Why This Young Woman Lost Weight, Then Ditched the Scale to Focus on Fitness Goals

Back in February 2019, when Kelley started her journey, she was still living in an apartment away from home and said she used plans from fitness influencer Mari Llewellyn. Kelley worked her way through the first gym guide, which had her weightlifting four days a week, then progressed to Mari's second and third gym guides, which increased the gym schedule to five days per week. She actually did the third guide twice, upping her reps and going heavier as time went on.

Now back in her hometown and with a longer commute to the office, Kelley continues to work out five days a week, but she doesn't strictly follow those guides. Instead, she splits up her five days the following way: biceps and triceps; glutes and hamstrings; chest, back, and shoulders; quads and calves; and then repeat one of those combos or do a full-body circuit. Depending on how long she can spend in the gym, she'll sneak in 10 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, StairMaster, or elliptical as a warmup.

Most of Kelley's weightlifting gym sessions are 35 to 45 minutes long. She also noted that her job in media requires her to work inconsistent hours and days, so she doesn't have a set time or calendar for those sessions; she just makes sure to check off five days a week and two days of active recovery.

Kelley told POPSUGAR, "On my off days, I've kind of learned that I get super anxious when I don't move my body a little bit. So, even on those days where I'm taking a rest, I like to stretch and foam roll and walk my dog or even sometimes go for a light jog."

Kelley also is reevaluating the way she works out, and said she's probably going to make some changes soon. The most important thing for her, though, is keeping the gym fun — because that's what it has been so far. She'll keep her workouts fresh by finding moves from fitness accounts on Instagram to incorporate into her routine (she actually has a running list of ideas in her phone's Notes section).

Kelley used to count her calories back in high school on an app, but that experience wasn't a good one for her. Looking back, she thinks that she was eating too few calories for the amount of sports she played. Her goal was to lose weight fast, and that lifestyle wasn't sustainable.

For instance, if she ate one more Goldfish than was allowed, she'd give up and binge the rest of the day because she thought she ruined her progress. Her weight fluctuated a lot — "I was gaining and losing the same five to 10 pounds over and over and over," she said. Then, she reached her heaviest in college.

Going into her fitness journey, Kelley considered trying intermittent fasting but said that it wasn't realistic given her inconsistent work schedule. Some days she'll have to be in the office at 7 a.m., or on a given Sunday she'll get there around 1 p.m. So, sticking to a set window of eating wouldn't have been the right option for her.

Now, though, Kelley is simply focused on eating healthier. After college, she moved into an apartment and said that she would eat takeout a lot. Now that she's back home, she tries to cook more for herself. Here's a rundown of some of the food choices Kelley makes daily:

Kelley stressed the fact that she wanted to follow eating habits that weren't restrictive. Even though she does more cooking now, Kelley will still go out with her friends to restaurants. "I've tried quick fixes and they just don't work," she explained. "So I wanted to make sure I was doing it in a slow and sustainable kind of way."

Fact: If you're losing fat, you won't necessarily see your weight go down on the scale if you're weightlifting and gaining muscle to do so. As experts explained in a previous post, muscle is more dense than fat, so it's more accurate to measure your body composition as a means to track progress as opposed to always stepping on a scale.

This photo is proof — a picture of Kelley from July 2019 (left) and December 2019 (right). She weighs around the same in both (about 190), but her progress is noticeable. She's leaner and told us that, since July, she's started to lift much more weight. And, back in July, she could do three push-ups on her knees. As of last week, she's graduated to push-ups on her toes.

"I've made a lot of progress in the gym, which is what I was trying to focus when I wasn't focusing on the scale," Kelley said. "I was focusing on the differences in my pictures and then how much weight I was lifting at the gym because at the end of the day, I really just want to be strong."

Kelley continued, "Rather than fit into a certain size, I want to feel lean and confident in anything I put on. Rather than get down to a certain body fat percentage, I really just want to continue gaining mental and physical strength. I've shifted from being hung up on numbers to paying attention to how I look, and, most importantly, to how I feel."

When Kelley was at her heaviest in college, she said that she was "uncomfortable" with her size, but she has no regrets. "I was never unhappy when I was prioritizing making memories over my own health," she noted. "And I'm not saying that those things can't live hand in hand. I just didn't figure out a way to make that work." Then, she decided to start her fitness journey, and she's grateful that she's found sustainability because that, she said, is key.

"I think that my biggest thing I've learned is that changing your life is a process, and it will always be a process," Kelley explained. "There's no end to it, and so you kind of have to fall in love with the ups and the downs of the process and realize that if you are going to be succeeding all the time, you're going to burn yourself out." Her advice? Be as kind to yourself as you can through those downs. And, at the same time, find things that will lift you up.

One way Kelley's learned to lift her spirits on a "down" day is taking progress photos and videos of herself working out so that she can compare where she was months ago to where she is now. "That allows me to step back and look at it as a whole process and as a whole journey and realize my overall progress," she said. It's about putting negative thoughts aside by reminding herself of her strength.

Initially, Kelley wanted to be 175 pounds with abs. But, she said, "realistically, I'm realizing that I'm not just trying to get to that point, and then what? I have to continue to be in such a big deficit and working out all the time and saying no to going out and eating good foods." Personally, she's not focusing on those goals because that's not what's important to her anymore.

Instead, Kelley's top priority is to 1) focus on her mental and physical health overall and 2) keep building up her strength. But, she has more specific PRs in mind as well. For example, right now she can squat 95 pounds including the bar and two 25-pound plates. By the end of the year, she wants to squat with two 45-pound plates.

Kelley understands that it's hard to ditch the scale altogether because she knows that weight does matter to some degree. But, she's proof that you don't necessarily have to see a number change on the scale to change your body. Relying on other metrics of success and progress, though, has proven to be so much better for Kelley's journey (and, remember, she only just shifted her focus a few months ago!).

Posting about her progress on her fitness Instagram also keeps Kelley accountable, though she is aware that body image isn't something you can change overnight. Here are some of her tips for people who want to ditch the scale themselves.