I alternate between feeling great and feeling disappointed. I'll be feeling really great--clean eating, daily workouts, pleasingly sore muscles, working up a good sweat, losing the sugar cravings, etc. Awesome! And then I'll think about something I can't do--like the pull-ups or the jumproping--and feel lousy about myself. Or I'll see the photos I took of myself and realize how different the way I feel is from the way I look. I'm feeling great! But the photos are immensely depressing because you can't see it. You can't see the changes I've made. The scale tells me I've lost a mere 1.5 pounds. (1.5 pounds? For heaven's sakes, that could be water weight!)
And so it's that--the exercises I can't do and the changes I can't see--that swing in to my great feeling like a big ol' wrecking ball and knock a big hole into my state of feeling great.
I intentionally hadn't gotten on the scale since Day -1 because I didn't want to be discouraged by what I did (or didn't see) there--and I actually just plum forgot my Week 2 photos. So when it was time for the Week 3 photos (taken yesterday), I figured after 15 days, surely there'd be some visible change to reward me for the hard work, either in photos or on the scale. I kind of set myself up for disappointment, I guess, in that I really hoped for a result that didn't end up being there, instead of just being content with the feeling.
I keep reminding myself that I feel really great. And that's important! And it's terrific! I tell myself that even if I don't achieve visible results, the internal results are still huge and totally worth it, and I know that's true... but it'd still be great to be able to get the same "feel great" feedback visually as well as internally.
Not this week... maybe in another 15 days? I don't want to hope so (because I don't want to get disappointed)... but I totally do hope so.
Whoa whoa whoa hold on, since when do we care about weight? The amount of muscle you'll put on with this program at first will offset the weight loss. What we really care about is how much fat you've lost, and a raw weight number tells us nothing about that.
ReplyDeleteI had another PCPer who gained a pound in the first two weeks. But stepping on my electrical impulse scale revealed he had lost 2% body fat and gained 1% muscle in that week. Muscle is 15% heavier than fat, so that's where the weight gain had come from. I'm pretty sure the same thing is going on inside you, so don't despair!
Lowering the fat percentage and upping the muscle mass will allow you to SUSTAINABLY keep your condition. And that's what we're aiming for on PCP, not instant results.
Carry on!
Ok, so my entire, really-long comment was just deleted into the void of cyberspace....quick summary of what it said:
ReplyDelete+1 to what Patrick said. Stop judging yourself with a damn scale - seriously. If you so desire to have some kind of numerical judgement, then buy a cheap ($50) body fat measurement device. While its measurement of your body fat may not be 100% spot on compared to some high-tech assessment, it is an excellent tool for monitoring your fat loss/muscle gain over time. But honestly, get rid of that damn scale until August 2010....until then, act as though it is dead to you.
With regard to you expecting big results 15 days in..... Just remember, you're not on the Biggest Loser TV show, so you're not going to lose 20 pounds per week. Your commitment to lifestyle change is just that: one that lasts a lifetime. You have PLENTY of time to see the results come to you. For now, focus on laying that foundation for yourself upon which you can build. It takes longer than 15 days. Your results WILL come - you're not some peculiar anomaly to weight loss or fitness - your results WILL COME.