5 SIGNS YOUR EFFORTS ARE PAYING OFF

The top motivating factor for exercising, for most people, is weight loss. When little weight is lost, most people tend to lose hope and stop exercising. Weight loss does not have to be the only reason why you exercise. There are so many other benefits you gain from making exercise a lifestyle. If you pay attention to only weight loss, you most likely would lack motivation to exercise if you don’t see results. There are so many other factors you could use to monitor your progress.

1. Increased Strength: take note of how strong you were before you started exercising. Perhaps you could barely lift up a 1 kilogram item and now you can lift up a 2 kilograms item with ease. This is evidence that you are making progress.
2. Endurance: You probably would have been out of breath after walking up the stairs but now you can run up and down several times and not notice, or, maybe you could only jog for thirty minutes when you started, but now, you can jog for an hour and a half.
3. Was getting up from your seat such a big task, that you’d rather use a hook to pull the remote control close to you, or call out someone’s name to help you get it? You've probably noticed that ever since you started the aerobics classes, you are now quicker on your feet.
4. Flexibility: Did your joints crack louder than firecrackers when you performed a squat? Have you noticed that your joints are now more flexible and you no longer dread performing squats during circuit training.
5. Are you more efficient at home? You probably are more at ease multitasking at home. The children no longer seem to drive you crazy, and the house chores suddenly seem more delightful to perform.

Using other factors to monitor your progress would keep you motivated to continue exercising so you can then achieve the desired weight loss.