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Monday, March 21, 2011

Realistic Weight-loss Goals

Many people sabotage their weight-loss efforts with unrealistic expectations. When deciding to lose weight, often times people expect to only LOSE weight during this process. Contrary to some popular television shows and commercials, this is not only unrealistic, but unsafe and harder to keep the weight off in the end.
 



Truthfully when losing weight, there are going to be times of plateaus and even small gains. This is perfectly normal, and it is important to note overall weight loss rather than dwelling on weight gain for one week. For example, if you are down 10 lbs. from the start and then gain 2 lbs. one week, you are still down 8 lbs.!! Think of the BIG picture. If you get upset and dwell on small weight gains, you will have a very difficult time accomplishing your weight-loss goal.

Plateaus and small gains happen for a number of reasons, it is important to be aware of these, but not use them as excuses. Sometimes the body just needs time to "catch up" with weight-loss to stay at bodily homeostasis. The time the last meal and/or drinks were the consumed along with the time of day the weight was taken play a major role. Underestimating caloric intake or overestimating exercise from the previous week or even the week before that is often times why weight was gained. Muscle is more dense than fat, and when a person is lower in weight, this can also make a difference.


Tips:
-Aim for 1-2 lbs. of weight-loss a week
-Don't compare your weight-loss with others (especially other genders or those with starting weights different than yours)
-Keep in mind the major goal is to be fit and healthy, not to have the lowest number on the scale, right?
-Don't get discouraged with plateaus or small gains

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