My friend Will from CFI came to do a workout with me this morning. It meant so much to me that he took the time to come to hang out with me. I have met the most amazing people through CrossFit. It’s one of the best things about it all — I feel great and get to know amazing, inspiring, fun people. How can that be wrong?

Yesterday, I read a post about body image and the scale. It’s a reoccurring theme in my head and the head of so many others out there. A number on the scale can make or break how we feel about ourselves. It’s sad how much power we give it but yet we can’t help it. I have mentioned before, I have never owned a scale in my adult life. I view them as the enemy and would rather not have something around me that has the ability to make me feel bad about myself. When I go to the doctors, I request they do not tell me my weight. If I happen to see it on the chart, I usually freak out internally. How can I weigh that much?? I must look horrible. And add in any other negative self talk you can imagine.

I think it helps to read about athletes who are similar in their workout approach thinking the same things as ‘normal’ women do —

144lbs: Why Female Athletes Should Toss the Scale and Get a New Perspective

…one of the biggest things about this transformation, for me and the people around me – both clients and friends – is not so much that working out makes you confident or that training changes your body – it’s that people don’t even know what 135lbs looks like anyway. Since I first got heavily involved in martial arts and CrossFit, any time my weight has come up in conversation, which of course it does in competitive sports, no one has ever believed me. People consistently think I weigh about 10lbs less than I actually do.

Reading this stuff doesn’t make the internal dialogue go away but the more I read it, the more I hang out with people who appreciate strong women and the way they look, the more I will start to be comfortable in my own skin and realize that it really is just a number, not a definition of my worth.

warmup
200m jog
10 squats
10 push ups
4 Sampson Stretch
4 Instep Lunges
10 Squats

Strength
Front Squat 80% of my Back Squat
worked up to 120#

WOD
4 RFT
10 DB Power Cleans (20#)
15 DB Push Press (20#)
30 Squats
time: 8:58