Heavier, Healthier, Happier

PREFACE: I find it almost funny that in the non-crossfit world, men will compare their physical fitness by how much they can bench press and women will compare their physical fitness by how skinny they look. Really?

When I was younger and living at home with my parents, I remember a kinda sorta game that my mom, younger sister and I would often play. I say 'kinda sorta' because it was neither fun nor playful. We'd each weigh ourselves and compare our numbers.

I won't share our weight but I will tell you the one thing that stuck to me was no matter what our numbers were, the three of us felt like losers in the weight game. None of us were happy with our numbers. So why do women keep playing the game?

From www.answerfitness.com

In a society where physical perfection is constantly being plastered in magazines and billboards, I feel like the word 'skinny' has been morphed and somehow molded into the word 'fit'. As if fitness only has to do with how skinny a girl appears and how little she weighs rather than her physical abilities and actual health. Fashion magazines are always advertising the latest tips on how to lose weight fast with a photoshopped model who wears a size 00 on the cover who most likely has never tried any of the tips that the magazine is offering. I'm not saying the models aren't physically attractive--they are--but to disguise 'being skinny' as 'being healthy' is just a BIG FAT LIE.

Are we supposed to believe that this is what fitness looks like?

From: www.steeez.com

I had a certain mom of 2 that told me she wanted to drop weight fast and be back at her pre-pregnancy weight by Christmas. I had another mom recently tell me how discouraged she felt because she weighed more than her cousin. Thinking of those conversations now, I wish I could have told them that there's nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight, but obsessing over their version of the ideal perfect number is going to be very discouraging. It's also pointless, unnecessary and possibly dangerous. But I know how these women feel. I used to be obsessed with jumping on the scale, and daily beating myself up over how much I weighed.

Since starting the paleo diet (September 2009) and getting serious about my Crossfit training, my definition of health and fitness have completely changed. I don't depend on a scale to tell me that my fitness level is heading in the right direction. I don't even own a scale in my home and the only times I do get onto a scale is at the doctor's office. To be honest, the last time I was at the doctor's was early September this year and I weighed (ready for it?) ::drum roll:: 115 lbs!!! I cringed for a split second and got over it just like that. Because it's just a number. I understand now that it doesn't define how fit I am. It doesn't explain what I'm physically capable of. My pre-pregnancy weight was 108 but today even my pre-pregnancy clothes fit so much better (explain that Marie Claire & Cosmo!).

I may be 7 pounds heavier than my pre-pregnancy self, but I'm 7 pounds healthier and definitely 7 pounds happier. I can be a winner at this game.

So seriously, chuck the scale. You can't obsess over a number you don't know, right?

And the next time anyone asks me how much I weigh, I'll tell them,

"Not nearly as much as I can squat!"