Hi Hayley,
I've always been a “big” girl, which means I'm tall and inherited my family's Ukrainian peasant genes. But after 8 years of unhealthy University student living and the prospect of having to start shopping at plus size stores on the horizon, I decided to shape up my act. In January I started a new diet, which is not really a diet but it just eating really healthily in small meals throughout the day. I also stepped up my act at the gym, and
while it was slow going at first I finally started seeing results this summer. I've lost around 2 clothing sizes and am feeling great (and strong like a super hero!).
But my question is how will I know when enough is enough? People having been
asking me lately how much more I'm planning to lose, and I really don't know. I sort of figured that if I just stuck to my healthy eating and sport regimen that my body would eventually find it's own equilibrium and “goal weight”. I'm not someone who set out to lose a set amount of weight, I just wanted to get healthy, fit, and feel good about myself. So should I start worrying about losing too much weight? I don't want to end up some skinny minny, but I'm enjoying the new me. Any advice is greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
K
This is something I come across all the time -- people never knowing when to stop. Whatever the goal may be (weight loss, running faster, lifting heavier) once you see results you want to continue to see results.
I do not believe that there is anything wrong with wanting to continue to better yourself but when it comes to losing weight there is a time when the focus that you place on weight loss needs to be directed towards something else.
Where you are in your weight loss goal is usually the time when I have my clients focus on something tangible, a goal that they have always dreamed of accomplishing but never believed they could. However, with the continued success in their lifestyle change they usually have a greater belief in themselves and their abilities, making a 5 or 10km run less daunting.
That is what I suggest you do: take your focus off of how much weight you are attempting to lose and focus on other tangible goals; work on improving how far you can run or how many push ups you can do in a row or how long you can hold yourself in a front plank or start experimenting with new meals and set a goal of learning one new healthy meal a week. Commit to a goal of completing a set number of weekly workouts and start to use your newly found love for your healthy lifestyle to motivate and encourage others.
It is time to stop focusing solely on the scale and begin to challenge yourself in other ways. If there is more weight to lose it will come off, but it will not matter as you will feel so great about all of the other things you are achieving.
Attached -- Andy Murray follows up his gold medal performance at the Olympics by winning his first slam yesterday at the US Open defeating Novak Djokovic.
