Slow and Steady Wins the Race
In today’s society we want it yesterday. We want weight loss straight the way. Why should we wait and be patient when we can have things instantly? Immediate bank transfers, same day delivery, walk in appointments, even supermarkets are open 24/7, because if we want something fast, we can get it. But, this is not always the case.
Transforming our bodies and reaching our goals takes time, and that’s not a bad thing. It’s tempting just to give up when we don’t see big changes fast, especially when we’ve been training hard and being spot on with our diets. However, making small progress week by week through a carefully tailored diet and consistent training is for more sustainable and will give you long-term results. Here’s why:
The Quick Fix
Too often people want results fast and actually get them through a “quick fix” of torturous training and harsh crash dieting, but guess what? They have returned back to square one just as quickly as it took them to reach their goals in the first place. So why does this happen? It’s simply because these drastic changes and restrictions are not maintainable and therefore people give up. This approach can often leave people feeling highly frustrated and negative about themselves and the process of crash dieting and restriction begins to repeat itself again, and again and again…
So, we know that seeing long lasting results takes time, consistency and patience with implementing a carefully structured nutrition and training program, as this is a more maintainable approach, but there are other benefits that comes with making slow but consistent progress. You’ll have an improved mood, more energy and strength to hit PB’s (personal bests), improved mobility and a sense of achievement by sticking to a plan. On the opposite side, crash dieting or diving into the deep end with strenuous workouts can leave you feeling zapped of energy, lacking in exercise performance and motivation, risk of injury and with terrible food cravings. So, it’s no wonder this approach is not sustainable.
Drastic Change
Finally, another important aspect to consider is that our bodies are very clever and they don’t like drastic change. Our bodies will do everything they can to maintain a healthy balance (homeostasis). When we crash diet and put our bodies through hell by cutting calories too fast too soon, not only are we at risk of missing out on vital nutrients but our bodies will start to slow down to save energy, and it will do this by slowing down our metabolism. Your metabolism is the internal furnace that is responsible for the amount of calories you burn. So a drastically slowed down metabolism is not the greatest when trying to reach your body and fitness goals.
6 Months From Now
Envision 6 months from now, one person who took on a crash diet with strenuous training to get fast results will have gone full circle without making any sustainable progress. They’ll probably be left feeling disappointed and stuck in a vicious rut. On the other hand someone who takes things steady and makes small changes week by week will actually reach their goals and continue to maintain them. So if you ever feel like you’re not making progress quickly enough, think of the bigger picture and your overall health. As they say Rome was not built in a day.