Shout it from the rooftops- weight loss isn’t always linear and it shouldn’t be fast

A reminder if you need it.

1. Rapid dramatic weight loss might feel really good in the short term, but it generally comes from drastic lifestyle change, is that lifestyle change sustainable? Are you super restricted and planning on moving to more calories once you reach your goal? If you don’t think you can maintain the changes you’ve made for the rest of your life, the weight will come back on.

2. Human bodies fluctuate, we are driven by hormones and our environments and circumstances can have real impact on our endocrine systems, increased cortisol levels because you had a shit day at work? That will have an impact, woke up in the night? That will have an impact. Give yourself a 6lb bracket around your “ideal” weight for those natural fluctuations, don’t sweat the small spikes, your body is amazing and is running on a system built to be responsive. If you are a person who has periods - TRACK YOUR CYCLE and really get to know your body. Information is everything, you can be banging your head against a wall not understanding why you are not loosing weight in any way that makes sense, spoiler alert - it’s probably your period (worth a watch)

3. Yes CICO works and there are (patronising) CICO purists who just say “just count it - nothing else matters” but it’s so reductive, you are a beautiful, complex, flawed, ace person and not just an energy exchange with legs - don’t sweat it, if you go over your kcals for the day, use all that you’ve learned to inform the next day, you’ve got to know your self better. It’s really important to maintain a deficit, but if you don’t manage it for a day or 2, don’t see it as failure and a free pass to think fuck it, I’ve already failed, might as well binge and go waaaay over, equally, don’t then restrict to a dangerous degree to earn those kcals back. I remember in the beginning not eating an apple because it put me 30kcals over my goal on MFP… eat the fucking apple.

4. Progress paused is not progress lost. When I first started intentionally loosing weight, it was all quite rapid, it was maybe only 8 weeks in and I dropped 30lbs and felt preeeetty smug, then the wheels came off a little bit, the next 20lbs have taken me a year to lose, and I’m totally ok if takes me another year or 18months to lose my last 20lbs. I shifted my expectations, I no longer saw it as a failure if I didn’t lose 2/3+ lbs a week. I have had 6month periods where I’ve not lost anything, but my body has changed, my relationship to my body has changed, I’ve not dropped a dress size but I have run 10 miles, I took some selfies that made me feel good, I ate some food that nourished me. When I wasn’t losing weight as fast as I wanted previously, I was a little angry woman whose anxiety was through the roof and lacked any perspective. Focus on the progress you’ve made overall and celebrate the slightly more esoteric victories. I’m well on my way to lifelong, sustainable weight loss, if it’s going to be forever, isn’t it ok that it takes a while to get there?

There isn’t a single situation in life that is all or nothing, why does the journey to being healthier have to be? Your sense of achievement doesn’t have to be defined but pre-set notions of success. Your journey will look different to mine and your timescale will be different but I’m proud of how far we’ve come, even if you’re reading this and it’s the first day you’ve ever tried to get in shape: you’re mint and you’ve got this.

submitted by /u/BheagSelkie
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