Healthy Choices: More than a Number on the Scale

By Megan MacDonald

I’ve always said that this Healthy Choices series wasn’t about the number on the scale. It was about making your life healthier with little things you do, yet here I am writing my second article when it should be my third.

I found myself very disheartened – and frankly a little embarrassed – at the end of month one when the scale hadn’t budged. No matter what I did, no matter how far I walked or how much effort I put into eating healthier, I didn’t lose any weight.

But the thing I lost sight of was, this wasn’t about that. This was about feeling better about yourself, about living a healthier life. I let the number on the scale get in the way of the things that mattered in this journey. I may not have lost any weight yet, but I lost 2 inches around my waist, I started fitting into old clothing, and my calves – that I was extremely proud of after years of dance and had started to loose their muscular look – are back to looking fantastic from all the walking I’ve done. Those things are much more important than the number on the scale.

So my biggest healthy choice on this journey has simply been stepping off the scale. That’s not a number that defines me or my progress. Living a healthy life doesn’t mean weighing a certain weight, it means glancing at the sugary baked good and reaching for an apple. It means walking to the coffee shop instead of driving. It means grabbing a water bottle instead of a bottle of soda when you’re on the go. You don’t have to make that healthy choice every time, but eight times out of ten is a good start.

And remember: