An Alternative to the Scale

I’m still recuperating from my Cold/Flu/Consumption.  Total Bummer. I’ve been reading Rachel Cosgrove’s The Female Body Breakthrough, but haven’t yet been well enough to give her strength training program a try yet.

One up-side is that I’ve found the book really helpful.  In addition to the exercise program, Rachel Cosgrove has a lot of good advice about body image, nutrition, and weight loss.  I wanted to share with you one of my favorite parts of her book so far: an alternative to the scale!  I hate weighing myself—either I’m avoiding the scale like the plague or hopping on twice a day and putting way too much stock into what the numbers say.

Cosgrove’s solution?  “Thermometer” jeans.  She suggests getting a pair of too-small jeans out from storage and trying them on every so often to gauge how your body is changing instead of (or in addition to) the scale.  She recommends a pair about 2 sizes smaller than your current ones as to not be too discouraging.

Good jeans, bad hair: The Thermometer Jeans in 2006

I am taking a deep breath in preparation for the following over-shares:  I am 5’2″, and currently wearing a U.S. size 10 ½ jeans (a fictional size meaning that some 10’s are too tight but 12’s are too loose).  This past weekend I dug out my Ultimate Skinny Jeans from the skinny-clothes stockpile in my closet.  They are a size 4, and I’ve only been able to wear them for about six total months since we figured out the world wasn’t going to end in Y2K.  In fact, I’m pretty sure I’m wearing them in this photo, circa 2006:

So this weekend I tried them on, and they barely went to my mid-thigh.  It kind of sucked, but wasn’t nearly so punishing as a number.  Plus, it was a concrete way to visualize my goal weight.

The Skinny Jeans are now relaxing in their new home: the door frame in our bedroom, in plain sight.  I plan to stick to these as a gauge for my weight loss as much as possible, and to resist the scale except every so often (I don’t have one in the house; only at the gym).  For me, the jeans are a lot less likely to be abused than a scale.  For one, they require a change of clothes, which is less convenient relative to taking a single step onto a scale.  Second, I know from experience that clothes don’t change the way they fit much unless I wait a few weeks, so what’s the point of trying them on too often?

"Do these make my hips look big, honey?" (Sad Face, plus Thermometer Jeans circa Jan 2011)

More over-sharing: I am going to post monthly pictures of myself wearing the Jeans.  Hopefully, they will actually fit one of these days.

Speaking of jeans, I would love to buy a pair of expensive, designer denim once the current, Limited-brand thermometer jeans fit.  I’ve never thought my weight was stable enough to make the $100+ investment.

Has anyone else hopped on the “thermometer jeans” bandwagon, or plans to?  Do you think it would be helpful or discouraging for you?  What do other people do with their not-currently-fitting “skinny” and “fat” clothes?