Confession: I'm Afraid

Gather some MFP Friends who have similar goals and can offer encouragement and advice!
I've found this to be the largest contributor to my current success.
Find them by posting what your goals are and how you are working towards those goals!

You'd be very lucky to gain 10-12 pounds of muscle over the course of a year via very intense strength training, so I wouldn't worry too much about that. You could lose that much fat in a tenth of the time.

Don't worry, just stick to it and things will happen for you.

I have just started, and like many people here I've tried losing weight many times before. I'm worried that I'll weigh in and measure in and find no results. In fact, I worry that I might gain more in muscle than I lose in fat. I'm also afraid that when classes start up again and my schedule gets intense once more between work, school, homework, clinic hours, and internship I will give up the fight once again.

I don't know what I'm asking for, but I'm really afraid right now and I know I'm not alone.

Embarking on a plan to eat healthier and exercise more will never result in failure. You'll see progress on the scale - maybe not at the rate you hoped for - but you will see it. Take your measurements as they are a better indicator of your progress.

It takes a long time to gain muscle. While you are losing weight your aim is lose as little muscle as possible while you are losing fat. Losing weight slowly is the best way to maintain muscle.

Eat well and eat enough. Remember that MFP builds a deficit into your calorie goals so when you exercise you get to eat more to refuel your body after hard work! YAY!!

Be kind to yourself because eating right and exercising is an achievement in itself.

:flowerforyou:

Don't just think about the actual weight loss, I'm finding lots of little successes such as feeling healthier, being able to exercise more and clothes looking a bit better. And each of those little things helps to motivate me.

Those were some of the fears I had as well, and there are weeks that I haven't lost any weight, and other weeks whee I lose more than 2 pounds, so who knows, everybody's body is different. But what I do kow is that the scale says I lost 15 pounds, and I am already noticing how different clothes fit, how I feel, and compliments I am getting.

Also, as a woman, there is absolutely no way you will gain more in muscle than lose in fat unless you are taking steroids. There is no way. Keep with the weight training because it will help turn you toned instead on flabby, and if you want bulky muscles, you will definitely have to work for them.

I agree, get some MFP friends, go online daily, log everything (food and exercise) and you cannot go wrong!

As my mom used to say, if you plan on eating an elephant

Great advice, but probably best not to actually eat an elephant at this point... :bigsmile:

I WAS AFRAID LAST WEEK WHEN I JOINED THIS SITE, MY POST WAS CALLED NEW AND NERVOUS!

NOW I HAVE CUT SOME CALORIES OUT AND HIT THE GYM 3 DAYS A WEEK (BEEN GOING TO THE GYM FOR A MONTH BUT STARTING CUTTING CALORIES THIS WEEK)

AND GUESS WHAT I LOST 4 POUNDS

NOT I AM NOT AFRAID OR NERVOUS I AM SOOOOOOOO HAPPY AND READY TO KEEP IT UP.

ADD ME AS A FRIEND AND WE CAN KIT.

just think at how great you feel when you can use exercise as an outlet for school stress, and when your clothes are too lose and you need to go shopping for new clothes, and how much more energy you'll have because you are eating healthy and being active...

don't think about the hard stuff (it IS hard, dont get me wrong, if it wasn't everyone would be thin), but think about the REWARDS! Trust me, after a few weeks of seeing results you'll be hooked!

It can all seem very overwhelming, i understand completely. My opionin is to take one step at a time. Focus on your eating first....log,log,log. find out what you are actually consuming and work on changing those habits, making better choices, and portion control. Once you feel comfortable with that then add in the exercise. This approach really helped me feel like i was focusing on the goal better than trying to "figure out" too much at once.

If everything we ever wanted from ourselves was easy a lot more of us would be doing it.

It's normal to be afraid and overwhelmed. It's part of who we are as individuals. At the same time though we can't ever let that fear control us. If we do then we will always be in the mindset of "can't do, can't do, can't do". But here's the thing we can do! It's not always easy or fun but you've got a lot of people who are rooting for you and are willing to help support you and when you think you can't take another step or log another day then we can be here to remind you of why you're so very important and why it is important to be taking care of who you are and why you want to be fit and fabulous.

You're a beautiful strong woman and you can do this. I believe in you. We believe in you.

If you ever need us all ya gotta do is shout or well type it out..

Love ya!

Amber