Letting Go

I was up a pound and a half this week.  I was very disheartened when I stepped off the scale.  I wasn't perfect this last week, but I certainly wasn't off enough to justify 1.5 pounds!

I moped.  I folded laundry and did many of my other morning tasks in a bad mood.  My whole world has been a bad mood lately.  I've found the negative in everything.  I'm a horrible mother and wife and friend and Mormon ... Nothing has been good.

When I finally got on the computer to input my breakfast, it asked for my weight since it knows today is my weigh-in day.  Rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I put in that number.  The computer came back with this:

So, you gained a little bit this week.
Gaining is a normal part of the process and can happen for a lot of reasons.
Look back at this week and see what you might be able to change; then let go of what you can't. The best thing to do is focus on making this coming week a success.

I could hear the voice in my head.  It was saying, "So what?  Let it go.  You know you could make some changes.  Let the rest go."

I need to let things go.  That is why my heart hasn't been happy ... I've been holding all this bad energy and bad thoughts around it.  It hasn't had room to breathe and grow.  That's where those 1.5 pounds came from ... the bad energy is weighing me down, quite literally.

Letting go isn't just about weight loss.  We can't be the women we are meant to be if we don't let go.  We can't change the entire world ... but we can change our own little part of it.  We can't change our spouses ... but we can change the way we treat them.  We can't change the choices our children make ... but we can teach them about consequences.  We can't change the challenges the Lord allows in our lives ... but we can pray for more strength to conquer them.

I need to let go.  

I attended a Seven Habits of Highly Effective People class years ago (which I loved ... and they served the best food, but I digress).  One of the key things I remember from the class is our Circle of Influence.  We all have things that we care about or are concerned about, but there is only so much we can really do.  The area that we have influence over is much smaller than most of us would like.  If I want to be happy and un-stressed, I have to accept that, while I care about something, I may not be able to influence it one way or the other.

How am I tying this back to weight loss?  I have no control over my hormones or what my female cycles might do to my weight loss.  I care about it, certainly, but I have no control.  I can eat right and exercise and drink my water, but I have no control over what a stressful week might do to the scale.   I can do everything right but that doesn't mean my body will respond how I want it to.  

I need to let it go.  I need to do my best and accept that my best is pretty darn good.  I can care about a gazillion things, but I can only influence so many.  Bad things happen to good people.  Weight gains are part of the weight loss journey.  And that is okay.