The Difficult & Boring
Quick and Easy Sells, But the Difficult and Boring is Rewarding
It’s Thursday, March 7th, 2024.
You woke up to your alarm but decided to be faithful again to your beloved snooze button.
9 minutes pass and the alarm sounds off again.
Out of guilt, you decide to roll out of bed… finally. You wipe the crust out of your eye and walk to your bathroom.
After emptying your bladder, it is time for one of the most dreadful moments of your morning… stepping on and reading the truth that the scale says. Lo and behold it’s higher than you expected. After swallowing your pride you turn to look in the mirror in hopes it speaks more pleasantly than the scale just did.
You suck in your stomach and flex your arms, turning to the side as you do. It all looks good until you decide to un-suck your stomach. Plop. No bueno. It makes you feel down even more.
As you turn to your phone for some dopamine to help you forget, you happen to see the date…
“MARCH 7th ALREADY?!” You think. “Summer is coming up quickly!”
You count the weeks… Less than 12 weeks until the unofficial start to summer days.
Beach hangs, boat days, pool parties.
Dread overcomes you instantly.
“Will this be another summer ashamed of my body?”
“NO! I’LL START MY DIET TODAY!”
You reflect on what you did before to help you quickly lose weight.
“I got it! I’ll do (insert fad diet here), that seemed to work!”
So you follow through.
3 weeks passed and you’re only down 3lbs and you feel discouraged.
You splurge and go off your diet and the path down a slippery slope begins.
Memorial Day comes and goes and it was another one where you wore a shirt the whole time. And the cycle repeats as it has every year of your life.
Sound familiar?
I know I was certainly there for close to 26 years of my life. Thinking “This is the year!” and it never was…
That was until I stopped focusing on the outcome and started appreciating the journey more. Slowing things down and accepting it’s going to be hard.
I know in those situations I wanted nothing more than to just chop off my fat rolls as quickly as possible. And when it didn’t happen quickly enough, my mind and body filled with feelings of shame and guilt. Feelings that mirrored low self-worth. I swiftly turned to numb those feelings with food. Knowingly fully this would make the situation worse.
I threw all that progress away; even if it was only 3 lbs in 3 weeks (which is a highly sustainable rate over the long term, btw).
Simply because it wasn’t happening quick enough. To make it happen quicker it was going to be harder than I was prepared for… so I quit on myself.
Year. After. Year.
Modern Man is a slave to instant results. When it doesnt happen fast we get frustrated.
I’m experiencing this right now as I type too fast for my lagging Canadian Wi-fi.
With improving our health and losing that stubborn belly fat, results that stick don’t come quickly.
Results that stick take courage to withstand the difficult times.
Results that stick take patience to navigate when things get boring.
Losing 1-2lbs a week is highly sustainable long-term.
Losing 1% of your body weight a week will last for a long time.
Anything much more than that becomes too hard on the body over a long period and thus plateaus happen suddenly and the weight starts to creep back up.
I let you in on some coaching insight. Once a caloric deficit is established and the weight begins to fall off while body composition improves, not much changes for 4, 8, or sometimes +16 weeks. BECAUSE THE PLAN IS WORKING. It gets boring because the work needs to be consistently done day in and day out…. Rent is due every day.
So what now?
Starting a diet implies the diet will eventually end.
Implementing new, healthier lifestyle changes implies your life will change.
Yes, You can still achieve a body to be proud of this summer. I believe 20-30 lbs lost is more than achievable in the next 2-4 months.
But start thinking long term.
What are small and easy habits you can start getting in the rhythm with now? Is this something that doesnt have much friction in your life past “it’s going to take time to reap the benefits” or “It’s boring”?
What is the ultimate goal you would like to achieve?
Start brainstorming from the ultimate goal and work backward. What objectives need to be met along the way? What’s a realistic timeline for you to achieve them?
Set and understand what your METRICS OF SUCCESS are.
What needs to happen for you to feel accomplished to allow momentum to build? There are no small victories or wins, each deserves to be recognized and celebrated. You deserve to.
Part of this lifestyle change is learning to identify with this “improved” version of ourselves. When it comes time to make a decision, ask yourself- what would this dream version of yourself do in this moment and follow through on doing just that.
A major factor in that ability to follow through is understanding the emotions and feelings that underline the actions that lead you to fall off every time before. make peace and understanding with those choices and you will succeed.
It’ll take time but buddy it is so worth it.
Do you struggle with losing stubborn fat and keeping it off for good?
I put together 10 quick, easy, and delicious High-Protein recipes that have helped my clients consistently lose 20lbs in the first 8 weeks of working together.
After reading this post, I want to give it to you for FREE.
Message me “Summer” and I’ll send it over!