“I’ve only got 5lbs to lose. That shouldn’t take that long. Maybe a month! It’s so little.”
EH! WRONG.
The cold hard truth about getting lean? The closer you get to your goal, the harder the process often gets.
And the slower results happen.
So what do we do when it feels like things aren’t happening fast enough?
We slash our calories lower. We try to train harder and longer. We do more.
But this exact desire to do more is what sabotages us.
Instead, when you have those last few pounds to lose you think shouldn’t take too long to get off?
Double or triple at least the time you’re giving yourself to lose them.
Or even step off the scale altogether if you really want to look lean.
Because while sure, you could lose those 5lbs in a month, heck you could probably deplete water weight and glycogen stores and lose them in a couple of weeks in some cases easily…
True fat loss, especially fat loss to finally see that lean muscle definition you want, is SLOW.
You can’t rush the process.
When you have less to lose, the more you try to implement practices to speed things up often the more you end up sending yourself into burnout, both mental and physical…
…sabotaging your metabolic health…
…losing but not looking leaner…
…And ultimately rebounding right back up to where you started and sometimes even higher only to be frustrated that nothing ever works.
The reality is, these overnight transformations are myths.
Because what we logically know but emotionally forget when looking at them is that we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg.
We’re only seeing that last little bit of effort and results that was built off of potential years and decades of other training and dieting and lifestyle practices as well as genetics.
I bring this up because honestly…so often we don’t reach our goals not because we need a new tactic.
But because we just need to give results more TIME.
We need to do the hard thing of doubling down on what we’re doing. Doubling down on our commitment to consistency.
Over getting distracted by something new. Doing something more.
That’s what leads to us achieving a goal that is beyond what we’ve achieved before.
Or a goal we haven’t been at for a very very long time.
Years, decades aren’t reversed in weeks or months. We forget sometimes how long we’ve had the weight on.
We forget how many routines and habits we’ve built up.
And our body fights the weight loss process.
This exact fight is what will be used to our advantage when we finally reach the level we want and want to maintain it.
But in trying to lose that last little bit, this desire by our body to maintain balance makes everything slower.
It’s why every time we try to rush the process, we only sabotage ourselves.
That’s why I want to share these quick tips and reminders so that you go back to those basics. So that you stay focused on them and dial them back in when 1% deviations happen.
As unsexy as it is, as much as you want to find a magic pill or something that will make it happen faster…
You’re looking for some ah-ha moment…
The reality is often we need to be reminded more than we need to be taught.
We need to be reminded of those boring basic habits and mindsets we’re letting slide as we try to add on and do more to rush the process.
So reminder #1…manage your expectations.
If you tell yourself it will take triple the time to achieve your goal, you’ll more often be pleasantly surprised when results happen faster.
You’ll be motivated by the “quick” progress.
But if you tell yourself that results should happen tomorrow, when they don’t, you’ll be frustrated that things are happening too slowly and give up.
Our expectations can make or break our success.
And ultimately, you can’t control the rate at which results happen. All you can control is your daily habits!
So control those daily habits with reminder #2…Have a plan and roadmap laid out.
You want to reach your goal most efficiently?
You need a clear plan you follow.
You wouldn’t get in a car to drive to a destination you haven’t been without directions. You’d get lost and frustrated and waste a ton of time.
Heck, you may even turn back at some point and go home.
Yet so often this is how we approach our weight loss goals – with no directions.
We just jump in the car and drive.
Have a clear workout plan and nutritional strategy outlined. This also helps you have focused habits to be consistent with and track what is and isn’t working to adjust.
Reminder #3…Measure progress in multiple ways.
Have you ever thought, “How do I know if the program’s working?”
Success leaves clues.
They just aren’t always directly related to the exact goal outcome we want right away.
When we want to lose those last 5-10lbs, often if we’re focused on making true lifestyle and habit changes, the scale won’t be the first thing to change even.
But you may realize you’re sleeping better from eating better.
Your workouts feel stronger.
You’re improving your pull ups.
You don’t have an energy lull in the afternoon.
Your pants feel a little less snug.
We do get signs we’re doing things that are good for us and our goals. We just have to pause to notice them and not get so focused only on one outcome.
It’s why setting complementary targets or goals to help you track progress and repeat the habits you know you need can be key.
The more ways we measure success, the more ways we are successful.
And the more likely we are to realize that results ARE happening even when we feel like they aren’t!
Reminder #4 – Pride yourself on doing the boring stuff.
Yup. The daily boring habits we repeat are ultimately what add up. Tracking your macros consistently while even repeating some meals.
Waking up at the same time with the alarm that jolts us out of bed to hit the gym.
Because honestly, the two fundamentals to amazing results are doing your strength workouts and dialing in your macros consistently day in and day out.
Too often we don’t celebrate the DOING of these daily habits though.
Instead often we think “Do I really have to do this the rest of my life?”
It’s because we go ON a diet over ADJUSTING our diet.
We never really embrace the value in them.
Instead, we feel obligated to do them.
But you don’t have to do them – you’re choosing to do them.
So on those days you least want to do the habits you “should,” realize you GET to do them and celebrate your strength to keep going, perfecting those boring basics.
Which honestly hits on Reminder #5 – You won’t always want to do what you “should.”
I’ve said it myself…the popular line of “eat whatever you want and see results.”
And I really pushed that for awhile because for me it was a realization that getting results didn’t have to mean forcing myself into someone else’s clean eating mold.
But that sentiment has now gotten distorted and morphed into this belief that there won’t be discomfort in change.
That reaching a goal won’t have some sacrifices or make us do things we don’t want to do.
But the reality is your results are built off of doing the hard thing when you least want to do it.
That’s even what builds strength, confidence and you feeling truly your best when you do achieve your goal.
Because we value what we’ve fought for.
So if you’re resisting these reminders…
If you’re resisting going back to basics and just committing more time to doing what you’ve…well…been doing and following your laid out plan…
STOP.
Don’t do more. That’s your urge to avoid the hard. It seems easier to try to control things by adding. By chasing something new.
Just keep going.
Final reminder…often to lose those last few pounds, you don’t need more tactics…you need more time!
It can be hard to trust the process when it feels like nothing is working and we aren’t making progress. This is why having a coach can be key. It keeps us consistent past the point we want to quit.
To build your leanest, strongest body ever and learn to MAINTAIN your results long-term, check out my 1:1 Coaching…
