This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive.

The Key to Losing Weight? Consistency

Looking back at all the women that have come to me over the last 10 years for advice on losing weight I can tell you that one of the reasons that most of them fail is lack of consistency. Sounds simple but it is the truth. Try your best not to get fixated on the scale and have high expectations right off the bat. Rather, give yourself time to make exercising a part of your life and the magic will happen.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Looking back at all the women that have come to me over the last 10 years for advice on losing weight I can tell you that one of the reasons that most of them fail is lack of consistency. Sounds simple but it is the truth.

Let's play out the scenario as an example.

You want to lose 10 pounds, so you get mentally pumped and you do your first workout. Right after the workout you feel awesome and a couple of days later can feel some soreness in your muscles. I know what you are thinking -- this is good!

It is good! The pain is called Delayed Onset of Muscle Soreness and occurs a couple of days post-workout. Yes, it simply means that your body is responding to the workout.

You keep going a few more times and now it's been two weeks since you started. The pain after each workout is now less and less each time. Some women confuse this lack of pain for not having a good workout. But the truth is that your body is simply adapting to exercising. Here is something else to consider -- you are getting stronger! Yup, much stronger.

About eight workouts later, you start to feel much better for staying on track and keeping up with your routine.

BLOG CONTINUES AFTER SLIDESHOW

Excited, you step on the scale hoping to see a metric that will support your belief. Instead the scale stays at the same weight or even may have even gone up a pound.

Huh? All this hard work and no results? How disappointing!

You are probably confused as to why this is happening, after all you have much more energy and are starting to feel so much healthier. Doesn't make sense!

You keep going for another week but soon enough start to get bored from doing the same thing and the scale is still not showing you what you want to see. So you begin to get frustrated.

Next thing you know influenced by the scale, you end up having a late night pasta with cream sauce and about three glasses of wine. You think to yourself that the damage is done and end up having a big chocolate cake for dessert.

At this point you feel pretty crappy considering that you have been sweating your butt off at the gym, not lost any weight and have eaten about 3,000 calories the night before.

You start to miss workouts here and there and and you allow yourself to eat a little more junk. A few weeks you get on the scale and nada. Yikes!

Well I don't blame you for feeling the way that you do. A lot of people would give up. But what if I told you that losing weight and seeing awesome results might be a just a few workouts away?

You have just prepared your body to start shedding fat and all you need to do is ignore the scale and stay consistent. Basically you need push a little more.

Here is the key here: YOU HAVE TO KEEP GOING!

Let me explain. When you begin to exercise in the first four weeks you will not see any changes on the scale and probably none in your body. But you will feel much more energetic and healthier. This is the simple truth and how the body responds for everyone.

The scale won't move at all. It may even go up a bit. So here is the simple reason why: You are starting to add muscle which weighs more than fat. At this point your body has not started to drop fat.

Keep going another 2-3 weeks and you will start to see small changes in your body. The scale might not show anything just yet but your body will tighten up and you will be able to easily pinch body fat and separate from your muscle. Your clothes might start to feel a little looser.

Then another three weeks later you will notice your body change quite a bit. At this point the scale will finally move and you will notice big changes in your body.

The point here is that you have to keep going if you want to see results. After all, I have never seen someone stay fit without continuously working out. It is just that once get to your ideal weight you will need to workout a lot less in order to maintain it.

Try your best not to get fixated on the scale and have high expectations right off the bat. Rather, give yourself time to make exercising a part of your life and the magic will happen.

For my clients, it is easier as they have me to keep them on track. If they start to slack with their workouts they get a call from me. It is much easier to fall off the wagon when you don't have someone who will grind their teeth at you.

Here is something else to consider: Change it up! Changing your routine will not only force your body to change direction and as a result respond but it will also make things more fun for you.

Close
This HuffPost Canada page is maintained as part of an online archive. If you have questions or concerns, please check our FAQ or contact support@huffpost.com.