Things I've learned after gaining all the weight I've lost (Part 2)

Click here to read Part 1 if you haven't!

4. The scale is lying to you

Muscle is more compact than fat which means it takes up less space in your body than fat.

Visually, this would mean that if you have identical twins and they both weigh the exact same, they would look completely different in the same clothes due to their differing muscle and fat composition.

Due to this principle, there is a multitude of reasons that could explain the twin's different body shape at the same weight.

I bought a body composition scale which not only took my weight but told me how much fat and muscle I had in each part of my body. This completely shifted how I viewed the number on the scale. I took down my stats in an excel sheet and tracked my measurements every week.

For this particular week, if I had only looked at the number on the scale, I would be disheartened after putting in the work to exercise and seemingly 'gaining weight'.

However, my body composition told me a different story.

I had lost fat! and gain muscles! That is the absolute ideal scenario that I had hoped for.

I recommend taking pictures of your body from all angles as well to see a concrete change that matches the change seen on a body composition scale. It's very exciting when you begin to see your physical body changing.

There are also other factors to consider when you only take a scale's number at face value – are you on your period? are you retaining water? are you going through hormonal change? had you eaten prior?

There are just too many changing variables for the scale to be the ultimate unit of measurement for weight loss.

5. It's okay to fail as long as you don't quit

Life can get in the way and sometimes you find yourself not working out for months or even years (that happened to me).

That's okay though, just restart the count. You only fail when you quit.

I find the hardest thing in my fitness journey is not actually starting to exercise but continuing to do so on day 2.

The natural progression of a person's weight loss journey is rarely ever linear, their progression chart goes up and down, much like the stock market. If you had invested 10 years ago and didn't pull out when your investments were in the red, more often that not ultimately it goes back up to green today with a net growth.

Invest in yourself and in your health.

6. Stop to smell the roses, enjoy your progress!

In Part 1, I'd stated how determined I was to lose weight at all costs and my fight with body image issues. I rarely took selfies and had very little photographs of those times. I had made a lot of progress but I wasn't enjoying life and I wasn't taking the time to sit down and acknowledge the positive changes that I had made in my life.

By the time I had gained back all the weight, I was lamenting the fact that damn I looked so good back then and I didn't enjoy them enough. It took me 7 years to realise that I actually looked good and turns out the ugliness I felt was just in my head.