It is easy when you are trying to loose weight / get healthy to be focused solely on the numbers on the scale so when you discover a non – scale victory, besides fitting into smaller sized clothes, it can come as a surprise and is really quite a nice feeling.
Below are a few of what I consider to be my “non-scale victories”. I aim for the victories to continue mounting as my health gets better and better.
1) Being able to see my collar bone – a bit of a vanity one but that was always something I thought, yes when I loose weight I will be able to see my collar bone so the feeling of it being visible does kind of make my day!
2) Being able to walk up multiple flights of stairs without being out of breath – I remember visiting Litchfield National Park and one of the lower water holes from which we had to descend quite a few stairs. Our time in the water hole was lovely but then began the long, painful and somewhat embarrassing walk back up the stairs out of breath, hot and needing to stop several times. I haven’t tried the steps again since I have lost weight but I have noticed when walking up multiple fights of steps / ramps / hills etc that I don’t get so out of breath and it really doesn’t bother me any more.
3) Being able to buckle up my seatbelt on an aeroplane without a seatbelt extender and with room to spare – I have pretty much had to always ask for a seat belt extender whenever I have flown. Whilst the flight attendants have always been great and never made a big deal about it I really wanted that to stop. I had looked forward to the days when I could do up my seat belt without an extender, the first time being when I travelled to Brisbane to move here in May 2017. The comfort level is now even better and I was quite excited about demonstrating this to the Aussie when we flew to Sydney and he was quite amused by my excitement I think.
4) Being able to wrap a hotel sized towel around me so it is practical and can be used. I always liked having the big bath sheets because they would wrap around me. I have noticed over time that the bath sheets had more sheet to spare but when we stayed in our hotel in Sydney I noticed that the towel wrapped around me comfortably and was actually enough post shower. This is quite a nice feeling and means I don’t need to use multiple towels to dry off.
5) No longer being afraid of sitting down on a chair and having the fear it might break. I didn’t ever actually break chair but it was always a fear of mine that it could happen and now I confidently sit down without that fear!