Rome wasn’t built in a day

Those who have “healthy eating, exercising and losing weight” at the top of their whose New Year resolution list and started working on the list right away on the 1^st (or Monday the 2^nd). How is it goingAny progress?

I don’t know what you expect from yourself. If everything is going the way you planned, then great. I just wanted to write you, “Don’t Give Up!”, if you haven’t seen a change on the scale yet. I encourage you to keep going and sticking with your plan.

We all expect to lose weight at the same speed as we put them on. We want to see the number on the scale go down right away, when eat healthy and exercise. We want it and want it now. Then when it doesn’t happen, we get upset, depressed and moody, which makes us hungry and crave for sweets (stress hormone cortisol makes that). We feel like stuffing our selves. I know this feeling. I went through it many times and I still go through it once in a while.

If you can’t accomplish what you want to accomplish right away, don’t give up. Your goal should be maintaining a constant healthy life style and exercising for life. Stick with the road map. You are already a winner. if you get fit and lose fat along the way, see this as a bonus. Give your body at least 5 weeks to see any change and at least 12 weeks to see a major change. Especially after the age of 30, and having a baby, hormonal changes and slowing metabolism make it harder for the body to lose weight. It is hard, bur possible. So be patient.

Here are my 5 tips to keep on track:

1. Measure your waist, arms, hips and legs, beside that number on the scale. These measurements as well as your clothe sizes will serve as a better reference. When you are exercising even if you can’t lose weight you will lose inches.
2. Even if you get tempted along the way and feel like losing sight for a moment, don’t stop. Don’t let few little bumps (cheat meals or missed workouts) turn you around. Get up and keep going. Try to make less mistakes next time.
3. Try getting to know your body. Find out when you get hungry, what works best when people offer food to you to for you to say no?  Is it better for you to eat something before you go to parties?  What time of the day can you exercise better? Once you are more familiar with these and other details, you will get stronger.
4. Don’t think about next week, don’t push too much to reach to your next month’s goal. Take each day at a time. Enjoy and celebrate your successes each day. Concentrate on the day’s exercise and healthy eating plan. Work on that day only.
5. Do you have a buddy? Join a support group, get yourself a buddy to tag along.

This is not an easy fight, not a sprint, this is like a marathon. Enjoy the sights along the way.

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
Lao Tzu