HELLO! My name is Amy and I am a school administrator and athlete. I’ve been an athlete my whole life, but ironically enough, I’ve also struggled my whole life to keep myself fit and healthy. One of the biggest challenges for me is finding a balance between food consumption and exercise. How do I read labels and measure the right portions? I even counted weight watchers points at one point in life in an effort to make it easy. None of it worked and all of it had one common denominator: the scale as a progress marker. So, in January of 2013, I stepped onto and off my own scale for the last time.
I pride myself in my career as a school administrator by making sure that everyone knows that there’s always a different perspective out there. You know, walk a mile in someone else’s shoes… Everyone has a story. People may look at my pictures and think, she didn’t lose that much….or, she didn’t have that much to lose. I’m going to tell you a different story…
I come from a family that has a LOT of cancer, heart disease, obesity, and diabetes, so I promised myself years ago that I was going to do everything in my power to keep those words out of my vocabulary. I’ve dabbled in just about everything for good measure because I get bored easily: boxing, running, treadmills for hours, elliptical training for even more hours, swimming, weight training, prepared meals from eDiets, NutriSystem, and anytime I’ve watched the scale, the number has always gone down. But I’ve never experienced an ACTUAL lifestyle change and inevitably end up watching that scale plateau, thus, eventually bringing back my loosey-goosey, wiggly giggly thighs, arms, legs, butt, and muffin top.
It took years for me to figure out what I was missing: I wasn’t eating right. This brings me way back to September of 2011 when I started dabbling in clean eating. I was introduced to clean eating recipes by Kyra. I got her Cookbook I started using some of her recipes and doing her workouts, but it wasn’t too much longer after I started that I fell off the wagon again.
Fast-forward a year to when I was training for the 2012 Disney Princess Half Marathon and I loathed every minute of my training. I never felt energized, I wasn’t seeing progress with my body or my time, I was unmotivated, and when race day came I wasn’t ready to run, but I did anyway. Note the two common denominators here: the scale and no consistency with what I was eating. I was eating clean, but only sometimes.
The feeling I got after finishing the Princess Half was one I wont ever forget, I cried tears of joy as I crossed the finish line, but I continued to struggle for months after the race with body and eating issues. The day after the race was spent with self-loathing thoughts about my body compared to my fellow Princesses’ bodies. The worst part about that day—it was my birthday and I should have been happy with my accomplishment and myself! Instead, I was alone with my self-loathing thoughts. I spent months after the race doing nothing and eating poorly. That summer I fell into a depression and stopped caring about what I looked like. I figured, hey, it is what it is and hid myself in dresses all summer long so that I wouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable with seams, waistlines, and shirt lengths. I ventured to Maui for a friend’s wedding and went out there looking and feeling the worst I’ve ever looked or felt. You wouldn’t know it by the picture because Maui kept me smiling.
Something about being on Maui changed my thinking. I got back to the east coast and my whole attitude changed. I realized while I was gone how much of a slump I was in and how much I wanted a physical change. I started running again that September when I got back and hoisted myself back onto the clean eating wagon full force. I pulled Kyra’s Cookbook out and started following numerous clean-eating sites on Facebook, pinning recipes like a mad-woman on Pinterest, and I’m pretty sure I drove everyone around me mad in the market because I was damned if I was going to let labels get the best of me.
By November I weighed around 160, meaning I had lost about 15 pounds. The scale stayed the same through Christmas Eve in 2012. At that point, I had given up milk, was following TRX workouts and started getting my mind even more into a better place. I continued following The Get In Shape Girl, which gave me daily inspiration, but what really inspired me were people’s progress pictures. This was the game changer for me—there was a total shift in my thinking. Here was this community that was off the scale and I was seeing how much happier they were. My eyes were starting to open up to a total lifestyle change.
Below is a picture of me that was taken just before Christmas in 2012. I actually look heavier in this picture than I do in the previous one where I’m actually 15 pounds heavier.
In January of 2013, I got myself a new tattoo, weighed myself one last time at the end of the month (155), and come hell or high water, that the tattoo was going to look great on me by summer. At this point, I was in the middle of an 8-week Chews to Lose program at a local gym. This served as the “in my face” reinforcement of what Kyra has been saying all along about food and what we consume.
Kyra has said along that how you fuel your body is the most important thing! In other words, YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT. Not once did I step on the scale during those 8 weeks. Instead I was measured and had the pleasure of watching the jiggles I had on Maui jiggle themselves right off my body and out of my life. I became so motivated that I registered to continue for another 8 weeks. After 16 weeks of clean eating with one cheat meal a week, I lost a total of 29 inches across my hips, thighs, calves, arms, chest, waist, and stomach. That was back in May, I’m certain I’ve lost much more than that, but the fact of the matter is, THE SCALE HAS NOT CHANGED.
December 2012/May 2013:
In July, I went for a well-visit at my doctor’s office in July and the scale again said 155. I was floored that what Kyra and my local gym have said all along was actually happening to ME! My body had transformed, but more importantly, my MIND had transformed. I had completely shifted my thinking about EVERYTHING. My weight, my body, my fitness, strength, agility….my self-esteem. This made me come home and document this progress by another picture to prove that the scale means nothing.
I honestly felt the same way that Kyra felt—I wanted to share the notion of ‘the scale means nothing’ with the world. Some people would be upset about that number not moving. I wasn’t. I was ridiculously excited to take more pictures.
December 2012/May 2013/August 2013:
This journey of mine has not been easy. I fell off the wagon NUMEROUS times. I cried, got injured in an auto accident then seeked the help of auto accident attorney in Colorado to claim compensation , got bored, had cheat meals more than once a week, but picked myself up and kept going no matter what. This whole journey started to be about numbers—that’s what is slammed in our faces by society: salary, taxes, money in our wallet, reps, weights, clothing sizes…it’s all about numbers. The fitness journey however, isn’t.
It’s about SO much more. The scale has become neutral to me now. I have one in my house, but it’s up on a shelf in a closet. I honestly don’t even care what the scale says anymore, but it’s not a self-loathing I don’t care, it’s the realization that it really doesn’t matter as long as I’m doing right by my body: that I’m listening to it and fueling it the right way so that I can keep on keeping on.
I have been a consistent clean eater for almost 10 months now and that journey has changed again even more. I shop off the non-GMO list and I have maintained a gluten free lifestyle for the last 7 weeks. The reality of it is for me is that I’ve realized that I was doing for so many years what I thought was right: distance running, limiting my caloric intake, and stalking the scale. None of it made me happy because there was never a happy balance in my mind with any of those things: tons of cardio,limiting my caloric intake (what does this matter if you’re not even eating the right things???), watching the scale….get ready for it: my 155 pound body right now fits into a size 6. My 155 pound body in January was between a 10 and a 12. That silly number on the scale means nothing. Well, in this case, it was a decision in my mind about whether I was going to let the number get to my head. That’s all it is: a number. The rest of it is up to you.
I realized one day while kayaking that I actually hate running. I stopped paddling in the middle of the lake and said to my friend, “I (bleeping) hate running.” Since then, I’ve been biking nearly 10x longer distances than any of the running distances I was comfortable with. With that and staying off the scale, I have seen the best results and better consistency than ever before.
Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. You are the only stakeholder in your happiness and the journey toward a fit and healthy lifestyle; not the scale.
2. If you have to force yourself to love what you do, you will never find balance in your life and will hit more speed bumps along your fitness journey.
3. Fuel yourself correctly, listen to your body, and do what you love.
I guarantee that you will see more consistent and more meaningful results THAT way, than relying on the scale or following what you want to feel right instead of what actually is right for you. I promise.
Cheers!
If you are ready to make long lasting changes with a plan that will fit YOUR lifestyle, get your clean eating meal plan to lose weight today!
Sign up for online training at kyrawilliamsfitness.com/signup then email me that you would like your meal plan for just $65!
Your Coach,
Kyra