Are your weight loss expectations realistic?

When you are training and either dieting or adding muscle, what areyour expectations? Are they realistic?

Lately I have noticed that most people's expectations (and sometimeseven my own) are not always realistic. This is one of the biggestdownfalls to the dieting/bulking cycle. We often start off gung-hothinking we are going to drop weight like contestants on The BiggestLoser or gain huge amounts of muscle in a very short time. I hate tobreak it to you, but this just isn't the case.Just because you don't lose 12 pounds of fat in a week, doesn't meanyou aren't succeeding at weight loss. There's a lot more that goesinto the process. Ultimately, your time in the kitchen is a morecrucial component to weight loss than your time on the treadmill orbike. Giving your body the fuel it needs through proper nutrition,macronutrient balance and hydration will allow you to effectivelyperform without having to go to extremes, either nutritionally or viaexercise.

Ten pounds of weight loss in a week isn't realistic. Can it be donelike they do it on The Biggest Loser? Yes. Should it be? No. Thatlifestyle - 8 hours of training per day - isn't sustainable long termand sets a person up for overtraining, fatigue and injury. And if yourgoal isn't just WEIGHT loss but FAT loss (and yes there is adifference) then it's better to smartly approach fitness and nutritionto avoid damaging your metabolism and possibly setting yourself backin the long run.

We're all human. Even I get impatient with progress sometimes and wishextra fat would come off faster. There's no secret to fat loss ormuscle gain. It's a relatively simple process that requires commitmentand a little patience. Gaining 25 pounds might have taken a year ormore. Taking it off can't happen overnight. If you put in the work,you will get the results you desire.