Should you give up? The answer is no!♡

This is hard, I'm not going to deny that. This is a mental battle, above all else. You get yourself all psyched. Put motivational pictures all over your wall, research until your eyeballs explode about what to eat/what not, how much food/exercise, and you say, "I'm ready. " your heart is full of hope as you lead the charge. A few weeks go by. Maybe you lost a few pounds from water weight the first week, that helped push you to the next week. Then, after a month or two it feels like it's starting to retreat to a snail's pace. Maybe weight loss has even stalled (or appears so for a myriad of reasons). You look at before and after pictures. Even though you may have lost weight. It doesn't seem like much



I mean, come on! It's been almost 2 months of hard work!

While that's true. Always keep in mind we never stop growing and learning in life. Learning sustainable habits during weight loss is pretty crucial to overall sustainability long term and that is far more important than racing to finish. I mean, you want to keep the weight off, right? (Okay, my case involves lifting heavy things and bulking but that's not the same as just gaining weight freely, it's mindful to overall fitness for muscle gain but ya know :P). And even IF worse case scenario you did gain weight and it wasn't water retention, sodium, TOM (for us ladies)....it's not the end of the world! Keep trying!

Okay, so here's a few things to keep in mind.

Are you logging consistently? Every bite, nibble, and lick? While everyone doesn't need to own a food scale, it is a nice tool if weight loss has stalled to pinpoint possible logging errors. Be meticulous. Everything counts!

Are you keeping a sustainable deficit? Depending on how much you have to lose will determine how aggressively you can approach your weight loss goal. Less to lose means lessening your deficit to ensure you retain muscle. Your muscles include everything, even vital ones like heart and lungs but also, retaining muscle means looking leaner at goal weight because as you lose fat (genetics determine where we lose weight from, there is no spot reduction), you uncover the muscle underneath.

Resistance training is definitely recommended. It works those muscles to help retain them at a deficit, with the potential for muscle gain in a surplus. Heavy lifting is probably the best but body weight exercises can still be quite effective.

Cardio. Is a nice way to help with possible logging errors. Is great for cardiovascular health. Weight loss is about calorie deficit. If you hate cardio, walking and stuff is still nice. I uh...probably need to do it more >.>




I know this may sound silly to some. But love yourself and be forgiving of your flaws. No one is perfect. We all have things that we cannot change. For me it's my stretch marks from kids and rapid gain, the fact my lower stomach holds more fat because of genetics than other areas. Focus on the good. Always. When you make a change to better yourself and your health, those are great reasons. The vanity aspect is nice too. I enjoy my hips now more than ever, my biceps. But! Don't beat yourself up the things that are out of your control. This is a game of patience.



Here's a secret: you don't have to give up foods you love. Health is about balance. When we obsess over trivial words like good or bad, we potentially set ourselves up for failure when we can't meet such high expectations. I'm not saying don't eat healthfully. Absolutely do. But do so keeping in mind that foods are foods. Focus on nutrient density and sustainability. Not clean or dirty. Good or bad. These are some of my favorite evening treats




Here's some great links to read if you haven't already.

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/833026-important-posts-to-read

Don't give up on yourself! You can do anything you set your mind to, to better your health and fitness, to start something that could very well become a passion.

You got this!