At 18 lbs down from my heaviest weight with another 60 lbs still to go, I find that my weight loss doesn’t seem to be noticeable to most people I see almost every day. However, in the past few days there have been some little good signs that positive changes really are taking place.
Sunday as we finished up grocery shopping, my boyfriend commented that he could see a difference in how my clothes fit. And then this morning when he hugged me, he said he was starting to truly feel a difference in me. I am shrinking.
That, combined with the fact that one shirt which had become too tight for me now fits me perfectly again, is more than enough for me. Little good signs to cheer me, keep me motivated through the everyday grind, remind me that it’s working, it’s working.
The scale gives me numbers, but these little good signs put a face to the numbers, give them a tangible quality that makes all the difference. Have you experienced any little good signs recently?
11. November 2009 at 9:18 PM
i so agree! it’s those little things in life.
i call it ‘measuring my progress qualitatively’. we always measure things like his quantitatively- with the scale and the measuring tape!
but to me, those little things…like today i noticed the skin around my eyebrows had tightened a little bit, lifting my face. i doubt anyone will notice it, but that’s ok…it put a little extra pep in my step!
be encouraged!
11. November 2009 at 10:57 PM
Hi lilylosinit! I definitely am encouraged . . . and it sounds like you’re noticing the little good signs along the way too :).
12. November 2009 at 1:31 AM
Weight Watchers calls those things Non-Scale Victories (NSVs). I feel more motivated by the NSVs than the scale ones sometimes.
I am noticing that a lot of my old clothes are fitting better, and that makes me happy. I also noticed in a group exercise class (with lots of mirrors) that there wasn’t as much difference between me and the “skinny girls’ in the class as I thought there would be — since I could see us in the mirror next to each other, I could get outside of what I thought I looked like and notice how I really looked.
Congrats on your NSVs!
12. November 2009 at 3:24 PM
Jen: Thank you for sharing some of your NSVs! (What a good name for them, too, right?) It would be really cool if I had the ability to edit my weight-loss graph to add in little arrows pointing to specific points indicating where certain NSVs occurred .
12. November 2009 at 3:15 PM
You and I truly are on a parallel path here…been at this for roughly the same time and have lost roughly the same amt and are both starting to experience these “little” victories! I was actually going to blog about mine today before having read yours! LOL
12. November 2009 at 3:25 PM
Josie: Hurray! I’m so glad you’re experiencing these little good signs too :). Looking forward to reading that post of yours!