What Happens When The New Wears Off?

I've had the pleasure for the past two days of having my friend L in town to workout with.  She travels for work and sometimes is gone eighty percent of the time, so her being in town and in the office has been a real treat for me.

Yesterday we did an arm workout I created that included bench presses, hitting the heavy bag, curl presses, and a routine with the heavy ropes.  I was quite proud when, after we'd moved on from the ropes, to see a group of guys (who are in the gym every day pumping iron) copying the exact same circuit we had just done. 

Today was beautiful and sunny so L and I decided to do our warm up outside on the riverwalk.  As we trucked along she started shivering and when I asked if she was cold, she said "Yes!  I used to have a layer of fat to warm me up and I don't anymore."  That cracked me up and then I realized that I definitely have become cold-natured since I changed my lifestyle.  It's interesting to see what happens with your body besides what happens on the scale.

As we walked back to the gym to continue our workout inside, our discussion, as usual, turned deep about our weight loss journey. We've trained together in our Transformation program and that created a strong bond between all of us.

"You know L," I said to her. "We've been at this a while; we're on the next leg of our journey and we're not newbies anymore. In some ways that's harder."

You think when you first get started that that is the hardest your struggle is ever going to be; don't get me wrong, it's tough, but the next leg is somewhat harder.  Your body gets used to the initial shock of your lifestyle change and you have to constantly switch up your workout and your food.  You have a tendency to plateau more often.  Your initial strictness slips a little and you have to constantly reign yourself back from slipping into old behaviors.   The new wears off and you have to find the resolve in yourself in order to keep fighting the fight.  You have to find the gumption to keep going because this race is about endurance more than anything.

So what happens when the new wears off?  For me, I draw strength from my support system, like L, take a deep breathe, and keep fighting. Bring on the next leg of the journey.