent one.

So often, those of us facing great amounts of weight loss want to flog ourselves even more than society does. Why is that? Are we supposed to feel bad because there’s societal disapproval of obese people? I’m done with making myself feel bad because other people don’t understand — that’s BS, my friends. I’m on my own journey, and whether that’s evident to anyone other than me is NOT the point. Rather, the point is that I change, that I accept, and that I learn the lessons I’m meant to learn.