Strength and Throwing Away the Scale

I'm all about this quote from my friend Deb at Solful Life.  I've finally learned that what I want from my workouts is strength, flexibility, balance, and energy.  The older I get, the more I value the ability to keep doing the things I've always done.

Ultimately, I'd love to be in a place where I never stepped on a scale again.  As long as I'm eating mostly healthy, maintaining a varied fitness routine, and my clothes fit, weight shouldn't matter, right?  A year ago I was totally in that mindset.  Unfortunately, genetics and my doctor don't see it that way.

After being diagnosed with pre-diabetes last fall, the doc asked me to lose 10-15 pounds in an attempt to lower my glucose numbers naturally.  Damn - there went getting rid of the scale.  Just when I'd figured out that "dieting" wasn't the best way forward, I had to go on a diet.  I've had success with Weight Watchers and The Faster Way To Fat Loss in the past, but I didn't 100% adore them.  So I decided to take parts of each and come up with my own program.

The thing that's made the biggest difference in my life?  Intermittent Fasting.  For years we've been told never to skip breakfast, and eat small meals throughout the day to keep our metabolism up.  The problem is that we don't give our bodies a chance to burn the fat we've already stored.  We're just digesting the last meal we ate.  It makes so much sense to me.  

I've been following the 16/8 method.  Each day I eat during an 8 hour window, and then fast for 16 hours.  It takes a little getting used to, but now I can't imagine eating any other way.  And of course I'm flexible - if there's a late event, or an earlier breakfast out with my family, I just adjust my window.

Over the last six months, I've done what the doctor ordered, have lost almost 15 pounds, and now it's time to see if the genetics will be kind to me.  This week I'm having blood work done to see if I'm out of pre-diabetes range. 

And then I'm throwing away the scale.