Fitness Newbies: Feel Like You Haven't Made Any Progress Yet? Read this.
Happy December, lovies!!
I know it’s been a longgg time since I’ve made an appearance on this blog, but now that I’m in bed with food poisoning on this lovely Friday night, I figured what better way to spend my time than write to y’all?!
So, maybe you’re new to the fitness/healthy living thing, and you’re frustrated you haven’t seen any progress since adopting this lifestyle. You feel like you’re doing everything right, you work out “X” times a week, you eat well, etc. Basically, you do everything your fav Instagram fitness gurus say to do. And yet, still no progress?!? What gives?
Here’s a few things I do with my online coaching clients that you could do as a sort of lifestyle “check in” to make sure you’re actually working as hard as you think you are:
FITNESS: Record the weights you use for each exercise every time you work out for a month (or longer). See if majority of these weights have at least slightly increased by the end of the 4 weeks. If they haven’t... there’s a good chance you aren’t improving. Progressive overload is key - once you have form down of course. Same recording goes for any metrics you can record via heart rate zones during workouts (i.e. how long it takes for your heart rate to come back down in a recovery period of a HIIT workout) or things like watts on a rower or spin bike. They should be improving from week to week. PUSH YOURSELF past your comfort zone and you’ll see results.
NUTRITION: If you are doing all of the above and still are not noticing progress towards your physique goals, perhaps it’s time to take a better look at your nutrition. Keeping an honest record of your food and drink (yes alcohol has calories lol!!) intake for a few days (including at least one weekend day) could be a great way to tell if you are over or under-consuming for your body’s nutritional needs. Not sure how to find out your individual nutritional needs? Research - google is a great tool - or reach out to a dietician (like my fav babes - the Dietitians of Palm Valley 🤓). The weekends are where a lot of people trip up though, without even realizing it. There is absolutely no benefit of being 100% strict M-F and then going absolutely crazy on the weekends. Keeping balance in your life on a daily basis will help you avoid any crazy binges - you know, like when you decide to go Keto for a month and realize 5 days in that you need carbs to function properly so you devour Chick Fil A french fries and an entire bag of Purely Elizabeth granola all in one sitting (not speaking from experience or anything). 😇
SLEEP & STRESS: More on this in a future post, but in case you haven’t heard or just refuse to believe it, not getting proper sleep and not managing your cortisol levels via stress reduction can severely impair your body’s ability to lose fat, recover, and perform optimally. Don’t believe me? Just wait for my next post for the hard FACTS. Or you could go ahead and start trying to get 8+ hours of sleep a night and reap the benefits before I can even prove them to you. ;)
VISUAL EVIDENCE. You just can’t see it yet. There’s a chance you yourself can’t tell a difference, and because that stupid scale hasn’t budged you automatically assume you haven’t progressed at all. If you aren’t taking regular measurements or progress pics, there’s a chance you are actually progressing, you just can’t tell. We see ourselves everyday, and we are also our own worst critic. If someone else is telling you that you look great or you’re looking lean, there’s a great chance they’re honestly seeing changes in your physique, not just being nice.
Alright, that’s all for now, babes. I need to get some sleep - 8-9 hours to be exact. ;)
If you’re ever feeling stuck, frustrated, bored with your current fitness routine, or just need some advice - I am SO here for you! You can always email me for advice or check out my online or in person training options. I’d love to work with ya!!
xx,
Savanna Rose