For anyone who has sought to lose weight before, is trying to do so now or is considering it for the future, the question will often arise: “Just how did it get to this stage?”. It may seem like a self-defeating question, as it often has answers which we just do not want to hear, but the fact remains that without the analysis of how something bad happened, it is much more difficult to find some good to counteract that. Knowing why we have gained or are gaining weight is essential to putting the process in reverse and losing the weight that is causing us so much heartache.
When we are gaining weight, the reasons are usually boringly obvious. Eating too much, not getting enough exercise and eating the wrong things are the typical reasons why it happens to us. However, there is a bit more to it than that in many cases. It is well known for example that women gain weight when they are pregnant, in order that they can support the new life growing inside them. Additionally, it is common for humans to gain weight in the winter – body fat is one way in which the human system keeps out the cold. Of course there are also the “emotional eaters” who can have a variety of reasons for comfort eating.
Whatever the reasons that we initially gained weight, there is at least a comfort in knowing that there was a reason – and that if that reason can be counteracted, then you can begin to reverse the process. Simply knowing that you can lose weight is often all the impetus you need.
One thing that connects a lot of people’s failed exercise regimes is that they find the whole pace of the process a bit too much to take. Having resolved to do a certain amount every day, it is easy to become disheartened when it is either impossible or hugely difficult to stick to the regime. In these cases it is common for people to think it just isn’t going to happen for them, and to abandon the idea altogether. This is a shame, without a doubt. Often in such cases, it is not a matter of exercise being too much; rather, it is a case of too much exercise too soon.
The most important thing about any exercise regime is that it should be enough to make you feel that you have worked hard, but not too much to realistically sustain. If, the day after a trip to the gym, you cannot bend to tie your shoelaces without immense pain, then you have gone too far.
However, if you have breezed through it without feeling out of breath, then the chances are that you have done too little cardiovascular exercise to really make any impact at all. Your own pace is somewhere in between these two points, and if you go too far one day you should not feel that it is a reason to stop – rather, a timely lesson in pacing yourself. Once you find your own pace, you will find that you can lift it a few notches in time, and then the results will begin to flow.
