I Tried to Out-Grind My Scale; It Ghosted Me Anyway

You can hit every target and still feel empty if the goal is powered by pressure. We open up about a hard two-week plateau on the road to 60 pounds lost—a stretch of no movement on the scale despite meticulous effort—and use it to unpack a bigger truth: the number is a reflection, not a definition. When your why is to impress, rest never arrives. When your why is to improve, peace shows up even before results do.

We trace the difference between power and purpose through a simple frame: you can have the power to grind, but without purpose it becomes chaos and burnout. That shift—away from looking successful and toward feeling proud of who you’re becoming—changes the entire process. You stop forcing outcomes, start aligning actions with values, and rediscover the joy that got you moving in the first place. We talk patience during plateaus, identity-based habits that compound over time, and the quiet wins that never trend but always last: consistent sleep, recovery, honest self-checks, and small daily minimums that keep momentum alive.

If you’re stuck in the in-between—doing the work but not seeing change—this conversation offers a grounded path forward. Expect practical questions to reset your motive, a reframing of “no progress” weeks as training for resilience, and a reminder that you can’t fake peace; you earn it by being real when nobody’s watching. Give yourself grace, protect your pace, and keep your direction honest. If this message resonates, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs the nudge, and leave a quick review to help others find it. What’s one goal you’ll pursue for peace, not proof?

Chapters

• 0:04 Opening Quote on Authenticity
• 0:16 Theme: Real vs Forced Change
• 1:21 The Weight Loss Plateau Story
• 2:17 Redefining Results and Peace
• 3:13 Power, Purpose, and Burnout
• 4:08 Transformation Through Patience
• 6:00 Pride in Process Over Highlights
• 7:20 Grace, Pace, and Direction
• 8:00 Weekly Challenge and Closing CTA

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Today I want to start with a quote from Green Brown. Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we're supposed to be and embracing who we truly are. Welcome back, my friends, to the 3 Million Step Awakening Podcast. I'm your host, Jay Medina. On today's episode, it's gonna be one of those that hits a little deeper. It's about being genuine in your journey. Not perfect, not polished, just real. Because here's the truth. So many of us want change. We want peace, we want success, but we're trying to force it. And the moment you start forcing something that's supposed to come naturally, everything starts to feel off. You might still hit your goals, you might still check the boxes, but inside, you'll know it wasn't real. So today, I want to challenge you. Be honest, be open, be genuine with yourself and your goals. Because when your why is real, your results will be too. You know, I've been there, especially these last two weeks, trying to get to my 60 pounds in total weight loss. I've been working. I've been working extra hard the last two weeks, counting every meal, tracking every step, chasing every little sign of progress I could find. And then that moment comes. I take a step on the scale. In the last two weeks, I've taken the same step and I've looked down and I've seen nothing. Absolutely nothing. No change, no reward, no sign that all your effort mattered. That moment right there, that's where most people quit. That's where I wanted to quit. It's where I quit before. Because it feels like the universe isn't paying attention to me. But let me tell you something. It takes going through weeks like this to show you that the number doesn't measure your heart, it doesn't measure your discipline, it doesn't measure your growth. It's just a reflection, not a definition. I'm starting to see that. When you chase results out of pressure, you lose the joy that got you started in the first place. You start to treat the process like punishment instead of privilege. But when you move from a place of truth, when your effort comes from something genuine, you feel that peace again. You stop forcing and you start blowing. And that's what lasts. When I finally get real with myself, I realize something uncomfortable. I have not always been doing it for me. Sometimes I was doing it to prove people wrong, sometimes to just be seen, sometimes it's to feel enough. And that's hard to admit for me. Because deep down, we all want to be accepted. We all want to feel like we're doing something that matters. But here's what I learned the hard way. You can't build peace from performance. When your why is to impress, you'll never rest. But when your why is to improve, you'll find peace. When I start to shift from I want to look successful to I want to feel proud of who I'm becoming, everything changes. It didn't get easier, but it got real, and real lasts longer than anything fake ever could. So I want to ask you, why are you really doing what you're doing? If the answer comes from a place of love, not pressure, you're already winning. Let me gig out for a second, Spider-Man. Yeah, I know. Stay with me. Here's a guy with power, serious power. But the lesson he had to learn is that just because you can doesn't mean you should. Power without purpose, that's chaos. And that's the same with us. You might have the power to grind, to push yourself beyond your limits, but if there's no purpose behind it, it's just empty. You'll end up burned out, disconnected, wondering why doesn't this feel good anymore? Because power without peace is just exhaustion. That's why you've got to be genuine with your why. When your heart is aligned with your efforts, that's when things finally start to click. You can't fake peace, you can only earn it by being real. There were weeks I didn't lose a single pound. Weeks where I did everything right, the workouts, the meals, the discipline, and still nothing. Those were the hardest weeks, but they taught me the most because that's where I learned patience, that's where I learned faith, that's where I found peace without needing proof. You see, the real transformation doesn't happen when the number changes, it happens when you change. When you stop doing things for validation and start doing them for peace, that is when you grow. That's when you become genuine. Because being genuine isn't about perfection, it's about alignment, it's about doing the right things for the right reasons, even when nobody's watching. Nobody talks about the grind, the nights you question everything, the mornings you wake up and wonder if it's worth it. The times you show up when nobody's notices, but those are the moments that shape you. That's where your strength is built. Not in comfort, but in the consistency. Everybody loves the highlight reel where people succeed, but few understand the pain that made the story possible. So take pride in your process, take pride in just showing up, take pride in staying real, even when it would have been easier to fake it. Because genuine might take longer, but it lasts longer too. It builds peace, it builds confidence, it builds you. Maybe right now you're in the in-between space. You're doing the work, but you don't see the results. You're trying, but it feels like nothing's changing. Let me remind you, my friends, genuine effort never goes to waste. Every rep, every journal entry, every early morning, every small decision that no one sees, it's all adding up to something bigger. So give yourself grace. If you stumble, that's okay. If you slow down, that's okay. Even a turtle still finishes the race. The pace doesn't matter. The direction does. As long as you're moving from a genuine place, you're moving in the right direction. Keep showing up, keep being real, keep trusting that peace is waiting on the other side of patience. Carl Junk said, the privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are. So here's my challenge to you this week. Be genuine with yourself, your goals, and your habits, and your relationships. Ask yourself, am I doing this to be real or just to be seen? Because only one of those paths leads to peace. Don't force the outcome. Don't chase the image. Just be genuine in your journey. And you'll find that everything you've been chasing was already waiting for the real you. This was being genuine in your journey. If this episode spoke to you, share with someone who needs that reminder to slow down, to breathe, to be real with themselves. Until next time, my friends, stay honest, stay grounded, and most of all, stay genuine. Thank you for listening.