But your clothes will start to feel looser, and that's all the encouragement most women need to keep on going. Because you gain lean muscle from working out, weight loss doesn't always register on the scale right away. If getting slimmer is still your top priority, set a goal of fitting into a smaller size instead of hitting a certain weight. For example, it raises your energy, lifts your mood, and makes you feel stronger and healthier. So shift your focus from the scale and think of all the other ways you benefit from exercise. Graham Thomas, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center at Brown Medical School. "Consistent exercisers who see working out as part of their lifestyle, rather than as a way to change their appearance, have the most success keeping weight off," says J. Keeping a magic number in mind may work temporarily, but if you want to shed extra pounds and keep them off, you need a broader goal. Here's why: Either you get frustrated because you haven't met your goal, and you quit-or you meet your goal, quit, and gain the weight back. But one that's weight specific ("I want to lose 10 pounds") often leads to a pattern of yo-yo exercising. Goals are good-they're what get people through everything from grueling strength workouts to marathons. Adjusting your mindset and adopting an effective, yet sustainable, routine will keep you moving all year long. But your relationship with exercise doesn't have to be so hot and cold. It's hard to drum up the motivation to start a workout program (yet again) when you feel like you'll fall short of your goals (yet again), he says. "Yo-yo exercising exhausts you emotionally and psychologically," says Fletcher. "They never have an opportunity to gradually adapt to your exercise regimen."Īnd the damage isn't just physical. "When you don't exercise regularly, bursts of intense activity require your heart and lungs to work much harder than they are used to," says Drusilla Rosales, R.D., a researcher at the Exercise and Metabolic Disease Research Laboratory at the University of California at Los Angeles. And research shows that bouts of vigorous exercise followed by weeks of inactivity can increase fat levels and put excess strain on your cardiovascular system. Sound familiar? It's natural to ratchet up your routine when a big event is on the horizon (think wedding, high school reunion, or beach vacation), but taking a hiatus when it's over can mess with your weight and your health: An irregular exercise pattern can raise your body's natural set point (the weight your biological system naturally tries to maintain) and make it harder to dip below that number, says Ben Fletcher, D.Phil., a health psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire in England.
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