Weight Loss Tip: Manage Expectations

Hello! Today’s Weight Loss Tips is all about managing expectations and I think it’s an important part of weight loss. It’s hard though.

In magazines we are surrounded by pictures of celebrities looking trim, tan, and toned. Sometimes we forget that it is someone’s full time job to help them look like that.

Or if you’ve somehow managed to avoid every grocery store checkout aisle ever maybe you’ve been on Pinterest trying to find a fudge recipes when *bam* sexy, miss “fitspo” hits ya. Actually, your body can’t go on forever that’s why God gave you a brain so you’d know when to call it quits.

Or you may have a friend who’s just naturally skinny:

My beautiful sister-in-law looking amazing two months after having her second kid. She breastfeeds, chases after her two year old, thanks her mom for the good genes and looks as good as she did before those two kids!

No matter what expectations you bring to getting healthy you have to manage them. You absolutely CAN look like the best possible version of yourself, but you will probably never look like a movie star, fitspo on Pinterest, or your best friend. You are you.

And you are you now. Not at 16 or 22—you are you with your schedule, priorities, obligations, friends, and family now.  You may be able to work hard and develop a 6 pack—most people that have them work out for hours, don’t eat carbs or alcohol, and work their abs hard.  I don’t want a 6 pack that bad.  Maybe you do and that’s ok.  Right now I’m training for a marathon.  I run for hours, eat a lot of carbs,  have blisters, and push my body to the edge of it’s endurance every week. I’m doing this because I want the marathon.  I’ve had to manage my expectations for a marathon training body too.

So my weight loss tip: manage expectations means this….don’t set yourself up for failure by setting an impossible goal.  Don’t try to be Hayden Panettiere, a pinterest photo, or your skinny best friend.

For example, look at a BMI chart…a healthy weight for your height could be 30 pounds different.  For my height (5 foot 7 inches) I could weigh 121 pounds or 158 pounds and be considered healthy.  Some of that difference is genetics, body composition, age, and muscle mass.  Just a thought if you’re struggle to figure out what BMI to shoot for my advice would be to aim for the high end and then figure the rest out once you get there.  Another idea would possibly be to ask a fit friend whose body you would want to look like what their BMI is…you may be surprised and it may help you clarify a number to aim for or that all the numbers are stupid.

Consider factors beyond the number on the scale.  Do you want to build muscle? Well you will most likely need to get used to weighing more although you will look smaller.  Are you commuting an hour to work?  Caring for an ailing parent?  Moving?  You may need to adjust your goals to your season of life.

Take a real look at who you are, what’s on your plate right now; set realistic, time-sensitive goals; and go after them!

Do you struggle to manage your fitness or weight expectations?  Do you have any tips for those that do?