Fit Fun Tina

Making a Comeback – Week One

I’ve completed my first 7 days of the 21 Day Fix. Restarting didn’t come without a few hiccups.

The Prep:

I’m what you would call a Type B personality (to the core!). Meal prep was always my most dreaded part of the process. I decided to start on Monday because you know – tradition. I had made the decision on Friday and I still had most of my 21 Day Fix materials, but I wanted to start on the right foot.

Logistically, I had most of my 21 Day Fix materials ready to go. I used the colored containers as my measuring cups so I was well stocked. However, I had just recently given away my weights for a garage sale. (I hadn’t worked out in a long time and was convinced any future workouts would happen in a gym!)

I spent the weekend doing a LOT of mental prep work. Besides the re-training my mind to the framework of the nutrition, I spent a lot of time being introspective on how I had come to this point and how it was going to be different.

On Sunday night, I had grapes and watermelon prepped and portioned out into containers. Yep, that was my meal prep for the week! (I figured I’d catch up later).

The Start:

Monday started without a hitch! Fortunately, I do not work on Mondays, so I had an extra day to get myself transitioned into drinking more water, less coffee, and ditching the diet soda.

I also got myself plugged into a challenge group. I think one of the reasons I had so much success was that I was putting myself out there for accountability. I also realized I desperately needed the support that came with the accountability.

The Food:

I typically utilize a K.I.S.S. method for food. Really that’s fancy for me just saying I go through phases of eating the same things every day. (Once in awhile I’ll vary the routine). A shake for breakfast. Eggs for lunch/snack (because I spent half of the week not getting into a grocery store). Salads most days. For dinner I brought out some of my recipes like the Crockpot Beef Stroganoff (my daughter’s fave) and the Crockpot Salsa Chicken. I made enough for leftovers (but I never had as many leftovers as I wanted).

I’ll be honest. It wasn’t a 100% clean diet this week. I was really good at tracking the containers, but there were several foods that weren’t “approved” that I ate. Some of these foods I’ve just been working on getting out of the house.

The Workouts:

UGGHHH a little visit with Autumn is not so fun when you haven’t worked out in months. Hello, Kat, my modifier friend! We are going to be buddies for awhile! I realized halfway through the week that my second disc of workouts are mysteriously hidden in the house. So on Thursday (Pilates Day) I didn’t “work out” (I did spend a couple of hours at work moving files from one filing cabinet to another). On Saturday, I went to a nearby free gym, and spent some time doing cardio before pulling up a cheat sheet to do the Dirty30 workout without the video.

The results:

I lost four pounds on my first week. I’m happy with that! I lost more weight the first time I did this a few years ago, but I’m not going to compare myself to the girl I was. I’m getting older, and it’s getting harder, so I’ll take ANY progress!

So here I am in my #questfor50 and I have #46togo!!

I’ve got a recipe brewing this week that’s been one of my staples over the past couple of years. It’s an easy one so stay tuned!

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Making the Comeback – An Intro

Do you ever wonder what happens to weight loss success stories after the fact? ESPECIALLY, when they do it in the public light? Two years later, where has Tina gone? (I know, internet snooping is a real thing to satisfy the curiosity in all of us).

Excuses are a HUGE no-no in the health and fitness world. The internet is plastered with inspirational quotes about how excuses are pretty much worthless. I totally understand the reasoning behind not allowing excuses to stall your progress. However, what is beneficial to some may not be beneficial to others. You see, for the past two years, I’ve had some pretty valid excuses. Life (in a word) got ugly. It was an ugliness that drove me into some depressing moments (and I’m not even prone to dealing with depression, really). For awhile, I was just making it through the day, trying to make life as good as possible for those around me (including myself).

Two years later, I look back and I’m truly amazed at how I got here. It wasn’t a complete two years of being in the bottom of the pit. Actually, most of my emotional junk happened in the earlier portion of that time period. However, the physical recovery was a struggle. I would gain weight. Then I’d set off to take care of the gain, trying numerous different things. I hated calorie counting. I tried Whole 30 (I had a successful month but then plummeted), Low Carb/Keto (I didn’t react well to depriving myself of carbs), Weight Watchers (too close to calorie counting), 17 Day Diet (too much chicken/limitations)….you name it, I’ve tried it. I would lose some weight, but then at the failure of the program, I’d gain it all back (sandwiched nicely between gaining a pound here and there in between).

Those programs are good programs! Many people have success with them!! But you know what? I didn’t. As a former coach, I struggled really hard to find something that worked for me that was NOT Beachbody. I have no ill will towards the company. But I lost a LOT of support when I dropped the Shakeology, and that kind of jaded me a bit.

The 21 Day Fix worked for me. I understand that (like all health/fitness programs), that it doesn’t work for all people. I’m okay with that, because this time, I’m in this for ME. I found a new coach (who was actually on my old team, and I followed her for a long time because she was REAL and inspirational). And today is day 1.

It’s really been a humbling process. My weight gain has been a huge source of embarrassment. I’ve allowed the embarrassment to hinder my success. However, I’ve been hiding too long.

This blog is going to take a temporary shift. Since I’m restarting my journey, I hope to bring a few followers with me in the hopes that someone might resonate with my story.

What are my goals?

I’ve got several goals. The generic “I want to be healthy for my family” should be a sufficient answer. And it is. However, for myself – my goal is to lose 50 pounds. I haven’t set a timeline, as I want to allow my body to cooperate as needed. If you see me on Facebook, I’ll be checking in on my page as much as possible with #questfor50.

I hope you’ll follow my journey!

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Getting back in the game

backinthegame
Getting back in the game is TOUGH. Have you ever run out of gas in your car and had to push it towards the gas station? A car is difficult to push and requires a great amount of effort to get the car rolling. Once the wheels finally get in motion, it becomes easier to push the car. That’s because once an object is in motion, it tends to stay in motion until something causes that object to stop.

If you’ve ever made a complete lapse in your health journey, then same principals apply. Using the car example above, we can easily compare the principles. When you lapse, there is something that caused your vehicle of health to stop. Perhaps in your health journey, you’ve run out of gas (or steam!!). Maybe you had an unexpected health issue, some sort of emotional crisis, or even a slow walk into complacency. For whatever reason, your car is completely parked, and it’s not budging. It doesn’t matter how you got there. You’re there, and you don’t want to be there.

When you make the decision that you are ready to move again, you realize there is probably going to be a lot of work involved to get your car (of health) rolling again. You need to make a plan. You might need to clean out your refrigerator and your pantry. You’ll need to buy nutritious foods and make a meal plan. Beyond the nutrition, you need to figure out your fitness plan. Are you going to workout in the gym, workout at home, or just make plans to incorporate walking into your schedule? There’s a lot of work that’s involved, and you haven’t even started yet! The car is still sitting in the middle of the intersection, waiting for your next move.

Once you get the plan in place, it’s time to gather all of your tools together to put that car back in motion again. I’ll be honest, it can be extremely intimidating. Questions and doubts will start to come into your head. What if you forget your deodorant? What if people look at you with eyes of judgement? What if you fail? These questions and doubts are no different than if you were starting out for the very first time.

Last week when I had my restart, I had a plan. Everything was laid out in front of me, and ready for execution. My first day in the gym, I was extremely intimidated and wanted to immediately crawl into a hole. My gym, which is usually quiet this time of year, was bustling with a ton of people. I couldn’t work out alone? Yikes! I did 30 minutes of cardio, and knew I couldn’t delay going to the weights any longer. It was a moment of sheer dread. I didn’t dread the workout itself (well, honestly, I kind of did…), but it was working out next to people who were…extremely fit. And here I was wearing yoga pants because I didn’t have the confidence to wear my workout clothes. Fortunately, I ran into a friend. He was in the right place at the right time, because his voice of encouragement was what I needed to pull this off. Had he have not been there, I would have been okay. I was going to do it anyway, but speaking with him gave me an extra boost of confidence and allowed me to focus on the job ahead. My wheels were finally starting to turn.

One week into my re-start (read more about it here), my vehicle of health is finally moving in the right direction. While I did not have a perfect week, I managed to lose 2.8 pounds. Have I lost more in previous attempts? Yes, but I’m not concerned about it. I can’t compare myself to others, nor can I compare myself to my own past. My car’s moving, and it doesn’t matter how fast or how slow my car is going. As long as it goes in the right direction, I’m going to reach my destination. In the meantime, it’s up to me to continuously keep the wheels rolling.

Week One Restart: Nobody Likes to Talk about Weight Gain!

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Nobody likes to talk about weight gain!

The subject of weight gain (especially after a loss) is a hard pill to swallow. This is my humble journey as well as some advice. When you struggle with weight issues and finally overcome them, your world starts to become flooded with compliments. As humans we live off of positive reinforcement, so the extra attention becomes an extra bonus to further reward your hard work. However, if by chance the weight should return, that positive reinforcement disappears into the abyss into a world of silence (hopefully!). Nobody likes to talk about weight gain, especially if that person has struggled with the gain. What happened to the dedication? Did they give up? What can one even say when the weight comes back? Not much.

As a fitness blogger, my blog has thrived while my personal fitness journey has utterly failed. Over the past several months, my journey has been interrupted by well…life. Life has been HARD. When you’re in an emotional firestorm, your basic instincts call you to survive. Any fitness enthusiast will preach “NO EXCUSES!”, and to that I only have one thing to say…. BALONEY. My life has been pretty much the good makings of a country song, from tough family issues to job transitions to everything in between.

In my own efforts of survival, my eating and exercise habits effectively got thrown out the window. It wasn’t an immediate retreat, but rather a series of cutbacks of physically taking care of myself. Little bites here, a skipped workout there, an OH MY GOODNESS I NEED CHOCOLATE RIGHT NOW, and you get the drift. Ironically, it was during this time that my blogging became a success. It reached a point of success where I was able to say “I am a blogger!”, and of that, I was very proud.

My blogging pride was very quickly overshadowed by one huge, mega, gargantuan detail. When people would hear I was a blogger, the immediate follow-up question was always “So, what kind of blog do you have?”, to which I would have to mutter in embarrassment “I’m a health and fitness blogger”. Not only has my weight gain in recent months been enough of a failure, but it has been compounded by the fact that I was failing (in epic fashion) to live was I was preaching. I’ve tried to hide it and pretend it wasn’t happening. Over and over I’ve tried to start my comeback only to fail quickly. I’ll be honest – the comebacks were half-hearted, which explains some of that failure. I’d lose 2 pounds and regain 3, then be absolutely sick with frustration. I had to swallow hard and buy clothes in bigger sizes to get through the summer, with the hopes that by Fall, I could get back into my smaller wardrobe.

Humility is a super hard pill to swallow, and when you’re swallowing that pill in a public eye, it becomes an even bigger pill to take on. However, as much as I don’t want to, I need to swallow that pill. I want to get OUT of this upward spiral. This is not the life I want for myself (besides that, my wedding rings aren’t quite fitting and that HAS to change). I know there are some keys to success, and I want to share them with you whether you or someone you know shares my story.

  1. Admit you have a problem. (I didn’t mean to steal that from AA, but hey it’s super applicable). I know I have a problem because my clothes are snug. I know I have a problem because I still struggle to turn to food to help deal with my emotions. Figure out what your problems are, and how you got there.
  2. Swallow that humility pill with someone. Whether it is your spouse, your BFF, or all of social media, tell someone that you have been struggling.
  3. Discover what has failed in the past, and make alternate plans. Stop repeating the cycle if it isn’t working for you. This is your journey, and it’s not going to look like anyone else’s.
  4. Hook yourself up with some accountability. Find a way to keep accountable to sticking through with it. (See #2 – those with whom you swallowed the humility pill would be a great place to start). As for myself, my comeback accountability will come in two forms –  I am joining a private health/fitness challenge, and I will be posting my journey on Instagram. I welcome you to follow my journey there with #myfitjourney.

Above all, be KIND. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. You may never know the battle another person is dealing. It’s a journey, and road bumps happen. Give yourself some grace when it happens, and never give up. <3

Followup: Part 2 Getting Back in the Game

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A love for self – when the scale will not budge

If you're frustrated, here's some advice on what to do when the scale will not budge!

Dear Tina,
For real, the scale has not budged in five days. I’m doing everything right. I’m eating the right foods. I’m exercising my butt off. I’m drinking water. I’m doing all of the right things, but the scale will not budge!! Why is it not cooperating in my favor?
Signed,
Frustrated

Dear Frustrated,

I get it. I know who you are because I’ve been in your shoes. As a chronic dieter and scale obsessor, I can remember those pains of frustration when you’re absolutely doing everything right, and yet not getting rewarded with the number you would expect. It is the very reason why I would quit any diet I ever tried. My thought process would tell me that if the scale isn’t going to cooperate on my terms, then I may as well go back to my old eating habits so I could at least ENJOY myself. Why yes – I think I will help myself to that piece of delicious chocolate. Oh, a spoonful of ice cream? Make it a bowl! Oh potato chips, I never really enjoyed you but I have deprived myself for so stinkin’ long… Then, a few weeks later, I would step on the scale and my pulse would start pounding at the sight of the number I was now seeing, and the dieting process would restart once again. This time is for real, I’d tell myself. I’ll buckle down and do what it takes, and…it’s just.so.exhausting.

The cycle kind of repeats itself, doesn’t it? This very cycle is probably why the diet industry is so successful. The diet industry wants you to believe you’re going to lose weight. Losing weight means a lower number on the scale. We all (well, most of us!) want a lower number on the scale! So this industry will sell you products with the promise to fulfill your scale dreams. Sometimes that industry will give you a promise to achieve losing a certain amount of weight in a time frame. Therefore, not only is the diet industry promising you’ll have a lower number on the scale, they are often promising to do it in a quick amount of time. And the best sellers will often be the companies that offer the biggest promise with the smallest amount of effort.

The older we get, the longer we are being fed these promises. For as long as people buy into these promises, the diet industry will continue to thrive. However, that’s a whole another post. Let’s get back to you, Frustrated.

I understand that you are writing because you’ve been working hard. You’ve probably got some goals, and you’ve been working hard to achieve them. If the number on the scale is not cooperating, you’ve possibly entered the mode of analysis to see what exactly you’re doing (or not doing) that is not allowing the scale to work in your favor. If you’re in analysis mode, I’d like you to check out my related article on Scale Frustrations – Why am I not losing weight? (It will open up in a new tab, so come back when I’m done!)

If you have done the analysis and are still frustrated, I have some very important suggestions for you to consider in this journey. I think these questions and suggestions are far more important than your analysis of what you are doing right/wrong.

  1. Ask yourself: What are your non-scale goals? Why did you start this process? What are you hoping to achieve? Do you want to be healthy? Do you want to be active? Do you want to make better choices to set an example for your children? What kind of behaviors does your healthy self exemplify? Are you proud of your work?
  2. Drop your time goals. Type A people – I’m talking to you! It’s understanding to want to lose weight in a certain period of time, but sometimes our bodies do not want to cooperate. You can take all of the scientific models of calories in/calories out, overanalyze how many calories you should be consuming to get a certain result, and you can have the perfect plan in place. In the end, our bodies win. It is up to our bodies to cooperate, and there are so many complex factors such as muscle mass, our exact metabolism rate, water fluctuation, hormones, and the actual nutritional content of foods – it is impossible to be fully and completely precise.
  3. Take measurements! I cannot stress this enough! Chart your measurements. The scale will not tell you if you are gaining muscle mass, but the measuring tape will! Sometimes “weight loss” comes in the form of a smaller body without a reflection on the scale! Your clothes will start to feel looser. Here’s a guide with printable chart to help you out: How to take measurements
  4. How do you physically FEEL? Forget the scale – let’s talk about the stuff that really matters. How is your energy level compared to before you started your journey? Has your sleep pattern changed for the better? (Moms of babies – I know that’s a silly question!) How do you feel after eating a nutritious meal? Journal your progress, and take note of these markers. (If you don’t have a blog or a journal, you can always send yourself emails!!)
  5. Stop beating yourself up. Seriously. It’s OKAY to slip a bit. I’d even say it’s okay to slip a LOT. As long as you’re getting back on that wagon right away, you’re still in the game. When you slip, take note of how you feel. Determine whether there were triggers, and see if there are ways you can deal with the triggers in the future. Then, move on.
  6. Put away the scale for awhile. Send it to time out! If you are working on living a healthy lifestyle, the scale won’t matter. Your body will react accordingly to however you decide to fuel it. At the end of the day, it is not about the number on the scale. Sure, seeing a lower number can give us great satisfaction. But living a lifestyle that is healthy will be far more rewarding. Let me say this again – your body will reflect your healthy lifestyle. It may take you longer than you hoped, but this is not a short-term process!

Above all, be kind to yourself. Love yourself and take care of your body. It is the greatest gift you can give to yourself.

With much love,

Tina

P.S. Can you please SHARE this post? Perhaps there is someone else that needs to hear this. Thanks!!

 

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21 Day Fix Nutrition and PiYo Fitness

PiYo Fitness program and 21 Day Fix nutrition - can the two be mixed? YES! Click here to find out how! Head over to www.fitfuntina.com for more recipes and resources.

I love PiYo.

After months and months of 21 Day Fix workouts, I was going through some family scheduling shifts, and when you added two toddlers into the mix I was stressed out to the max. I needed some new workout scenery and PiYo provided a mind-calming yet physically challenging workout to ease some of the stress in my life.

When I received PiYo in the mail, I was excited to look through all of the materials, and then I saw the nutrition guide. What? This isn’t my 21 Day Fix Nutrition plan! How do my containers fit into the plan? Do I need to start over and do the PiYo nutrition guide, too? So many questions began circling my mind. I loved the simplicity of the color coded containers.

The 21 Day Fix system has made a huge breakthrough with simplifying nutrition and eating foods in the right proportions. As a result, Beachbody has begun to use the color coded container system in their subsequently released fitness programs, including Tony Horton’s 22 Minute Hard Corp. These newer programs have had the container counts adjusted to complement each program and give you the results you want.

However, what about older programs such as PiYo by Chalene Johnson? The PiYo program comes with its own nutrition plan, however, since it was released before 21 Day Fix, it does not use the same container system as 21 Day Fix. With this knowledge, can you mix the 21 Day Fix nutrition plan and use PiYo for your fitness program? The answer is a resounding YES!

The sweet thing about the 21 Day Fix Nutrition Plan (also known as “Portion Fix”), is that you can use it with whatever fitness program you choose, including PiYo. Portion Fix is designed to teach you a lifetime of healthy habits, regardless of what fitness plan you choose. Additionally, Portion Fix can be used even without a fitness program (ie. for injuries).

Here’s how to do it:

The biggest change you will want to do is to re-calculate your calorie bracket according to your fitness program’s calorie guidelines. The PiYo program does not burn as many calories as 21 Day Fix, so the calculations are different.

Piyo’s Nutrition Calculations:

Body Weight x 11

Add 400 (for maintenance calories. More on that below)

Subtract 600 (for weight loss)

Total – Your daily calorie range.

 

For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, this would be your calculation:

200 X 11 = 2200

2200 + 400 = 2600

2600 – 600 = 2000 Daily Calories

 

The calculations explained:

Body weight x 11. If you weigh 200 pounds, your body would need (on average) 2200 calories to maintain weight without any additional physical activity. If a 200 lb person was to consume that amount of calories each day, their body weight would not change.

Maintenance calories. If you weigh 200 pounds, and exerted 400 calories daily through physical activity (such as PiYo), then your body would need to consume 2600 calories a day (2200 + 400) to maintain your body weight.

Weight loss subtraction – 600 calories is given as the standard for PiYo. This number creates a deficit of 4,200 calories per week, which would work out to 1.2 pounds of weight loss per week. (As a side note, I know 1.2 pounds weekly seems like a very small number. However, if you were to consistently have that same weight loss over the course of a year, you would lose 62.4 pounds!)

(For those wondering, the 21 Day Fix calculations are similar with the exception they subtract 750 calories for weight loss deficit instead of 600).

More notes:

Obviously, there are some fluctuations that will occur. Besides regular outside factors such as water retention, illness, hormones, and such, the containers have a range of calories depending on what food is put in each container.  For example, one red container of chicken breasts would have a different caloric amount as a red container ground beef. Portion fix was designed for you to not think about that, and instead think of how big your portions should be.

But Tina, I need to lose a lot of weight! Can’t I just stick myself in the lowest bracket?

Why yes, yes you could…but that might not be the best idea. For starters, hungry will very likely be an issue. For another thing, this program was created by nutritionists who have come together to figure out how much your body should be consuming for effective weight loss. Trust the nutritionists, and trust the program. While it may be tempting to lower yourself into the smallest calorie bracket, go easy on your body and your mind. I actually lose MORE weight when I consume the amount of calories than I do when I limit myself to 1200 calories a day. (And let’s just talk about how miserable it was to eat 1.200 calories when I was obese…I was not a happy camper to be around, and it did nothing but leave me frustrated).

Unfortunately, we can’t control our rate of weight loss. We can do all of the right things, but it still won’t guarantee that we will lose weight at the rate of speed we’d like to lose. However, we can ALWAYS control the nutrition we consume and the calories we expend by consistently making good choices. THAT, my friends, is where the magic will happen!

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Confessions of a scale-aholic

Confessions of a scale-aholic...and the road to recovery.

This is my confession. When I first started living in a healthier lifestyle, I found myself stepping on the scale. A LOT. The thrill of seeing the scale number going down was a bit of an adrenaline rush! Every morning, I would weigh myself as soon as I woke up to see my progress. There were some mornings, when the scale wasn’t cooperating in the way that I thought it should be, and I would hit a mound of frustration. I would spend the entire morning analyzing my previous day. Did I really burn enough calories? Did I eat too many calories? Did I eat too little calories? Am I experiencing water retention? The questions were endless and they would fill my mornings (and sometimes the entire day).

I was so desperate to see the scale drop, that I started almost obsessing with the scale. Daily morning weigh-ins added to the occasional nightly weigh-ins (because I had calculated that on average, I weighed 2 pounds less in the morning than I did at night). Weighing in at night gave me a glimpse of what to expect in the morning, so either I’d go to bed either happy, grumpy, or confused.

When I started making specific weight goals and deadlines to reach those goals, I became even MORE obsessed. We are talking major stress to hit the goals I had in my mind. Add the stress to the fact that I am a recovering emotional eater, and it was too much for me to take. If the scale had a drop that morning, I’d slip in a tiny bite of something as a “reward” (I know the logic seems funny but it really came down to getting too relaxed with my mini-celebration). If the scale had a significant increase, I’d get moody and eat…well, more than a few bites. I was chained to the scale, and allowed it to determine my mood for the day.

After joining Beachbody and the 21 Day Fix, I was on FIRE. The scale was dropping by leaps and bounds, the inches were coming off, and I was in the fast lane to success. I knew that the initial drop would slow down, and it did. I slowly slipped back into my scale-obsession, desperate to continue making progress. Finally, after a week of the scale going UP every day (despite that I was keeping everything in check), I hit the proverbial wall, knowing that something needed to change.

And so I decided to do something completely different than I had been doing – I stepped AWAY from the scale. I knew what I needed to do to be healthy, so I made a little challenge to myself to NOT look at the scale. Admittedly, it was pretty hard the first few days. I was working my tail off, and I wanted to SEE some kind of results. But as each day passed, the anxiety decreased. I even started to feel a little glimpse of freedom! Stepping away from the scale also challenged me. I knew that if I was cheating, then when I came back to the scale I’d see a less-than-desirable number. I love a good challenge, and this really helped me to focus more on my nutrition and less on my progress.

While I do have a specific goal weight in mind, my ULTIMATE goal is to be healthy. To eat healthy, to be fit and strong, and live healthy. I have the right tools within me to make it happen, and I KNOW that when I focus on the healthy, my weight/body is going to follow. Focusing on the health as opposed to the number on the scale has been a definite game-changing experience.

Are you a scale obsessor? I’d love to hear your story, and hear how you triumphed over it. Send me an email at fitfuntina@gmail.com

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Why am I not losing weight? Scale frustrations

 

Some insights on scale frustrations and why you may not be losing weight

You’ve been working hard on changing your unhealthy habits by eating right and working hard. Wanting to see your progress, you step on the scale and WHAT?!? The scale is showing a number you definitely were not expecting to see. This is more common than you think. Before you give up and look for the nearest candy bar, STOP and evaluate. Here’s a list of things to consider the next time you get frustrated.

1) DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). When you start a new strength training program, your muscles may react by giving you soreness. This is known as DOMS. It is completely normal and goes away in the next 24-48 hours. However, one of the side effects can be (temporary) inflammation and water retention.

2) Water retention. Our bodies are composed of more than 60% water, so several factors can contribute so scale fluctuations: dehydration, hormones, excessive sodium intake. Making sure your body is fully hydrated and keeping your sodium reduced will help to reduce some of those fluctuations.

3) Little Bites. You’re eating good foods and in good portions, and don’t even realize when you take little sample bites. While this probably won’t affect the scale in the short term, it can have an effect in the long term, so be careful.

4) Muscle vs fat. As you incorporate fitness into your new routine, your body will start to build muscle. As your muscles get stronger, they will be more efficient at burning calories (that’s a good thing, right?). However, one pound of muscle takes up less mass than one pound of fat. How are your clothes fitting? If they are starting to feel loser despite a weight gain, then this could be your answer.

5) Not eating enough. It seems a little counter intuitive, but if you’re not fueling your body with enough nutrition, then it can actually stall your process. Eating too few calories will send your body into “starvation” mode, which will stall your metabolism. Listen to your body, if you are hungry, then eat. If you’ve eaten all of your 21 Day Fix containers for the day, then add an extra green.

After going through this list, here are a few extra tips to set you up for success:

1) Scale consistency. Sometimes different scales can show different weights. Sometimes the same scale will show a different weight in a different location (if the surface beneath it changes). Weigh yourself using the same scale at the same time of day.

2) Take measurements. Keep track of your measurements so you can see the inches you have lost. I’ve got a chart HERE to help you track your measurements. Remember, muscle takes up less mass than fat, so if the scale is going up and your measurements are going down, you’ll have a better insight to the scale “not cooperating”.

3) Patience. Rome wasn’t built in a day. You didn’t gain all of your weight overnight, so it will take TIME to get that weight off. Trust the process, and learn your new habits, and that weight is going to come off FOR GOOD. Even if you average .5 lb of weight loss per week, after a year you will have lost 26 pounds!

4) Lifestyle change. Remember, this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. Diets are short term solutions for long-term problems. When you build consistent habits to eat healthy foods in the right portions and exercise regularly, you will develop a long-term solution to overcome a long-term problem. You’re building healthy, and as you build healthy, you’re going to feel amazing!

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