I have reached my decision on the scale. At this time, I feel using the scale is worth it to my goals. I think it will provide additional motivation, accountability,  information, and ease of mind for me personally. Before I do so, I want to clear up a few things that go along with this decision:

1. FFF will still not be a “weight loss blog”. I will not share weekly weigh-in stats or anything of that nature. I have no problem with blogs that do so, but FFF was not built on that. It did not become what it is today with that style and I don’t feel comfortable shifting it there now. The use of the scale is for my personal use and tracking. I will share thoughts and emotions I may encounter along my journey, but in a very general way.

2. I will weigh once a week. Absolutely nothing more. It is plenty to track progress and it helps maintain consistency if done the same day, at the same time, under similar conditions. I will do so Saturday mornings.

3. I am still not going to know my weight. I don’t think I would, but this will help ensure I don’t get caught up in a  number and comparing that number to previous weights. For this reason, I decided to have Peter weigh me in each week. I will not look. He will not tell me. The only thing I will know is the shift in weight each week (up 1/2 pound, down 1 pound, etc) to track progress. Kind of like my own version of this scale…

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4. It will not be the sole factor in how I track my success. The fit of my clothes, regular progress pictures, achieving new things in workouts, etc will still be more important to me.

5. If I find myself facing a negative relationship with the scale or getting frustrated/obsessive with weighing, I will stop. No question about that.

So, that’s that. I appreciate all your faith in my ability to continue being true to myself, despite this change. I felt it was best for me and could have just gone with it…but I wanted to keep things open and honest on FFF. The real deal is what I stand for. And, as my tagline states, life will still be more than diet and workouts. 😉

Although now I must talk about workouts. How can I not? I have found the perfect race for my first 5K!

I branched out my search a bit and found the Run the River 5K. Look at how perfect!!

• on April 16, just under 2 weeks after finishing the C25K program (great timing)
• its local (within 30 mins driving distance)
• the course description = FLAT, fast (ha, not me!), and easy (yes, please!)
• along a river, so beautiful scenery according to my friend who has raced it
• an out and back loop, which I was informed is a very good thing so you don’t have to walk back to parking (I can see how that matters!)
• my blog buddy Lee said she can do it too!!

Now I just need to decide if I should register now to commit to it…or wait to be sure nothing happens with training since I literally JUST started. Decisions, decisions!

Question of the Morning– Do you like signing up for things early or wait?

When the kiddos’ naptime (aka my post-writing time) rolled around I stared at my screen with this dilemma:

The response came in for me on Twitter and Facebook (shameless plug to follow if you don’t already). Verdict = share what’s on my mind. Who am I to deny the answers social media provides? 

I have been facing an internal dilemma.What exactly? The scale. Dun dun dun!!!!

When maintaining my weight or gaining weight for conception and pregnancy I had absolutely no desire to use a scale. It did not matter to me in the least. Now I suddenly feel myself wishing I could have it available to me. Why? Well, I am trying to lose weight. Its necessary to get back to that place I personally feel my best. I sort of miss having a concrete way to know how those efforts pan out. I feel like I am approaching my goals blindly.

Although harder, its still possible to eat enough healthy food calories to inhibit weight loss. I also don’t want to lose too quickly, which can be detrimental to milk supply. And I have no clue if I’m doing either of those things. I fear that I will reach a point where I feel I’m not making progress and will then make unnecessary changes. It’s interesting…I gave up the scale to not have mental games, yet now it seems to be causing even more of those games.

I tell myself the following: I feel confident in my relationship with my body. I believe I could use a scale without getting caught up in the number. I trust that I would use it as a tool and nothing more – simply as a more regular gauge in addition to my clothes and progress pictures, which both take longer to show noticeable progress. I would still do my thing, with minor tweaks when needed and not because I think its time as I may without a scale. I would not focus on reaching a particular number and would never do anything drastic in the name of achieving a number. I would keep the balanced approach I have strived to achieve.

Then, there’s the other side. I know I don’t need a scale to tell me I’m making good choices for my health…and health matters most. I have stated here my belief in getting back in shape scale-free. I would feel like I was letting FFF, and its readers, down. I also feel like I would lose credibility personally. I have other ways I can track progress and focus on. I know that, while I weighed myself weekly after Makenzie, my body naturally returned to its happy place. Although I used the scale to reach my goals, I didn’t depend on it either.

I still don’t know where I end up with this internal dilemma. I want to be true to myself, my beliefs on health and balance, this blog and what it represents above all else. Can the two coexist?

Question of the Evening – What’s your relationship with the scale? Or any thoughts?