A week in the new apartment. And a scale that had a lot to say.
Daily weigh-ins, cortisol, leg day, and why 187 doesn’t actually mean what you think it means
187.4
I know. I know.
We were just here celebrating 182. And now I’m standing in my new bathroom in my new apartment looking at 187.4 on a Saturday morning and doing the thing where you step off and step back on like the scale is going to change its mind.
It didn’t change its mind. But I also know exactly what happened this week. And I think you need to hear it because if your scale did this to you this week, you probably don’t.
Watch the Vlog Here:
Quick note before we get into it: Facebook took down my original page and I am starting over from scratch over there. I’d really appreciate a follow, my new page is linked « here ». I would love to see you there.
What the scale actually measured this week
It measured leg day. It measured two personal training sessions in a new gym in a new body that is still figuring out what hard work costs it in water retention and inflammation. It measured creatine that I started and then stopped because I forgot I always forget what creatine does to the number. It measured a week where I didn’t drink enough water because Teacher Appreciation Week had parents bringing me drinks and I got spoiled and let my water intake slide.
It measured cortisol from moving boxes and unpacking a life and sleeping in a new place and hearing the neighbors upstairs at 4:30 in the morning and having a mini panic attack on Wednesday night because my nervous system is also adjusting to a new space.
It measured all of that. It did not measure my body fat. It did not measure my progress. It did not measure who I am on this journey or whether any of this is working.
182 is still my lowest number in over a year. That number did not disappear because 187 showed up four days later.
The part I keep coming back to
On Friday I went to Skateland with my sixth graders for our end of year field trip.
I skated the whole time. I was on my feet for hours. I helped kids who had never skated before. I kept going when my legs were already sore from three workouts earlier in the week. And at the end of the day I went straight to a birthday party and kept going there too.
Three years ago I would have dreaded that field trip. Not because I don’t love my kids, but because my body would have made it something to survive rather than something to enjoy. I would have sat on the side. I would have had a hundred quiet reasons not to get out there.
I got out there.
The scale said 187 the next morning and I had to remind myself that those two things happened in the same week. The same body that is driving me crazy on a Saturday morning skated with my sixth graders on a Friday afternoon without thinking twice about it.
That’s the thing the number can’t show you.
What I actually ate
I want to be honest about this because I think it matters.
I did not overeat this week. Not in any real way. Tacos on Monday. Taco Bell on Thursday where I ate half of what I ordered. Pizza at Skateland. A handful of French fries made in the air fryer. Some candy here and there during Teacher Appreciation Week because parents were generous and I am human.
There was no binge. There was no moment where I went off the rails. There was a busy week, a body under stress, and a scale doing what scales do when cortisol and sodium and inflammation are all in the room at the same time.
If you had a week like this and you’re sitting with the number right now, I want you to actually look at what you ate. Not through guilt, just honestly. Because I think most of the time when the scale spikes like this it is not the food. It is everything around the food.
Back to Day One
We are nine days in and I could not be more grateful for everyone who showed up for this.
If you have been on the fence, you are not late. You join on whatever day we are on, you catch up at your own pace, and you do it alongside people who are in the exact same place you are. No shame about where you are starting from. That is the whole point.
The link is below.
The full week of daily weigh-ins is on YouTube if you want to watch the whole thing play out in real time.
xo
Nyk
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Totally feel this…I went back to gym after 10days off and had a 4lb swing…it came back down finally but it doesn’t annoy any less 🙄🤷♀️🫶
I'm 15 months in remission from obesity ("maintenance") and 4 years into my GLP-1 excursion. Not sure if this will help, but going to share anyhow.
The scale does this *all the time*. Up 5, down 2, up 3, down 4... my own range is 6 lbs. - between 125 and 131... and it's been like that for over a year, therefore, at least for me, it's entirely "normal."
Nyk, if I tried to figure out why the scale went up or down every time, I would be driven loca because, in reality, there are surely over a million reasons/causes/things/etc. that can change the scale.
I like to remind people that the scale is less than 150 years old for people. There were scales for foodstuff and livestock, but not people until the late 1800s.
I hope this helps at least a tiny bit. You really are doing fantastic!