This week at Weight Watchers I weighed in 4.0 pounds lighter.

While I was glad to see my slow crawl to getting back on a healthier track had done some work I knew I hadn’t “killed it” and so I wasn’t ecstatic about such a large loss.

Yes, I went back to BodyPump, but but those were my only two heavy workouts for the week.  I think I went walking one other day, finishing up the week with three intentional exercise sessions.

With the way I ate during the week my eating and exercise should not have added up to a 4-pound loss.

I did cut back a little from my holiday feasting, but I was not restrictive and I know I over ate a few times.

So, instead of making me feel like I’m just the most awesome example of health and wellness what this loss did for me was show me that the big loss over Christmas really was as much water retention as it was overeating.  I trimmed back the sweets and didn’t eat out as much and that added weight came right back off.

Or it was a fluke and the scale will be back up on Monday.

Kidding.

But I’m not going to be super proud and act like I worked so hard for it.  The scale is fickle.

It can go down when you don’t feel you’ve earned it and it can go up even after you worked hard to stay within your health plan.  It’s a tool, but one I am careful to not let have too much power over my emotions.

So, when it’s up I try and not hate myself and, like this week, when it’s down an “amazing” amount, I don’t take all the credit either.