By now hopefully you’ve started on your diet, or at least are seriously thinking about doing so. I think this is one of the best times to start anyways, since all the pressure of New Year’s resolutions is basically off, and all your good Catholic friends have given up things for Lent like meat, soda, candy, and (in my case) alcohol. Join in the pious fun! The weird period between winter and spring is as good a time as any to start thinking about bathing suit weather that comes in June.
But what happens when you hit a wall in your weight loss efforts? Something is bound to come along that will discourage you and threaten to undermine all the hard work you’ve put in so far. Here are some things I’ve experienced and how I’ve pushed through:
Setback #1- You hit the dreaded plateau
You always hear about people hitting plateaus in their weight loss, where they keep doing what has worked for them in the past, but now for some reason their body has gotten used to it and is clinging on to the weight. I haven’t personally experienced a true plateau where people sometimes go weeks or even months without having lost any weight. The most that has happened to me is that I’ll have one week where I failed to lose any weight.
I found that by either switching the timing of my workout schedule, doing an extra 20 minutes of cardio each day I do work out, or consuming less sugar and alcohol that week will usually be enough to get me back on track. It could be different for you, so have faith and just experiment. Your body is different from anybody else’s. And take heart — it may just be water weight and then the next week it will appear that you’ve lost four pounds. That’ll be sure to get you motivated again!
Setback #2- You’re losing weight, just not where you want
This mostly applies to women. When I first started losing weight, perhaps there was nothing so discouraging as putting on my rigid-cupped strapless bra and finding that my breasts no longer filled them like they used to. Meanwhile, my stomach, thighs, and arms were virtually the same size they were as when I started. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending how you feel about big boobs) the chest area is one of the first places that us chicks lose weight. I briefly considered stopping right there in my slightly-smaller-cup tracks.
It’s times like these you have to remember why you want to lose weight. If you’re doing it just for vanity or if you think your life will magically be a lot better if you’re thinner, you’re in for some serious disappointment. Thin people have the same problems fat people do. At what point in her life do you think Anna Nicole Smith (God rest her soul) was happier — when she was fat or thin? Your health should be your first and foremost reason for losing weight. I’m now motivated to make the rest of my body match my breasts. It’s like a fun game where even if I lose, I win because I’ll be getting healthier along the way.
Setback #3- You get bored
You go to the same classes, eat the same thing for lunch, and do the same thing at the gym day-in day-out. You’re bound to get bored and lose momentum, which mean disaster for your healthy habits. The old ways can creep back without you even realizing. It’s like you take the new changes you’ve enacted for granted. I’ve had a few especially bad weeks where I thought, Oh, I’ll just exercise tomorrow. But then tomorrow turned into another tomorrow and another tomorrow and soon I was eating hot cookie bar without ever making up for it at the gym.
Think of your new way of living as if it were your new lover. Things are so exciting and new in the beginning, but to keep up your enthusiasm you have to switch things up. Trying out a new exercise video is analogous to trying out a new sex toy. Find some new low-fat high-protein recipes on the internet. Make little challenges and feats of strength for yourself at the gym. Download a comedy album from your favorite artist onto your iPod to listen to while you go jogging. Come on: You’re all creative Northwestern kids who should have no problem pushing through this particular problem.
I hope that what I’ve outlined here will prove useful in the upcoming weeks and months of your weight loss progress. This should all become second nature to you so you’ll have the building blocks you need to be healthy and maintain your weight for life. It’s what I hope for myself.