Mistakes I Made During My First Fitness Journey

Picture this: 2021. You finally look yourself in the mirror and say, "Okay, this is it. This is the year I commit to my health and fitness." This is the year you plan to lose weight. This is the year you plan to gain weight, build muscle, define your abs, eat healthier. Whatever your health and fitness goals are, it can be incredibly frustrating when you are continuously showing up the gym, eating healthy, but you are not seeing progress.

When I was on my first fitness journey, did I see results at first? No. Did I eventually get to where I wanted to be? Yes and no. Was my progress sustainable? Not in the slightest.

On this journey, I have almost done everything opposite of what I thought you were supposed to do in order to lose weight, and from that, I noticed more progress within my entire body composition, mood, mentality, and I want to share some of the things I've learned from my own personal experience, and things that might actually be holding you back from achieving your health and fitness goals.

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Restrictive Dieting

This is MISTAKE#1, and nearly infuriates me every single time. On my first fitness journey, I believed I had to restrict myself from certain foods and food groups in order to be successful. I gave up all of my favorite "treats", because for one, I was scared to return to my previous binging ways, and two, I thought it was necessary to give up those sorts of things on a weight loss journey. And in cutting those things out, I also noticed the emphasis on labeling food as "good" and "bad", and if I had a food that was "bad", the guilt of my conscious was the driving force behind feeling unworthy and unsuccessful for the rest of the day, as if I messed up all of my progress.

Food is fuel, and should be treated as such. Choose to see past the labels, and don't beat yourself up over having one cookie, my GOD, just eat it :)

Cutting Carbs and Sugars

Again, your body needs both carbs and sugars, and uses it as fuel and energy. I used to think I had to cut all carbs in order to lose weight, yet somehow I eat more carbs than I ever have and I noticed such better progress in terms of my body and pushing through my workouts. Plus, different kinds of foods work differently for everyone. Some people generally might need more fats, while other peoples might need more carbs. It really comes down to learning about your body and the types of foods that respond and fuel your body. Find out what works best for you, your body, and your goals. (Plus carbs and sugars are found in fruits and veggies, so....)

Eating 1200 Calories a Day...

Absolutely NOT! On my first fitness journey, I obsessed over this number and believed that this was the only way I was guaranteed to lose weight, if I stuck to this number. But the truth is... our bodies do so much for us, and is actively burning calories left and right. 1200 calories is not enough to fuel your body for an entire day, and it's such a toxic part of diet culture, which leads to people starving themselves to make up for other meals they ate that day... I was so focused on this number that once I hit it, I would stop eating for the rest of the day, no matter how hungry I was. If your body is hungry, FEED IT. This also goes for the times you eat. If it is 10pm, and your body is hungry, you CAN still eat. Eating that late won't make you gain more weight, and that is a total myth. Bottom line, LISTEN TO YOUR BODY.

Obsessing Over Cardio

Don't get me wrong, I still love my running and for those that know me know I run 6-7 days a week usually, but on my first fitness journey, all I di was cardio and trained core. And let me tell you, I trained core everyday after cardio, and saw absolutely no difference in my ab definition. Meanwhile, now I train abs about two days a week if that, and see such definition, it's insane. The incorporation of weightlifting has changed my life -- not only has it made me mentally stronger, but it has completely helped me recompose my body. You don't have to do only cardio and abs to reach your health and fitness goals.

Thinking I Could Target Fat Loss

Hate to break it to you, but you cannot control where your body loses fat first. It doesn't matter who is telling you that you can and you should do specific exercises to reduce fat in a specific area, but the harsh reality is that your body is going to lose fat where it wants to first, and there's nothing you can do differently to change that -- based on genetics, hormones, bone structure. I used to think I could get rid of certain areas, same with hip dips, but again, hip dips are apart of your bone structure, and you cannot physically change your bone structure.

Seeing It as a Chore

Training my brain to see it is "I have to..." eat healthy and workout was such a toxic mentality. It taught me how to beat myself up if I didn't eat according to my specific calories, weighed my desire weight on the scale, or if I took one rest day. Instead, I learned that movement and healthy foods are a blessing. They are something we get to do and experience every single day, and should be treated as such. Don't do it because you feel like you have to, do it because you want to, and that could just be experimenting with different ways or eating and working out to see what brings you and your body joy, because let me tell you, soon enough you'll be tired of the same old routine if its not something you enjoy or if you are constantly eating the same foods over and over again.

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Something you have to recognize is that every single one of us are different -- our bodies, our bone structures, our shapes, our hormones, our genetics. There are just some things we cannot control, and one things I wish I would have told myself during my first fitness journey was exactly that, is that I cannot change certain parts about me. I'll never have the same body as some body else. The way I fuel and train my body is not only specific to my body type, but it will also respond in that way.

If you are starting a fitness journey, please don't obsess over a number or a scale to tell you the value of your worth. Use it to measure progress if you can do so in a healthy manner, rather than a toxic one. Don't restrict yourself and label foods. Don't use "cheat meals" as a way to look forward to the weekend. Teach yourself balance every single day. Yes, you can have pizza in the middle of the week, don't wait till the end of the week, just because you've been "good all week". That is such a poor mindset, and can be toxic to your mentality as well as the relationship you have with working out, food, and your body.

When starting your fitness journey, commit to becoming the best version of yourself. Trust the process, trust the journey. Don't rush it. Don't put pressure on yourself to lose weight under a certain amount of time. It's a lifestyle, not temporary. Commit to that.