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What to expect when you start dieting and working out

 

Are you just about to start dieting and want to know what you can realistically expect? Or if you have been dieting and working out for a while and you might wonder, is this normal?

 

In the next couple minutes you will learn to set realistic expectations, see what is an average progress rate and how to overcome struggles when you start dieting and working out.

 

Before we dive into it, let me introduce myself in case you didn’t know me. 

My name is Turo, I am a weight loss coach and have helped over 1000 people to lose weight and keep it off. 

Before we dive into it, let me introduce my friend Giuseppe

You might struggle with the same problems, like my friend Giuseppe. I am not showing these pictures to tell you how fast your progress should be but what can happen when you work hard and stay consistent, no matter what.  I let the picture speak for itself and don’t need to tell you how many kilos it was as it wasn’t important for my friend. 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

Between these pictures is 5 months. During this time Giuseppe was working out 3x per week from home, 30-45 minutes per workout and became more aware of what he was eating. He wasn’t tracking calories or ever felt he was on diet. The biggest improvement for him was to eat slower, which made him realize that he was full before ending up eating too much. This single improvement allowed him to reduce volumes (and obviously calories) while still being able to enjoy foods he loved. 

 

” Before I started Online Training with Turo I was overweight and my back was hurting. I wanted not only to lose weight but also get better endurance. I was not sure if I would be able to workout alone from home.

Now after 5 months I started Online Training, I have reached my all goals I had in the beginning.  I actually lost more weight than I thought would be possible and not only losing fat, I was able to build more lean muscle mass. Pain in my back is gone.”

 

I am so proud of him for how hard he worked and how consistent he was. 

 

Let’s get back into you.

Here I listed through my experience the most common things that might happen at different points of your fitness journey. Your journey is different but you might relate some of these things. 

 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

Within one week

  • You will feel motivated. This is the time when you will reach your goals, you are telling yourself! Nothing will stop you. 
  • Your energy level is higher than you may have ever experienced before, making completing daily activities easier. 
  • You may start to notice your clothes are feeling a bit looser than before and your scale weight might be down up to 2,5 kilos. This happens as you are eating less processed foods and reducing sodium intake. Combined with eating less volumes than before, it might be faster than you thought is possible. Weight loss is mostly water at this time and you are not losing fat yet. 
  • You will feel soreness after most workouts.
  • You´ll notice your sleep quality and quantity might improve a bit. 
  • You are starting to notice your food cravings are less than before. While earlier you were craving sweets and high calorie foods, now you are looking forward to healthier options. 
  • You might have started to track your nutrition, it is helping a lot to learn from foods you are currently eating but feels like you need so much time to do it. You are still making mistakes with portion sizes and forgetting to add something you put into your mouth like salad dressing, drinks or not tracking weekends. 
  • You are convinced and thinking why I didn’t do this earlier!!

 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

Most Common mistakes and how to fix them in the beginning to make your journey more enjoyable and sustainable:

  • You feel motivated and want to reach your goals as fast as possible, you are starting to workout more than is realistically possible. 

Fix this to start a bit less than you would ideally do. Stay consistent for 30 days and add more if you still feel like it. Even within the first month, you can always do something more. Mentally it is a huge difference if your goal was 4 workouts per week and you were able to workout “only” 3 times. When your goal is to workout 3x / week and you hit it, you have always possibility to make 4th workout, if you feel like it.

  • You think you need to focus only on your workouts to get results

Instead of being perfect on workouts, try to add more activity (aka walk more) throughout the day. If you track your steps, even 1k steps per day more will do a lot more than you think and it is the easiest way to consume more energy plus feel mentally healthier. 

  • You cut all single foods or food groups (Carbs?!?) from your diet. 

Instead, aim to eat less of your “problem” foods and replace it with more healthier options. 

  • You reduce portion sizes too radically

Instead start tracking calories and learn from foods you are currently eating. Your stomach is used to getting the same volumes than before and you should not eat less to lose weight. You should eat close to the same volumes with less calories than before. 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

After One Month

  • Motivation might be a bit lower than before as there are so many other things happening in life and finding time to workout and prepare your meals is hard to find.
  • Your energy levels are a lot better and other people might start to notice something different in you. 
  • Your weight loss rate might be slower than it was in the beginning but you might still be losing weight overall. 
  • You are improving and getting stronger on your workouts. You won’t feel soreness anymore. 
  • Some of your health problems you may have been experiencing before starting (joint pain, back pain, migraines etc.) may begin clearing up. For the first time in a long time you actually begin to feel very healthy. 
  • You start to decline unhealthy foods that are offered to you or eat a bit less than you used to. If you have been tracking your calories, you have learned how many calories these foods have and you know what it means to your daily and weekly calorie goal. 
  • Eating better and exercising is starting to become more habitual. You will find that you are doing something already without even thinking about it. Making better choices will start to feel like “normal”
  • You might find you start getting hungrier. This is a sign that your metabolism is speeding up and getting used to all healthier foods than before. 
  • If you track your calories, you spend a lot less time than before and you realize that it is helping you a lot more than you could imagine. You track more accurately because you learned through mistakes. It might add some stress too to your busy life. 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

Most Common mistakes and how to fix them in the beginning to make your journey more enjoyable and sustainable after one month:

  • It feels hard to find time for all workouts and food preparation and tracking! 

Fix this: Make a promise to yourself at least start your workout! If you can´t make your whole workout, make just one exercise.. You might think that it is not worth it but this time is not about having a perfect workout. It is about keeping promises you made to yourself and learning to be consistent. 

  • This is the most common time to give up!

You feel like you are doing so much but seeing too few results. Honest truth is that it often takes longer than you would like. If you decide to search for a faster option now, you won’t give yourself a realistic chance to get results. 

  • Your scale weight spiked up!! What did I do wrong?!? I must reduce my calories as it is going too slow.

Fix this: Don´t panic! It is completely normal. Like you learned earlier, in the beginning you lost a lot of water weight. Now you have started to lose fat, which is not the same as losing weight. You also might gain some muscle mass and at the same time lose fat. You won’t see the difference in the scale but you will see that clothes fit better and you lose circumferences. Bottomline: you don’t need to change anything, stay patient and keep going!

  • To have an effective workout, you don’t need to feel sore after or sweat! If you are able to use more weights, do more reps with the same weight or reduce rest time, you are doing everything correctly. 
  • You might want to change your workout program every 4-8 weeks as your body is adapting. Get new exercises or change the amount of reps you are doing to not give your body possibility to adapt. If you change workout every time (aka sexy YouTube Workouts), you won´t give your body time to improve. 
  • If you are feeling hungry or having low energy, your body is telling you to eat more. Add more high volume and high protein, low calorie foods into your diet. Fat Loss is not about eating less, it is all about calories!
  • If you cut all sweets or carbs from your diet, you start to crave them. 

Allow yourself to eat foods you really crave.

You can make rules that allow you to eat foods you love but only if you do something before. “I can have chocolate but only if I go to shop by walking and buy only what I eat right now” or “ When I want to eat chips, I wait 20 minutes before I can eat it. If I still want it after waiting, I can have it!” 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

3-6 Months after you start

  • Often at this point there has happened something in your life and motivation and finding time is a real problem. Or you have built a new habit that is part of your new routine and you do it most days regardless of what is happening in your life.
  • You should notice health benefits like better cholesterol levels, decreased blood pressure. 
  • You should feel noticeable differences in your body. You have lost some fat (circumferences) if you have been in a calorie deficit and you feel stronger and you have a lot better energy.  
  • You might have reached your initial goal or you are not there yet. Most often you are not yet there where you want to be. Either you have already a new goal or you still need to lose the last kilos. 
  • Your initial pain is gone, you might feel better than ever. 
  • You have been able to build many new habits which you do automatically and can’t imagine to go back where you were before. 
  • You might not want to track your calories every day. You have learned a skill which will benefit you for the rest of your life. You know what you should be eating and how different foods affect your diet. You can always start to track your calories again if you want to. 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

Most Common mistakes and how to fix them after 3-6 months you start dieting and working out:

  • You have been unmotivated, sick or injured and feel like all your progress and hard work is gone. 

Fix this: Get back on track as soon as you can. One day, week or month won’t ruin your progress. Only way to fail in fitness is to give up!

  • You feel you see way too little progress even working so hard.. 

Keep going and learning! This takes a lot more time than you would like but it will be worth it!

  • You feel like you need a break but are too scared to take it.

You can have a controlled diet break, easier weeks from working out. Set expectations and if you need, use strategies like reverse diet or planned easier workouts for a time you need mental break. 

What to expect when you start dieting and working out

After One Year:

  • You made something that you could not believe was possible. 
  • You have learned a lot during this time and when you look back, you would not change many things as learning was part of the process
  • You have reached your initial goals and if someone would say to you one year ago you can achieve these results within one year, you would take it without thinking. 
  • You are so proud of yourself that you didn’t quit when progress felt too slow or you had to take a break. 
  • What earlier felt impossible has become new normality. Having a day off might be harder than working out. 
  • You have learned that you can actually enjoy the foods you love, in moderation, and still make progress. 
  • You won´t crave foods you were craving before and often you choose without thinking healthier options
  • You might find yourself wanting to try new exercises/sports/activities. You finally feel you’ve reached a place where you’re confident in the physical activity your body can do.
  • You finally understand how some people seem to be naturally motivated. You have learned that you won’t feel motivated every day but regardless how you feel, you will take action.
  • For you eating healthy isn’t something you need to work on, it is something you do naturally. 
  • You will be feeling happier and healthier than you ever have before

 

What to do next?

If you were able to recognize something how you feel at your point of journey, great! I hope this helped you to find a solution even if there were not all possibilities listed what might happen. 

You have two options to continue: 

Option 1:

 

If you are happy with your progress and you know what to do, awesome! Keep going and doing whatever you do!

 

Option 2:

You are not completely happy with your progress or not sure what you should do. 

 

Consider my Online Coaching as an option. With this option you have someone who is looking over your shoulder and who is there with you all the way during your journey. 

 

Who is keeping you motivated and accountable when you need it the most. 

 

Who makes sure that you actually do those things you know you must do.

 

Takes all the guesswork away from you. You know exactly what to eat and which workouts you must do.

 

Cares about you and your success. 

I would be more than happy to get to know you personally and talk with you if we are a good match to work together. 

 

Apply to coaching HERE

 

If you have any questions, feel free to email me turo@fitmitturo.com

 

Weight Loss Coach