I used to be fit. I used to play basketball in high school but then, when I went off to university, other things seemed to become more and more important in my life and the existence of sport in my life slowly faded away altogether.
Until now! :D In the last two weeks I have been enjoying running, a lot. In fact it feels like I am on a permanent runner's high. But as much as I enjoy this state of motivation I am also aware of the risks. I have found myself wanting to skip restdays so I could get fit even quicker. 'Maybe if I only eat 1200 kcal instead of 1500 I will lose x pounds instead of .5 pounds a week?'
My point is: this weight loss journey has just begun and it is great that I'm feeling so motivated, BUT I have come to realize that the first couple of weeks can break your neck just as much as the dreaded plateau. In the beginning nothing can be fast enough and it all happens very quickly too. Losing 7 pounds in the first week is easy (waterweight?! ) but the initial success gets to my head. Subconscouisly I expect myself to be consistently successful, to achieve everything in a record time. Of course I know that a long term weight loss has to be healthy but during the first couple of weeks it's so exciting and so much fun to watch the number on the scale go down... until it doesn't. That's when frustration hits and that's when I usually slowly start losing interest in eating healthy and exercising leading to a vicious circle of poor choices and consequent failure to lose and eventually quitting. It's not necessarily the fact that I didn't lose any weight but rather the expectation of losing x pounds in y months which leads to me quitting. I believe his expectation is (for me) often formed in the first two weeks.
Now that I am aware of my behaviour and I have put it into words (kind of), I can go back and read it once I get frustrated or too motivated. Then I can remember to take it slow and to grant myself some recouperation time every once in a while, so I don't get too wound up in counting calories or whatever.