Before your weightloss journey, take a photo of yourself

IF you have taken the decision to change your life, lose weight and get into shape, you know that it isn’t going to happen overnight. Unfortunately, these days we rely on too many quick fixes that require virtually no effort to acquire.

You can buy your hair, nails and enhanced body parts, fairly easily. However, it is still apparent that in order to own a truly balanced fit healthy body, you have to work for it.

Building cardiovascular fitness can be a relatively fast process if you are prepared to put in the effort and consistently raise the bar so that you do not remain in a comfort zone. Sculpting muscle and shaping your body takes a little longer.

One of the most important things you should do before you start your fitness and weight-loss journey is to weigh yourself and take measurements; taking a photograph from all three angles front, side and back is a great idea, I often do this with my clients. As the weeks and months go by, you feel your body changing, your clothes feel looser, you get compliments from other people, but you see yourself every day so it is not so easy to see how many changes have taken place as a result of your hard work.

The scale alone is not an adequate tool to show an overall picture when it comes to the change process of body shape, imbalance correction and new muscle tone. This is where measurements and photos are valuable. Measurements give the client an accurate gauge of where the weight is coming off and where their progression is. Photographs are priceless, as the saying goes… ‘The camera never lies,’ and it is a great motivator for someone to see a true picture of the way they looked at the start of their journey and how they look three months later.

I had a client recently that did a before and after bikini photo, and the changes in her body after three months were astounding.

This in itself was a great motivator to keep her on the right track. Even after many years of training, I too am aware that it can be hard to maintain your discipline and motivation unless you can actually see for yourself the results of your effort and hard work.