What to Track When the Scale Isn't Moving [Ep. 157]

0:00 This is the Eat Well Think Well Live Well podcast. I'm Lisa Salisbury and this is episode 157. What to track when the scale isn't moving. Welcome to eat well. Well, the podcast for busy women who want to lose weight without constantly counting, tracking, or stressing over every bite. I'm Lisa Salsbury, a certified health weight loss and life coach, and most importantly, a recovered chronic dieter here. You'll learn to listen to your body and uncover the reasons you're reaching for food. When you're not truly hungry, freeing you to focus on a healthier, more fulfilling approach to eating. Hey everyone. Welcome back to the podcast This week I am Lisa, and today I wanna speak to anyone who's feeling a little discouraged by the scale.

0:49 Before I get into today's topic, let me just say that no, you're not crazy if you follow the podcast religiously, and I hope you do, obviously. Um, I didn't publish last week. I'm so sorry. Things have been a little bit summery around here, so. Didn't, didn't have a new episode last week and probably not again next week we'll see how things go. Um, but then my daughter will be back in school and all will be right with the world. This is our last year with a child in regular school. She'll be a senior, so that is weird. And also just trying to soak up as much summer as we can. So, today what I have for you is just. What's going on when the scale won't move?

1:29 Maybe it hasn't budged in a week, maybe a month, maybe it's even gone up, and you're like, what? Is even the point of all of this that I'm doing. So this episode is your reminder that the number on the scale is only one form of data and frankly, not always the best one. Yes. It's something we track. Yes. It's something that my clients like to see Move. Um, it is just data though, as you've heard me say. It's your gravitational pull on your body at that moment in time. And we do wanna think of it as math, but it can get emotional. And I know this and so I, I know we, there's just things that we can look at that show progress in addition or in spite of the scale, not doing what we want the scale to do.

2:17 Right. Okay. So honestly, I know this is things that you've heard. I know that you're like, oh yeah, non-scale victories. Okay. Please don't tap away. Stay here. Stay here. Okay. If you've been in this weight loss space for any length of time, um, hear me out. I do have some unique things to say on this topic, so listen up. This is also a short and sweet one, so let me get into it. There are so many other ways. To measure whether your habits are working for your body. So I'm gonna walk you through some of the most important signs. I have seven, um, most important signs of progress that often get missed when we are hyper-focused on that math scale, weight. Okay. Just so you know, of course this is gonna apply whether you're trying to lose weight naturally or with the help of GLP one medications.

3:01 Even with GLP one medications on board, sometimes the scale does not do what we want it to do. So either way, it's possible to plateau. Um, so, so for those of you that aren't on medication, I don't want you to think like, Ugh, if I was only on medication, this wouldn't be happening. It totally does. But when that happens, we do. Just need other forms of feedback to keep ourselves moving forward. Okay, so let's dive in. Number one, energy levels. This is the first one I ask clients about when they're feeling stuck. Are you crashing in the afternoon? Do you feel sluggish or alert after meals? If your energy is more stable, if you're waking up more easily or getting through the day without needing excess caffeine or sugar to prop you up, that is a win, even if the scale hasn't moved.

3:48 This is likely a sign that what you're doing nutritionally is providing good energy, especially from a micronutrient standpoint as well. My clients, um, we try to get in more fruits and vegetables, more fiber, and so this is a major. Micronutrient factor because when we get those micro, so I'm talking about like minerals and vitamins here, not just like protein, carbs, fat, which are your macronutrients, but energy levels are often a result of the micronutrients that you're going to see. So you're going to see better energy levels with those kinds of things. Number two, clothes fitting differently.

4:28 So it's common for your body composition to change before the scale does. As we know, muscle is more dense than fat, although it does take a long time to build muscle. This recomposition that will happen with long-term weight loss and strength training. Um, if you are just simply moving more, you're, you might notice that your clothes are fitting better. So even if you're like, oh, well I haven't put on five pounds of muscle, um, you know, in place of those five pounds of fat, because that's what we're talking about, like when clothes fit differently, but the scale hasn't moved. What people are saying is you've replaced five pounds of fat, which takes up more space in the body, and you've replaced that with five pounds of muscle.

5:12 And so then your body would be smaller per se. Like if you were gonna take measurements and this is why your clothes would fit differently. This does happen over the very long term, the body recomposition, but you also might be seeing, um, changes in like water weight distribution when you are moving your body better and in, in different ways. So it still can apply even if you're like, oh, but I haven't put on five pounds of muscle. Does that make sense? Okay. So pay attention just to how your jeans button, how your bra feels. Whether your shirts sit differently on your shoulders, those kinds of things. It's not always about your waist size. Sometimes you'll notice this like with shorts, like, um, you know, diameter around your thighs, that sort of thing.

5:57 Okay. Number three, digestion and bloating. Are you feeling less puffy or bloated? Is your stomach settling better after meals? These are signs that your body is responding well to the foods that you're eating and that your eating habits are supporting better gut health. When you're focusing on fiber, and like I said before, I hope that you are, you are feeding the good bacteria, the good gut bacteria that we want to flourish. So all your fiber foods, while most of'em are considered prebiotics, and that is. Like food for the bacteria to eat. So probiotics are the actual bacteria, but as opposed to taking a probiotic in the form of a pill, the best way to increase those good guys is to provide a very fertile garden with lots of food for them.

6:45 And that is coming from high fiber fruits and vegetable type diet. So when your nutrition is on point in this way, you are going to have better digestion and less bloating. You'll also notice this if you reduce your added sugars because added sugar a. Uh, can also feed sort of the quote unquote bad gut bacteria. So when you make this kind of shift where you decrease sugars and you're increasing fruits and vegetables, you're just changing what is being fed to the bacteria. And so in that way, you will change the flora or the, um, just the array of. The bacteria that are in your gut. Also, if you're taking a short walk after meals, if that has been one of your new habits, it's going to improve digestion.

7:29 It might not be enough to like, quote unquote burn extra calories. So that habit might not be something that will show up on the scale, but you will feel the digestion benefits. So, um, it is meaningful progress. Number four, sleep quality. So this one might surprise you, but probably not because I bring up sleep a lot in this podcast. But when your nutrition improves even slightly, you might sleep more soundly, less waking up at night. Better ability to fall asleep or just waking up feeling more rested. And this is because food affects hormones and blood sugar swings, which affect sleep.

8:09 So the other thing that will affect sleep is being overly full at night when you discontinue doing that. Um, a lot of my clients are like, I just sleep better because I'm not going to bed with so much food to digest. Like, there's just, when there's so much digestion that needs to happen, it interrupts your sleep. So, just from a quantity standpoint, if you've been using the hunger scale and you're stopping at enough at dinnertime, and then you're eliminating any of those after dinner snacks That you're not hungry for, you're going to sleep better. So, um, really just watch for that. It's really just a clear sign your body is benefiting from the changes that you're making. Number five is habit consistency.

8:51 I. Are you showing up for your habits more often? Are you planning meals more regularly? Eating when you're actually hungry instead of grazing or getting out on more walks? That consistency on whatever new habits you are working on builds results over time. So even if it hasn't shown up on the scale yet. Don't underestimate it. Bodies just take time to change. And so look at things like, um, you know, a habit tracker and give yourself credit for those kinds of things. And that's really these last three, that number five, and then six and seven. These are really like the mindset pieces and honestly.

9:35 This is the part I think you just don't hear on a lot of these lists because a lot of times when we're thinking about non-scale victories, we're really looking at like ways the body is changing that doesn't show up on the scale. But these last two are ways your brain is changing. So number six, mood, mental health and emotional wins is how I titled this one. Your emotional state is another big indicator that you are changing. Are you less irritable? Are you less anxious around food or meal times? Are you noticing fewer mood swings or negative self-talk? These things are huge. This is honestly one of the most common things I hear from my clients because we work so hard on the mindset piece.

10:19 Feeling more calm around food is an amazing non-scale victory. Feeling like you don't have to eat it all right now, or just any of those like abundant type feelings around food where you're like, I just don't need to eat this because it's always available When that thought starts to become natural for you, you'll be amazed and feel, you'll just feel amazing. Um, I will say some emotional winds are the ones that don't show up in pictures and measurements, but they often matter the most. Like do you pause before eating in response to stress? Do you choose a meal that made your body feel good, not just what was convenient or also.

11:03 Not just what you might consider diet food. I think this is really huge when you choose a meal that you know is gonna fuel your body excellently. Even if before in your kind of before times before working with me or before listening to this podcast, you were deep into diet culture and you ate it because you thought it would help you lose weight. That's a big difference. Eating something because you know it will feed your body instead of thinking, this will help me lose weight. That's a big shift in mindset. Um, do you recognize that you were full and actually stop eating? How many times has that happened this week? That's, that's a big win. These wins build trust with yourself and that is real progress and will translate also to other goals my clients go on to achieve time management goals, parenting changes, and even employment changes based on the trust they build with themselves through their weight loss and building habit journey that were challenging, but doable.

12:04 These, these new habits, they were challenging, but they achieved them. One of my all time favorite. Quotes from one of my clients was actually been a couple years and I went and looked it up again'cause I have it in my notes from her session. And, um, I copy and pasted it again. But, um, and she said I'm becoming an emotionally stronger person, which makes me happier than being a thinner. Person, and she was losing weight at this time, but realized that the work she was doing on herself and trusting herself and changing habits and getting more confident, this was all affecting her from a deep emotional level as well.

12:44 One side note to this section, if you are feeling. More critical of yourself. It might be time to focus less on what you're doing wrong, quote unquote, and just really look at all of these things that you're doing right, because the last one, number seven is what I'm calling body respect. This is a big one. Are you treating your body with. Respect, more respect than you were before. Even if you don't love it, how it looks right now, that might look like choosing foods that fuel you moving in ways that feel good or simply not talking down to yourself in the mirror. This isn't just mindset work, it's, it's also like behavior change.

13:29 This is about becoming the person that you want to become, and that is. From an emotional and like mental standpoint, right? That's not a body change standpoint. Most of the people that come to me tell me that they want to love their body more and they just start with not hating it, which I know I, it's sad, right? We don't wanna hate our bodies, and I don't, and I, I just, I have so much compassion for you because I went through this for so long and. It's honestly this achieving this is one of the strongest, strongest predictors I think, of lasting success.

14:10 When my clients are like, I am loving what I'm doing for my body. I'm loving the way my body is moving. I'm loving the way that I'm caring for my body, and you know, they just really take to heart what I say, which is we can't hate ourselves Then. Like you cannot. You have tried that. I know you have because most diets prey on our insecurities. That is not what I do. I want to support you to create the life that you want. And if that life includes not thinking about food so much and your body changes in response to that. That's amazing, right?

14:51 So we're not preying on your insecurities here. It's not about like, well, if the scale doesn't move, at least look at these other things. Like really, truly, when we get this body respect part down and not try to hate yourself, then um, you will be stronger. You will be more emotionally in like in a better emotional place. Self-loathing is not actually motivational. It only works in a very, very short term. And, and then we get sad again, right? Because we still are in hate, and that is no way to live long term. Your body, all bodies are good and beautiful, and your body can do something.

15:34 Even if it can't do everything right now, it can do something. And so just start noticing. You know what? My body can like pick up these children and make dinner for them every night. Like even if it's, even if it's not like a, um, like a physical task as far as like picking them up or carrying them, if you're talking about kids or you know, doing some like physical activity. I also think about the way my body moves around to like, I did laundry and so I'm wearing clean clothes and my body did that and like. Being able to like, walk around and, and make dinner. So there's a lot of things that we do with our bodies that don't have anything to do with weight loss. And the more we can focus on those achievements and those, um, you know, just things that, that we can do, the more we can focus on being.

16:21 At peace with your body, right? And just getting out of that, hating ourselves thin. And so when you notice, I'm kind of blabbing along about this one, but what I'm trying to say is when you notice this change, when you notice that you're speaking nicer about your body to yourself, this is huge. Regardless of what the scale says, this will be the biggest indicator of long-term success. So if the scale hasn't moved this week or for several weeks, I want you to just look beyond that, write down three to five maybe of these ways I gave you seven. You might be thinking of some of the other things that are changing for you that maybe the, this, you know, this conversation triggered, but write them down and notice and really pay attention to that progress.

17:10 Because if you only measure your success by one number, you're gonna miss a lot of these other ways and specifically these mental ways that you're getting stronger. By creating different habits and those changes that are happening. If you're not sure how to track progress outside of weight loss, if you're like, none of those things apply to me. Or even if you're just like, ah, it's just so hard, it's just so challenging. Um, especially if you feel like you're doing everything right. But nothing's working. This is where I come in. I would love to help book a free consult using the link in the show notes, and we'll talk through where you are, where you wanna go, and what might be getting in the way. And that my friend, is my superpower, which is seeing your blind spots.

17:55 So even though you're thinking you're doing everything right and I know you're doing most things, okay, so this isn't about me nitpicking you. I'm just saying you have blind spots. And even though you think there's nothing else you could possibly do, give me a chance. Let me take a look at your brain. Let me take a look at your food journal. Let me take a look at your, your exercise. I just made a couple of small tweaks to one of my clients that's kind of like she's, she went through my full program and now we're kind of in some maintenance coaching where she doesn't come every week and, We just made like a couple of tiny tweaks to her, like breakfast and a little bit, just a little tiny thing to her movement. And she continued to drop.

18:35 She's like still at the tail end of her weight loss and continuing to drop, um, you know, half to one pound per week, which is a great rate of decline, especially when you're in those last, um, 10 to 15 pounds. So it does work to have someone else take a look at what you're doing. so do book that free consult call. And if you're on a GLP one or even considering it, be sure to grab that success starter kit I made for you. It really helps you get going with that because you're gonna come out of the doctor's office with just a prescription and nothing else, and you're gonna need some day-to-day support that your doctor is not equipped to give you. So link for that is in the show notes. And remember what you eat matters, but what you believe about yourself matters.

19:18 More. Thanks for listening and sharing the Eat Well Think Well Live Well podcast.