12 Non Scale Victories You Should Know About
Non scale victories? What is that? It’s pretty simple really. Non scale victories, also known as NSV’s all over the web, are basically victories or successes you’ve made during a weight loss journey that wasn’t surrounded around the scale or how much you weigh. It’s all about finding the successes you’ve earned outside of weighing yourself.
Success and victories are everywhere! Not just on the scale. The scale is a liar – that’s my motto.
To be truthful, it’s not the most accurate form of measuring weight loss success. As we are losing weight our bodies are fluctuating constantly. We workout, we eat right and we are building a new body. Especially those of us who workout a lot – we’re gaining muscle as we burn the fat! So, in turn the scale might not even budge or just budge a bit. Know why?? Well, look at it this way for visual purposes:
Let’s say you take 1 lb of muscle in one hand and 1 lb of fat in your other hand. The 1 lb of muscle will definitely be smaller in size than 1 lb of fat.
So, if one week you worked your bum off lifting weights at the gym and also kicked ass in spin class – in this example you burned 1 lb of fat, but at the same time you built 1 lb of muscle —- THE SCALE WOULD STAY THE SAME.
But the beauty of this is even though the scale would stay the same, your body would look leaner and thinner – all because it exchanged that pound of fat for a pound of muscle!
So, because of this, I say screw the scale. Look for NSV’s (non scale victories) and enjoy this journey even more!
Non scale victories are motivational and inspiring to keep going and make things happen!!
If you’re somebody who gets frustrated with the scale, stop fretting – there are sooooo many other ways to see your weight loss success WITHOUT A SCALE! Skip the scale, learn how to grow from it and be even more motivated than ever before.
Keep in mind that I know how it is to be obsessed with the scale. You wake up daily and step on the scale hoping to see a lower number than what you saw yesterday only to be disappointed that it’s stayed the same or maybe even gone UP! NOOOOO!
I’ve learned since those days of stressing about the scale.
Now I actually don’t even look at the scale. It’s tucked away deep in my hall closet. There’s really no point of looking at it. Especially when I have other ways to see my weight loss success that are way more rewarding than that darn scale.
Non Scale Victories to celebrate:
1. You look in the mirror and see a difference! Take a good look at your body in the mirror daily and you will see differences that the scale will never be able to tell you.
2. Compare before and after photos. Take a photo right now, get in your bikini and take a full body selfie. Do it again weekly or every other week and compare photos. You’ll be super surprised at the differences and this will totally boost your confidence. This is a great way to see weight loss success.
3. Take body measurements and compare in a week or 2. This is one of my favorite ways to see weight loss progress. You take a measuring tape and measure around your waist, hips, thighs, belly, arms, etc and write down these numbers. Then repeat the process in a month and compare. You’ll be surprised at the inches/centimeters lost even when the scale might show no loss at all.
4. Notice how loose your clothes are fitting. When you’re always having to pull your pants up from falling down and your shirts aren’t super tight on you anymore you are seeing success!!
5. Get your body fat tested. Gyms or doctors offices can do this for you. Do it once now and do it again in the future to compare. Learn how to measure it yourself here.
6. Take heed of the compliments from others. If someone tells you you’re looking good, appreciate it! They’re not telling you this for nothing! You really are looking good!
7. You feel stronger with exercise. If you’re working out a lot you’ll notice that you can now do 5 push-ups, while when you first started you could barely do one “lady pushup” on your knees! Be proud of this success!
8. You have more joy and happiness. Your body releases endorphins when exercising, therefore you will be happier and more positive. Plus as you’re reaching your goals, you’re bound to be just a happier person.
9. You can keep up with your kids or grandkids. This might have been hard in the past, but now you feel like it’s a piece of cake to run around all afternoon with them!
10. You’re healthier. Whether it’s a lowering of your blood pressure or less pain in your knees or back – you feel much better as the fat comes off.
11. Sleep has never been better. You notice that you’re sleeping more soundly and are able to fall asleep quickly at night.
12. You’re making better choices. Having a food addiction or bad eating habits is common. But it’s possible to get over these and when you do, you will feel so much joy and success. If you find yourself reaching for some grapes over candy, call that a non scale victory!!
Hope you’ve found a couple non scale victories of your own from the above list and hope they motivate you to keep going and stop looking at the darn scale.
Again – weight loss success doesn’t always have to be about the scale. You’ll just go crazy focusing on it, feel better about yourself by looking for non scale victories in your life now!
I have been wanting to get in a bit better shape for the last few months. It does seem like a good idea to do what you suggested and get your body fat tested. I wouldn’t have thought about doing that before starting a new workout routine.