Some change is fast (cut back on coffee and lose the jitters) and some is painfully slow (frequently, weight loss). If you’re paying attention to most magazines, blogs, podcasts or daytime TV there seem to be countless ‘hacks’ to cut corners to make change fast…but how much of it is true? Which changes actually ARE fast? Which are necessarily slow?
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but more of a series of patterns I’ve noticed from my own experience, working with clients and study.
Fast:
- Cardiovascular tune up: As people make healthier food choices they almost always want to start moving more (feeling better does that to you!). Our blood vessels and heart tend to respond quickly to any change in our activity level. When we move more, new vessels grow and old vessels become more flexible. This is measurable by paying attention to your resting heart rate…it’ll get slower and slower as we move more. Here’s how to take your resting heart rate: https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/expert-answers/heart-rate/faq-20057979
- Bloating disappears: When we swap out sugar-filled drinks for water and processed food for produce, protein, and healthy fats and carbs clients typically experience a noticeable difference around their waists within 3-5 days. No, they didn’t suddenly lose 10 pounds of fat but they do lose 5-15 pounds of water. Water will always follow salt so if you’re eating a bunch of salt you’ll have a bunch of extra water hanging around. Our food may not taste salty, but if it comes out of a can or package it’s frequently LOADED with sodium…that’s salt. Water also follows glycogen, which gets stored in cells when we eat an abundance of carbs. When we eat plant-based carbs in reasonable quantities we don’t store as much glycogen and we lose that ‘I ate a batch of cookies and now have a food baby’ look.
- Hello sleep!: What we eat has a huge impact on our sleep. Eat too much protein? Expect to be a sweaty mess all night as your body digests it all. Destroyed a large pizza and pan of brownies? Don’t expect to sleep like a baby. However, when clients start replacing processed foods with healthier choices and don’t eat right before bed they frequently notice a huge change in their sleeping habits: they can go to sleep quickly, stay asleep better and wake up feeling more refreshed.
- I’m Not Overly Full: This one can happen in 1 day! Fresh food that still looks like something that was picked or raised is not processed by our bodies the same as food from a box or can. For many years I thought it was normal to feel overly full several times a day. As our eating patterns changed I began to notice that even when I ate a LOT of food, if it was fresh I didn’t feel like I had a brick in my stomach that required a nap to go away. Clients are sometimes amazed that they still feel good and have energy after a meal (which is how food should make us feel) and begin to crave that feeling over their old foods.
Slow:
- Muscular/skeletal growth: Our cardiovascular system adapts quickly, but muscle and bones take longer. The process they go through to become bigger and stronger is slower, especially in most women (hello hormones!). This is why many new runners find they can physically run quite a way within a few weeks…but OUCH! will they pay for it the next day with sore muscles and shin splints.
- Weight loss: Some women are able to lose quite a bit rather quickly if they are super motivated and consistent, but for many women it’s a challenge. Change is hard, hormones and schedules don’t always cooperate and weight loss is never linear. Even for women who lose weight quickly there are plateaus while our bodies adjust to all the change going on. Expect change over weeks and months, not days.
- I Think I Have More Energy: This is one that seems to sneak up on people. There may be a drastic change in the beginning if our diets went from McDonalds 3x a day to eggs, salads and stir frys, but in general this comment pops up 2-3 months in. Women suddenly realize they can make it through the afternoon without a nap, the alarm clock isn’t such a horrible sound in the morning and they’re being more active with their families at night.
- Consistency: Most things worth having take a while to obtain and consistency is in this category. It’s a skill that takes time and practice. Most of us can force ourselves to stick to a ‘diet’ or work out plan for a week or two, but throw in a holiday, illness, overtime, vacation or office break room full of donuts and we fall apart. Those who build consistency have fallen on their faces MANY times…and they just keep getting back up and trying again. Over time I start to get comments like, ‘I’ve learned I can pass up the break room because I know I’ve got a treat planned later this week’ and ‘I just realized that salads have become my norm for lunches…sandwiches used to be my go-to easy food.’
The awesome part of all these changes is that there’s always something improving as long as we keep at our healthy habits. Each week we learn something new, find the courage to experiment a bit, fit into clothes that were too tight last month and have the energy to tackle whatever life throws at us!
