Chasing the Flashing Number

My husband struggles with numbers. I don’t mean in an “I hate math” kinda way. I mean he has a hard time remembering them.

Whip off a phone number verbally to him and he most likely won’t be able to recall it by the time he walks over to the phone to dial.

Sending him off with a child to be dropped at a friend’s house? Better write the house number down on a sticky note. If he tries to go from memory, our child just may wind up at a complete strangers.

Yes ma’am, he and numbers do not mix. So, he’s had to have a plan for dealing with them.

I too have a problem with numbers. No, I’m not talking about remembering them. I can still recite my best friend’s phone number from sixth grade.

I mean with those nasty, flashing numbers on the scale. They are what trip me up.

When at a point in my life where the numbers on the scale do indeed need to go down, I commence chasing. I mentally plug a number into my head and then set about reaching the magic digits…..

Oh yeah, and the most important point—reaching them by another number–a date on the calendar. What it might look like is this:

By May 30th (date of friends Memorial Day cookout) I am gonna weigh XXX.

By August 21st (date of my upcoming high school reunion) I will weigh XXX.

Or by November 25th (Thanksgiving) I’ll finally have all this weight off and weigh only a glorious XXX.

Oh, it is wonderful to set goals in life. However, I have found more often than not, when I set these “I will weigh ______ by ______” targets, and then don’t quite reach them, I am thrown into a complete tizzy. Even if I miss it a little, I mentally beat myself up and then promptly head for the nearest binge food and physically blow myself up.

Silly girl.

While the scale can be an indicator, I need to NOT make it my God. Way back last fall, I wrote this here on a Weight Loss Wednesday:

Define your week by obedience, not by a number on the scale.

The scale does help measure our progress, but it can’t tell us everything.

It can’t tell us if the problem was too much salt of late that is making us retain a pound or two of water that might not otherwise show up.

It can’t tell us if we actually lost a pound of fat but gained more muscle from weight training that wouldn’t show up as a total loss on the scale.

And, it can’t tell us what time of the month it is and then give us automatic credit for the extra two pounds or so that glorious few days brings to us.

So let’s stop.

Ask ourselves the following questions:

• Did I overeat this week on any day?
• Did I move more and exercise regularly?
• Do I feel lighter than I did at this time last Wednesday?
• Did I eat in secret our out of anger or frustration?
• Did I feel that, at any time, I ran to food instead of to God?
• BEFORE I HOPPED ON THE SCALE….did I think I’d had a successful, God-pleasing week?

If the answers to these are correct, I should be pleased. Why oh why do I get so tied up in a stupid number!!!!!! And why do I almost let it trip me up and send me to the kitchen for a 750 calorie binge?

Sweet bloggy friends, we need to define our journey by our obedience, not a number on the scale.

And we just might need to stop this “I’ll way____ by ______” nonsense and just get there…..whenever “there” happens to fall.

Can you relate?

Please hop on and let us know how you are doing with your weight loss journey.

I’m praying for you!

Sweet Blessings,