New Goal = No Scale

I have over 100 pounds to lose—I know this. This is not a mystery. Ever since I dropped dead last year, I’ve been nervous about working out. In turn, I’m now the heaviest I’ve ever been—and I’m not happy. You can read my other blogs, where I’ve resolved to lose weight and be a brand new person, but I was doing it all wrong.

The Kinect to Fitness and Health group has a new challenge built around ideas from The Spark. Something there finally clicked with me: the tipping point. There is a magical place where everything in your life comes together; a place that is created by every facet of a healthy lifestyle. This place is called the tipping point. Losing weight happens as a result of reaching the tipping point. Well founded goals drive us to the tipping point. Losing weight is not a well-founded goal. Wanting to lose weight is what sets us up for failure and disappointment.

Here is what my new goal is: to be around for my kids and have energy to play with them. I want that youthful energy—the kind that makes me happy and those around me happy. With that energy, I can be successful at my work, be the husband I’m meant to be, and the father my kids deserve.

My goal has nothing to do with my weight, but I’ll probably lose weight in an effort to reach my goal. Because of this, I’m not going to give much thought to the scale. I’ll step on the scale at the doctor’s office, but that’s about it. I don’t want to set myself up for failure, disappointment, or regret. If I eat too much, I’ll remind myself of how this may not help me reach my goal, and I won’t beat myself for the possibility of gaining a couple of pounds at the next weigh-in. My goal is health and energy.

I’m going to start doing things to help reach my goal: get more sleep, exercise more, eat better, and spend more time with my kids. If my goal was to lose weight, I wouldn’t do these things. If my goal was to lose weight, I would think about “kick-starting” myself and following some crazy plan. My goal is simple and the way to obtain it simpler.