Fast Weight Loss Takes Time

I recently received the following email:

Q. Five weeks ago, I began an exercise program and so far I have not lost any weight or gained in muscle tone, which is my goal. Regardless, I intend to keep it up, knowing that the results I want will occur if I give it time.

A. Yes, your results will occur if given enough time. Just stay the course. Be consistent and you’ll get there. Luckily she was not upset about the lack of progress on her bathroom scale but most people aren’t so willing to take that time.

Typical Dieter Losing Weight with Exercise: Ms. Too Tight Pants Decides to Drop a Dress Size

1. She starts out feeling excited, knowing she’ll lose the weight she wants in the long run, if she can stay with it. (She’s read the books. She knows this eating better and exercising more works).

2. She starts feeling better right away, although the scale shows no difference. (Results take awhile to build, and she knows this but it gets harder and harder to wait.)

3. Her clothes begin to fit looser. People start to notice, asking “Hey you’re looking good. What are you doing?” (Things are starting to happen, but not very quickly).

4. She does “all the right things,” such as eating well and getting good rest. She’s tracking what she’s eating and keeping a journal. It’s all going great. (Consistency is the secret and a very good discipline).

5. Since she’s been “so good” she decides to step on the scale. She’s even got rewards in mind depending on how much she’s lost. (Where’s the evidence? She’s getting impatient and wants to know this is working).

6. Alas! The scale shows a three pound weight gain and she throws her hands up in despair saying, “This doesn’t work! I quit!” (The scale doesn’t show us what is going on inside, it only weighs the total package. Maybe she just finished drinking 16 ounces of water, that’s a pound right there).

7. She dismisses the real evidence (how she feel better and looks better; how she’s been getting compliments; how her clothes fit better and some are getting too lose to wear) and she decides instead to rely of the wisdom of the bathroom scale. That piece of metal sitting on the bathroom floor, known for wildly inaccurate results, but nevertheless trusted as the ultimate authority.

She may have even started to gain some valuable active muscle tissue that supports and sustains the body, creates beautiful curves, and burns calories in the process, but without the result she wanted to see on her scale, she’s quit.

Your body is made up of fat, skin, bone and muscle (plus water). When you exercise the goal is to increase the muscle and decrease the fat. A pound of muscle takes up much less space than a pound of fat, so regardless of what number you see on the bathroom scale, if you have been exercising, you are building a better, healthier frame.

Give your body a chance to display the results you seek. Rely on the evidence you see in how your clothes fit for instance. If you’re losing inches, but the scale hasn’t shown a change just wait. The scale will catch up soon enough. If you’ve gotten on the path to better health and weight loss, stay the course. Fast weight loss takes time.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of

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