Weight isn't everything...

I'm sure most of this has been said before ad naseum, but thought I'd share my own experience given some of the friend comments I've seen recently.

Since the New Year, I've been progressively losing much more weight than I ever expected (~15lbs to date). While this seems very little to some folks, I've loss about 9% body fat, trimmed of 2 waste sizes + 1 shirt size, bench at least 40-50lbs than before, have a lot more energy, and have routinely been complimented how much more "skinny" I appear (although I don't think I am). In summary, it is not just about your weight, but also the way you look and your body measurements (both external and internal) that matter even more!

The keys to success to me as may apply generically to everyone are:

- Making things regular routines whether it is exercise, eating, etc. Humans are creature of habit and the faster you can establish good routines (and forgo bad ones), the healthier you will be in the long run. Sometimes it will be difficult to motivate yourself (i know, i despise the 35+ minutes HIIT ellipticals I do), so making it something that is naturally part of your day will help overcome that.

- Be knowledgeable and conscience about what you eat and when. Myfitnesspal made me really pay attention to the fact that that pizza I ate would kill my daily allowance so I try to avoid it as much as I can (or make it up with exercise). It can be surprising things we think aren't "fatty" really are (i.e. curry!).

- Exercise as much as you schedule allows. I tend to see folks just curtail their intake, but many times this will result in them splurging at some other times negating this. I've lessen my intake, but not substantially as to starve myself (and most importantly my body), so have countered with exercise to make a net impact to my overall intake.

- Motivate yourself with little goals! I had a goal of how I wanted to look for a particular even this summer and pushed myself to it. Since then, I've got little goals in between whether inching to the next lbs, weights lifted, or just ensuring you're on track for the day/week on your calorie intake.

- Take things slow and easy. Yes, some folks work do great but shocking their body for weight loss, but I think for the majority of us, doing this will eventually lead to loss of motivation due to the stress/difficulty it induces. For me, I had a very reasonable goal of just 15 lbs in 1 year or about 1 lb a month and worked at it progressively. This helps establish good habits gradually, gives you easy goals to accomplish which helps motivation, and assess / tailor your diet/exercise regimen to suit your schedule and goals. Remember that your are not just making a diet change, but a lifestyle change!

- Lastly, enjoy yourself as you progress to your goal. Although expensive, it was so exciting to go shopping in smaller sizes and seeing myself fit in everything. It's not to say be narcissistic about your improvements, but you did do the work, so bask in your own accomplishment! As you see people interact with you differently (and you will, guaranteed!), you'll want to continual to further improve or at least maintain your new self!

Hope this helps folks out there. Feel free to add me as a friend if you'd like, as I'm always happy to help out!