*Beep* *Beep* *Beep* the alarm clock, or, because it is 2018 your cell phone, wakes you. You roll over and turn it off, or you hit snooze three times then turn it off entirely and wake 15 minutes later in a frantic hurry realizing you left little time to get out the door for work.
But we get past this whole ordeal, because it is what we do every morning, and walk our selves right into the bathroom. We open up our little bathroom closet to find our scale sitting there. As if to say, “Good morning buddy!” we proceed to step on the magical all-seeing device, and to our shock, we have only lost 1 pound since last week.
“This is ridiculous, all this hard work I have put in, and all I have lost was one insignificant pound, why even bother!?”
This sounds crazy, right? Why get upset and discouraged from seeing progress? You would think that any results would lead to motivation, pushing you along to keep doing what you are doing.
That is the way it should work in a perfectly rational world. Yes, you got better so rationally results equal progress and progress leads to motivation. But we are not wholly rational beings. We have an emotional side; the side that makes us happy and gives us the ability to feel and experience life, but also can limit us from thinking clearly.
In the story above we are thinking: I have put a lot of effort and hard work in, I have stayed active and have had to use a lot of willpower to wake up early to go to the gym each day and on Sundays, I even pre-packed my lunches.
Because it took so much effort mentally, we assume the results will be equally as great. But what perceive and feel is not always the same as reality.
Example:
Let’s say you see a posting for a job. The job description says you will clean this person’s yard for an 8 hour day and get paid $100. You think to yourself, that seems fair. You show up at the house. It just so happens that the weather report was wrong and instead of it being a 78-degree day it is an 89-degree day and the morning rain showers have increased the humidity to 95%.
Well, that sucks, but you push on and finish the day’s work.
The second example is the same as above, but the weather report was right, and it was a perfect day for yard work.
In both examples, you end the day, and the person pays you $100. Is that fair? Yes, but does it feel fair? In the first example, you would feel as if you worked twice as hard and deserved more money for your effort and would leave feeling like you got a little screwed, even though in the beginning you agreed that $100 was a reasonable price for your energy.
This thought pattern is the same thing with weight loss. We know losing 0.5-1 pound a week is terrific. But, when we have to put effort into it and see that it only resulted in losing a pound or less, we feel the price to play is too high, that we would be better off just doing what we have always done because that takes no effort.
Again, this is the emotional side talking.
What to do when you are feeling blue
I hope at this point you can see the ridiculousness of not being happy with results, but also understand why you would even feel that way.
Here are the ways I overcome the death spiral of self-doubt and questioning “why I am I even doing this?”:
- Remind myself that I did get results
- Look back further than just one week, look at a month’s progress or even 2 or 3 month’s
- If I am not happy with my results, I take time to reflect and see if my action backed my wants
- Remind myself daily of all the things I can do now and how much I love me
Your Fitness Sherpa
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