Losing Weight Isn’t Always About the Scale

The stockings have been taken down from the mantle and the champagne glasses are washed and put away. A fresh new calendar is hung on the wall.

It is a new year!

With Every New Year Comes the Promise of New Possibilities

This will be the year I start a daily meditation practice, or this year I will run a 5k. And the classic, this will be the year I lose weight.

Weight loss

Ugh.

It’s the elephant in the room. The Christmas song every band covers. The New Years resolution that keeps rearing its ugly head year after year.

Let’s talk about a different kind of weight loss.

Set the diets, the scales, and the pants you want to fit back into aside… we don’t need ’em today.

Other Peoples Stuff

This past Saturday I went on a major house purge and tossed out a lot of stuff. Stuff that I probably shouldn’t have kept for as long as I did.

One of the things I threw away was a spiral bound holiday cookie recipe book compiled and distributed every year by an energy company in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. My aunt mailed me the book years ago with a post it note that read ‘Your mom and grandma used to love collecting these!’

And so I held on to it. With the post it note intact. And I never made a recipe from inside, I’m not even sure I ever opened it. Yet it was taking up precious counter space in my kitchen for sentimental reasons.

Saturday I held the book, sent gratitude to my aunt for sending it to me and then said, ‘this was special to mom and grandma, it isn’t special for me’. And into the bin it went.

It got me thinking about other things I am holding on to that aren’t mine.

I lovingly refer to these things as OPS (Other People’s Stuff’) in the case of a favorite family cook book.

And sometimes, less affectionately, Other People’s Sh*t.

Years ago at a happy hour an acquaintance of mine, Arturo, told me that when he meets a woman out he always looks at her hands. “Her hands will reveal her true age, the hands never lie.”

Oooh! That was one of those conversations where the memory is so clear I can picture the curtains. From that day forward I became vigilant when it came to putting sunscreen on my hands. I wanted youthful hands forever!

This memory popped into my head Saturday as I was tossing old sunscreen into the bin and I thought, “Hold on a minute, that was Arturo’s sh*t!” I don’t need to obsess over that anymore. I mean, I’ll wear sunscreen of course, but worrying about my hands looking old one day – no thank you!

Let’s travel even further back in time.

Over a decade ago I recall our office admin Millie telling me about how she would have her husband check the back of her head for gray hairs because “it’s so sad sitting behind the woman on the bus with no grays up front but lots in the back.”

Guess who would routinely checked the back of her head for grays after that?? If you guessed me, you’re right! A young and impressionable Meredith internalized that statement.

And guess what else, that was Millie’s sh*t, not mine!

Today’s the day to lighten your load

Over the course of our lives there are a lot of ideas, thoughts, and beliefs we pick up along the years and we carry with us. It may be something your mom said to you time and time again, or it could be something an acquaintance, friend or teacher said once and you internalized. Either way, these things get heavy. It’s possible they were even useful or helpful at one point and they’ve simply outstayed their welcome. And today we can set them down.

It’s never too late to lighten your load.

Can you think of a belief that belongs to someone else that you’ve been lugging with you? Is there a little voice offering you outdate advice? Is there anything you’ve picked up along the way you’re ready to set down?

That’s the kind of weight I’m into losing these days. And if you could use a little help let me know.

About the author:

Meredith Amann is a certified Ashtanga and Yoga Tune Up® instructor and Health Coach. Meredith works with yogis and movers of all ages, from 3 year olds in her PK classes, high school athletes, as well as adults and seniors. Off the mat Meredith can often be found on the tennis court – as an athlete she is passionate about improving performance, enhancing mobility, preventing injuries and quieting the monkey mind. Meredith has appointments available through the Anchor Wellness Center under Yoga Therapy and Health Coach.

You can also learn more about Meredith at here.