Be Patient for Results

Everybody is wired a little bit differently. Health and fitness results that come quickly to one individual may take a long time to come to another individual. You must be patient when performing your exercise routine as the results that you desire (provided they are realistic) will come over time.

If you lose your patience, take a step back and evaluate what you have done so far. Chances are that the results you are anxiously awaiting are long term goals. As suggested by their name, long term goals may take a long time to reach.

When you are patient, you show a great amount of discipline. Discipline is essential for a healthy body and successful aerobic training program. While you patiently wait for the results that you want to come to fruition, ask yourself a few questions about what you have accomplished so far to focus your mind:

1. What short term goals have I successfully met?

2. As I being reasonable as to how long I expect my results to take?

3. What can I do to accelerate the rate at which those results come?

4. Have I been faithful to my original plan?

5. Does something in my program need to change to meet my goals?

By focusing on the positive while evaluating your program, you can focus your thoughts toward healthy reinforcement and think about how you can make an effort for even more positive gains. If you are consistently not getting the results that you want yet still following your regular program, chances are that the only problem with your program is the results that you are expecting.

How Much Longer Until I See Results?

When you begin to see results depends on the results that you want to see. In some cases, the naturally slow development of the human body can hide results that are apparently there. It may be that you are just using the wrong methods to see them clearly. Below are some helpful tips on how to see results if they are not clearly there.

Weight Loss

When you set out to lose weight, you most likely have dreams of a thinner body and toned physique. Unfortunately, sometimes the scale can be a bit of a wall blocking your dream image. Try the following:

• Throw away the scale! The weight scale can be misleading and a bit of a liar. In fact, weight scales are often a very poor indicator of actual body fat loss while, on the other end of the spectrum, sound sirens in the event any weight is gained.

  Decide whether you actually need the scale to measure your results. Muscle weighs more than fat and this will not be reflected on the scale's measurement of your body.

• Use a tape measure: Even if you do not want to admit it, the tape measure does not lie. Most people set about losing weight to be thinner. If you could weigh 400 lbs. and still fit into size 32 pants, there (more often than not) would not be a problem.

  Dump the scale for a tape measure to get accurate results. Remember to measure your chest, legs, arms and neck as well as your belly. Your midsection is normally the first place that excess weight goes and the last place it leaves.

• Try on some old clothes: Although sometimes not a clear indicator of minor weight loss, trying on some old clothes to see if they fit a little better can be a nice indicator of continued weight loss.

  Consider buying some new clothes that are a size or two too small when you begin your program (the less they fit the better). If the buttons on the shirt or pants get closer to fastening every week, you are making good progress.

• Visit an old friend: If you have not seen an old friend in a while, paying them a visit a few months into your diet can be a great idea for more than a trip down memory lane. If you have made progress, they may compliment you. If they do not, you can either ask them if they see a difference or just spend the time catching up. Just because they do not mention anything does not mean you did not make any progress. Simply spending time with your friend can give you a boost towards your next goal by cheering yourself up.

Cardiovascular/Aerobic Progress

Progress towards an aerobic goal can be a little more difficult to evaluate than weight loss. Noticing progress can readily be made apparent by trying the following:

• Challenge yourself: If you have been working at about the same intensity for a while, try doing a single session at a much higher intensity to see how your body handles it. If you are successful in finishing or it comes easier than expected, chances are that you have made some progress in your program.

• Try another activity: Your body may have adjusted to your current form of aerobic exercise. Try jogging for a month instead of using the stationary bike at the gym. If you pay gym fees at the beginning of each month, planning to jog for a month can save you some money. Use the money that you save to treat yourself to a new piece of home exercise equipment or see a movie to reward yourself for all of your hard work.

• Check your exercise log: If you have not checked your exercise log in a while, now might be the time. Sometimes people get so caught up in their next goal that they forget all the progress that they have made so far. Seeing your results over the entirety of your program can reveal more progress than you think.

Do Not Get Discouraged

Your results may be taking a long time to show or you may just not be checking for them in the right ways. Whatever happens, by simply adhering to an exercise program, you are making huge strides towards a healthy lifestyle and doing something that many people would not be able to do.

Be proud of your resolve to help your body and the results will come when they come. Be honest, if everything happened exactly how it was supposed to happen, exercise would not be as fun and rewarding as it is.

You may not see results right away but believe that you will see them eventually. The rate at which your body develops and changes has to be slow for your own survival.

It takes a long time to lose weight because your body has been spending so much time protecting you from starvation and nutritional hardship. After all, by eating excess calories, you instructed it to do so in the first place. For exactly this reason, your body will be reluctant to surrender its hard work.

In the same way, if you are new to exercising, your body is developing muscles that it did not deem as necessary before you started your program. Your system has to be convinced that developing muscles is critical to your survival.

If you are constantly pushing your calf muscles towards development, your body will see that those muscles are becoming important and develop them. Be patient when waiting for your results and when they come, they will be that much more rewarding.