Changes come in waves. What you did, ate, put into motion over the weekend, will show up in about 2 days.The workout you did on Wednesday will be felt most by Friday. The pizza you ate Friday, on your gut by Sunday. The promises set on Sunday, in full force by Tuesday.
When people ask how long they have to wait to see results in their bodies once they begin workouts, I tell them about the two week rule. It takes about two weeks to see results if you are consistent in your training at a minimum of three days per week. When they ask about how long cutting something out of their diet will show up on their bodies, they’ll work hard the first week, be tempted in the second week, and lose their cravings by the end of the second week, seeing the results by that weekend.
They will notice a difference in how they feel in two weeks; how they look, in 4 weeks; and a difference others will notice, in 6 weeks. If alcohol is involved, delay all progress for another 48 hours. It will take that long to get the “poison” out of the system and the “good blood” to return to its normal balance.
A surfer waits for minutes, hours, sometimes days for the waves to be “gnarly.” But the wait is always worth it. Learning to surf is exhausting. Your arms hurt, your chest is raw, your back aches, you’re tired and then you’re paddling on top of the breaking arc, you crouch, you check your balance, you stand, and for once you don’t fall off as the water below you rolls clear and blue and the exhilaration of “catching a wave” is so incredibly electrifying that you forget all the time and anguish it took to land one. The reward is in the patience of perseverance. That one wave feeds all the ones to follow.
The first date is only a test. The anticipation of the second and third encounters are further tests of compatibility, interests, chemistry and companionship. Your intuition tells if the timing/person is right or wrong. You check your hair, your clothes, your smell, your playlist, directions to the restaurant and meeting on date 3 somehow again seems like the first and you are swept up, because the wait and the universe is finally on your side and the person sitting across from you is suddenly your bride.
When you change your diet, you’re changing the way your body reacts to food. Living without soft drinks, junk food, candy, sugar, etc., plays with the head as much as the tongue. Burger King no longer is king, it tastes like ketchup and soggy lettuce on a stale bun, all those tastes registering anew and confirmed by the sickness your gut feels from the slush you’ve just subjected it to. You can’t finish a Coke, let alone a Big Swig. That bag of Skittles is now junk caught in your teeth and you only finish it to not waste it, wishing you’d never had it. But in two weeks, those cravings are in the past.
The workouts start out hard. You hurt, and not only hurt, but you’re sore all the time, all over. But in two weeks time, you yearn for that soreness, that challenge of more pushups or pull-ups or a little deeper squat. You start to feel solid, all over. People grab an arm and say, “wow.” The fear of what you’ll accomplish in the gym is present on the way in, then met with a smile and a “yea!” on the way out. You’re already planning your next challenge, your next trial run on a piece of apparatus or class. The wait is over, the thrill is on. You are doing something for yourself and those first workouts are something to laugh at. The diet has kicked in and you realize that donut is only going to take more time to get rid of than it’s worth. You’re fighting for your body now, your health, the goodness you feel inside and out.
It takes time and effort and will, but the rewards multiply faster than the fat that got you there. The mirror again becomes a friend, an accomplice, a way to measure accomplishments. Commit to a plan, stick to it for a minimum of two weeks, and see how everything changes. Let this be your guide.
