staying motivated

well, here we are upon the holidays, and I (along with many other Americans) am trying to watch what I eat and exercise..  But it is NOT a lost cause.

I remember reading in one of my Runner's World magazines that it takes time to see weight loss and toning for several reasons, but oone of those is because our bodies burn fat from the inside out.  And guess where lots of fat is stored when we don't work out?  IN THE MUSCLE!  So, while you may be running, walking, lifting weights, or doing aerobic classes, it takes time to see changes.  You may not see the scale change because as your body burns off the fat hiding inside the muscles, it is building muscle, which weighs more than fat.  You may not see toning right away because that fat has to gradually burn away before the muscle starts to make drastic changes in appearance.

So, there is no need to become discouraged when it takes time.  The goal for me until January is to continue being consistent with my workouts even through the holidays.  I know we all have family visiting, or we are traveling ourselves but it is not that ahrd to set aside an hour a few days a week to just move!  =)