3 struggles one may face when undergoing a lifestyle change

As some of my loyal and/or personally close readers know, I have been doing Weight Watchers for a little over a month. I have lost 11 pounds and have built crazy amounts of endurance and muscle meeting with a personal trainer once a week.

It's so much fun to go grocery shopping now! Granted I do it all online through Coborns Delivery, so I don't have to deal with obnoxious and rude cart-wielding customers, and really crappy parking spots, which is amazing!

I look up Pinterest recipes and share the Pinterest board with one of my close friends, and I scour it once a week looking for next week's recipe of choice for a big, left-over-creating meal. I shop, make it on Sunday or Monday, hit the gym, eat healthy, and do it all again next week.

Sounds pretty simple and completely doable right?

Weeeeeeellllllll, yes... and no. 

I know I should be a big ball of positivity about changing my lifestyle for the better, and all of these great things I am doing for myself, but some days it is a pain in the ass to deal with it.

These are my top 3 struggles I have faced while undergoing my lifestyle change:

1. It starts off amazing!

So, you joined Weight Watchers and a gym. Great! Good for you! 

Well, it's all fun and games until you get to your first weight gain. Then you begin to question everything. You feel like crap and you just want to give up. You may even eat a bunch of crap to attempt to deal with your emotions (I've been there, I used to be an emotional eater). Then you feel like crap for eating, which makes you eat, which makes you feel like crap, which continues that fucking awful cycle we all know and hate!

Well, you don't have to fall into that cycle. Eat your heart out for one meal... But jump back on to your goal and lifestyle change at the next meal. Or polish off your big splurge with a water instead of that Mountain Dew you've been craving. Just keep pushing and keep trying.

2. It's not all sunshine and rainbows.

You know, this statement pretty much applies to life in general. 

Some days you eat and workout like a rockstar. Other days you refuse to eat any vegetables and the only thing you will open your mouth for is an entire package of freaking Oreos. Some days you don't have any motivation to go to the gym and work out. Some days you lay in bed all day until you finally get up just to use the bathroom, only to get back into immediately after relieving yourself. 

It's okay! It's all okay! You don't have to feel terrible for one week, one day, one hour, one minute, or even your life. You can choose to either wallow and just accept you have no control, or you can pick yourself up by your bootstraps and take back control of your life. A bad day is not a bad life.

3. There will be a plateau and it will be frustrating.

So, this seems so obvious, but some times people need to be reminded of this one.

Plateauing is very normal, in addition to being very frustrating.

Don't allow yourself to get discouraged. Do some research about what you can do, keep doing what your doing, ask for help/advice from others who are reliable sources, and most importantly... don't lose your mind over your plateau in weight loss. Do not obsess and worry over it. It will happen naturally and when you are ready. Your body knows what it is doing when you a treating it well. Trust your body and listen to you body.

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All in all, a healthy lifestyle change is an amazing thing one can do for oneself. It will pay off and it will be worth it in the end. 

Just be honest, realistic, and love yourself through it all.

It's not all about the end goal... but it's about the journey as well!