Turning Point

I have been on my fitness journey for about a month now. I am definately seeing results which is awesome! I am fitting in to some clothes that I wasn’t wearing and some of the clothes that were tight are now looking better. What is really great is that I haven’t had to make huge, painful changes. I have cleaned up my diet a bit-I am paying more attention to what I am eating, keeping my treats to one a day and drinking more water. I am not really denying myself anything-I am just limiting the amount of the things that aren’t as good for me. I am walking 30 minutes 5-6 days a week and doing one of the DVD workouts 5-6 days a week. I don’t know how much weight I have lost (I don’t use a scale). I just know that I feel better and my clothes are fitting better.

However, this is the part of losing weight that I don’t like. Things always seem to feel like they are getting worse before they get better. My fat feels more ‘jiggly’ and soft. It hangs in places that I don’t like and sometimes sticks out of my clothes in ways I don’t find flattering. I have been through this before and my husband always tells me it is a sign of progress. A sign that things are getting better. So, in case you experience this and it makes you feel like you aren’t making progress, here is the explanation of why this happens.

There are three densitys of fat; brown fat, white fat and yellow fat. There is no difference in the fat other than the density. Brown is the most dense and white is the least dense with yellow falling in the middle. If you have your body fat for more than a year, it is relatively dense. Then, as you start to lose weight, the fat becomes less dense. This is why it starts to feel jiggly-your fat is less dense but it is still taking up the same amount of space. This will change as you continue to lose weight. Your fat will eventually become white fat (the least dense) and your skin will catch up and be tighter and the jiggles will be gone. Think of a balloon. If you fill it up with water and then let the water out quickly the balloon is looser than it was before you put the water in. In time, the balloon goes back to it’s normal ‘tightness’.

So, don’t get discouraged. Keep going. It will get better!