The Game

Finding the time and energy to stick to a fitness and nutrition routine is one thing, but waiting for the results is a whole 'nother animal.

It's a frustrating game of delayed gratification. Even with a proper routine and diet, sometimes you have to grind for months before you start to see the results that make it all worth it.

It is worth it, right?

While everyone's idea of what is worth their time is different, it's often hard to justify when diligently working towards a slow-moving and progressive process. The amount of time and energy you must put in to get significant results is immense.

Yet, it is the game you have to play to reach your goals.

It gets easier.

Turning Point

There will come a time in your journey when you start to see gains. It will often come when you least expect it.

Maybe you look in the mirror and find yourself pleasantly surprised at how skinny you look. A friend you haven't seen in a while compliments the size of your muscles. An activity that you once found challenging is easy this time around.

The positive feedback loop has begun.

Positive Feedback Loop

Once you reach the point of realizing gains, in one form or another, it becomes increasingly easier to continue along the path.

The psychological benefit of reaping what you sow is a powerful force that will move you closer to your goals. It feels good to see results finally, and that feeling can help you continue to pursue.

This phenomenon is known as a positive feedback loop.

Once you see gains, more gains are sure to follow.

Achieving progress will become easier as each piece of positive feedback reinforces your efforts and purpose. This reinforcement boosts your motivation to continue, leading to even more positive feedback from yourself and others.

The system is simple, in theory:

1. Pursue gains until you receive positive feedback, either by noticing the results yourself or hearing it from others.

2. Use the positive feedback to motivate you to pursue more gains.

3. Get more gains from the increased motivation.

4. Repeat.

While this is not a system you will consciously track, it helps to understand the power of the positive feedback loop.

No Results, No Motivation

The reality is that it is challenging to continue to pursue your goals without seeing the results of the labor.

It takes a specific type of person to be able to delay gratification indefinitely, and most people don't fall into that specificity. Most people want to see gains, and that's okay. Chasing the beginning of the feedback loop will help with that.

The challenge arises when you can't sustain the hard work long enough to experience the positive feedback loop. Many people face this issue at the beginning of their fitness and nutrition journey, giving up after just a week or two of effort without seeing results.

This is the recipe for a negative feedback loop.

If you work hard but never realize gains, you will not continue.

Just as a positive feedback loop can reinforce your desire to continue towards your goals, a negative loop can have the opposite effect. If you work hard but never get the gains you feel you deserve, it will become increasingly easier to stop pursuing your goals. All this will devolve into an excuse as to why you cannot continue.

Beginners often fall into this trap.

A mixture of impatience and program inefficiency leads to this negative feedback loop.

Overcoming the Negative

It's challenging.

Reaching the point where you see results is often one of the most critical periods of your fitness and nutrition journey, and with that, it is often one of the most demanding times. Overcoming the ease of the modern lifestyle and spending many hours in the gym and kitchen, only to reach the first hint of gains, is a lot of work.

Here are some tips for reaching this point quicker and easier:

1. Think less, act more. Ruminating over the lack of results will only lead you to quit quickly. Gains WILL come if you put in the work.

2. Internalize the idea of delayed gratification. Learning this will help in all aspects of life, but having patience for your goals to manifest is critical in fitness and nutrition.

3. Follow a structured fitness and nutrition plan. Using the experience of others will lead to you receiving results and reaching the positive feedback loop significantly faster than if you do it yourself.

4. Be patient. Expecting results before you do the work or taking shortcuts to get there faster will only hurt you.

Thinking Long Term

Fitness and nutrition is a lifestyle.

Consider thinking in terms of years and decades rather than weeks and months. The body, while highly adaptable, changes gradually. It takes years of a poor diet and sedentary lifestyle to become very overweight, and it takes just as long to lose weight. Similarly, building significant amounts of muscle through resistance training will take years.

Understanding this limitation is a secret to success. When you begin to plan your life around long-term fitness and nutrition, short-term gains become less necessary to your overall success.

You can remain in a positive feedback loop forever.

There is always something you can improve about your health. When progress slows in one vertical, often new results will appear in other aspects of your life. As your body becomes healthier, you'll notice your mind becoming clearer and your emotions stabilizing.

Just keep chasing results. It will always pay off in time.

Summary:

• Achieving fitness and nutrition goals requires patience and consistent effort, as significant results often take months to materialize.

• Unexpected gains, such as compliments from others or personal milestones, initiate a positive feedback loop that makes continuing the journey easier.

• Realizing gains creates a psychological boost, motivating further effort and resulting in more gains, reinforcing the commitment to fitness and nutrition goals.

• Lack of visible results can demotivate and lead to a negative feedback loop, causing many beginners to abandon their fitness and nutrition efforts prematurely.

• To reach the point of visible results faster, it's important to focus on action over rumination, internalize delayed gratification, follow structured plans, and practice patience.

• Viewing fitness and nutrition as a lifelong commitment helps shift focus from short-term gains to sustained health improvements over years and decades, ensuring continuous progress and benefits.