We need to keep our motivation up throughout our journey to achieve and maintain a healthy weight. Often it seems like the scale just isn’t cooperating, especially during the holiday season. Even healthy changes, like increasing our strength training, can result in a plateau. At times like these, we should celebrate the non-scale victories in our lives.
When doing the research to write this post, I was very surprised by the dearth of peer reviewed studies conducted on non scale victories and their role in weight management. In fact, I found 0. We might make some generalizations based upon similar research.
Sonja Lyubomirsky, Laura King, and Ed Diener analyzed numerous studies on happiness and it’s relationship with many key life outcomes, including health. They did find that happiness is associated with superior mental and physical health (1, p. 835). However, there is no cause and effect identified in their American Psychological Association journal article.
An intriguing article in the Harvard Business Review reported on a study of 238 professional workers and their nearly 12,000 diary entries. They found that achieving minor milestones was very motivational for workers.
“Even ordinary, incremental progress can increase people’s engagement in the work and their happiness during the workday. Across all types of events our participants reported, a notable proportion (28%) of incidents that had a minor impact on the project had a major impact on people’s feelings about it” (2).
In our case, our work is weight management, so let’s try to apply the Harvard study ideas to our own situation. We can also consider that achieving small goals makes us feel happy. And, according to the American Psychological Association study, happiness is associated with better health. By putting those two together, let’s create a list of small, non-scale victories would be a useful tool in weight and health management.
Note: I’ve purposely used many sources for our list and linked them below. This way, you can take a look at the articles and find even more non-scale victories that may apply to you. Have any others to share? Please comment below. Thanks!
List of Non-Scale Victories
- Your clothes are fitting better – they are more comfortable and lay better on your frame (3).
- You’ve reached a new fitness milestone, such as the ability to lift a heavier weight, complete more repetitions, or sustain longer exercise sessions (3).
- You have begun to crave healthier snacks, like fruits or veggies, rather than just eating them because you think you should (4).
- You catch a glimpse of positive changes in the mirror, like more muscle definition or a smoother contour (4).
- You feel more flexible, and simple things crossing your legs or clipping your toenails are noticeably easier (5).
- You find it easier to fit in small seats in airplanes or amusement park rides (5). (Or in my case, it’s possible to share my chair with my dog!)
- Your mood is brighter or you feel happier (6).
- You have less joint pain, likely because there is less pressure on joints like your knees (6).
- Your digestion has improved – examples include less bloating, constipation, and indigestion (6).
- You’re better able to keep up with the kids (or fur babies) (7).
- You’re stepping out of your comfort zone and trying new things (7).
- Your ability to focus has improved – you have more mental clarity (8).
- You’re drinking more water (8).
- You’re able to use a tighter hole in your belt or a tighter hook on your bra (9).
- You are craving less sugar, perhaps because of increased serotonin from your exercise program (9).
- You see a difference in photos, whether it’s selfies you are taking to mark your progress or group photos taken by others (10).
- You are able to cut back – or halt increases – on medication (10). Don’t forget that medication dosages typically increase as we age or if we gain weight. So even staying at the same level is a victory!
- Your sleep is better, perhaps due to improvement in sleep apnea (11).
- Your health numbers are better, whether it’s blood sugar, cholesterol, blood pressure, pulse, or any other medical measure (11).
How can you track these victories? Try journaling about them or taking photos of your progress (11). The main thing is to recognize or record them so that you can celebrate these milestones!
By acknowledging our non-scale victories, we can keep our motivation high. This can help us to achieve our goals and maintain our healthy weight.
(1). https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/bul-1316803.pdf
(2). https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins
(3). https://www.healthline.com/health/non-scale-victories#non-scale-victories-to-celebrate
(7). https://www.weightwatchers.com/us/blog/weight-loss/nsv
(8). https://www.today.com/health/diet-fitness/walking-routine-non-scale-victories-rcna34791
(9). https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/09/health/non-scale-victories-weight-loss-fitness-wellness/index.html
(11). https://community.jennycraig.com/healthy-habits-blog/live-life/non-scale-victories-list/
Maintain Weight Loss 