Dear Newbies

Dear Newbies,

Some tips for your journey.

I see so many posts on here about motivation, but let me tell you something about motivation. It's unreliable. Motivation disappears. It's rarely there when you need it. If you are relying on motivation for your journey, you will never be successful because motivation is not constant. DISCIPLINE is constant. Discipline is what successful people rely on. Discipline is what keeps you going when you're exhausted and don't think you can possibly do a workout. Discipline is also what makes you wake up and go to work every morning (because let's be real who is motivated by work?) If you have enough discipline to go deal with your boss, co-workers, customers, etc everyday you can become disciplined enough to eat well and exercise.

You will have bad days, you will have bad weeks, you may even have bad months. Don't use that as an excuse to throw your hat in the ring and be done. Do you quit your job because you have a bad week? I hope not! It's the same with this. Sometimes you won't make it to the gym. Sometimes you will go way over on your calories. Sometimes you'll gain a little weight back. It's not all or nothing.

Your weight naturally fluctuates, so stop weighing yourself daily. I can wake up in one morning and be at a great low weight. The next day I can wake up and be 6 pounds heavier and it's completely normal (and healthy). Your weight is an imperfect measurement. A lot of things affect your weight daily such as your sodium and sugar intake, the amount of food you eat that has inflammatory properties, the amount of water you drink, stress, the temperature, how well you slept, how long you were on your feet the day before, your hormone cycle, etc. The scale is not the be all end all. Weigh yourself once a week and don't freak out if you're consistent with your calorie intake and you have one week where maybe you gain a pound. If over a period of a few weeks you've lost weight overall you're doing something right. If you're consistently gaining or remaining constant then something needs to change.

The statement that it takes 21 days to make a habit is a lie. Science backed evidence has found on average it's 66 days and for some it takes longer and for others it takes less time. You will not develop a habit in less than a month.

Ladies/Men 1200/1500 calories is not the magic number and MFP is terrible at calculating calories. If you're 280 lbs and you're only eating 1200 calories a day you're setting yourself up for failure because at some point you're going to snap and eat your arm and that's definitely more than 1200 calories. Go to iifym.com, click on TDEE calculator and be honest to it. When you find your TDEE multiply it by 0.8. That's how many calories you should be eating if you want to "aggressively" lose weight. 0.9 if you want to lose a little slower.

Set goals, lots of them. A goal needs to be a few things. Realistic, attainable, timed, and small. It's great to say I have 120 lbs to lose. Then you set your ticker for that and you lose 5 lbs but 5/120 is nothing and the little guy on that ticker hardly moves. It's discouraging. Set small goals for yourself. Because even if you only lose 10 lbs, you're still 10 lbs better of than you were before. A good goal sounds something like this. I will lose 4% of my body weight in 30 days, starting 5/1/16 and ending 5/30/16. That is a great goal!

Have fun. Exercise doesn't have to be daunting. Try new things! Exercise can be a ton of fun but you have to make it fun!

Sincerely,

Me!

If you want a disciplined, goal setting, 2000 calorie eating friend who loves to have fun feel free to add me. Send me a message about seeing this post and I'll be sure to add you.

Other successful members, what am I missing?