Here's a little inspirational quote I found a long time ago......
It's called the Paper Towel Theory.
Let's assume you go out and buy two rolls of paper towels, each with only 84 paper towels on it.
You put one aside, and keep it for future reference (this is your before picture).
The other one represents you.
The cardboard core represents the lean you.
The towels represent the fat that is covering the lean you. For argument's sake, let's say you want to lose 21 pounds of fat, so (84/21) each sheet represents a quarter-pound of fat lost. Let's also assume that you lose the fat equally every day.
Each day during the first week, you tear off a sheet of you, this sheet represents the fat you have lost for the day. (Or take off 7 sheets in a week!)
Next, you put yourself next to the full roll for comparison. No noticeable difference, even at the end of the week!
Now you're wondering if you've been doing something wrong!
But, being a good you, you continue to exercise and eat sensibly. At the end of weeks two and three, you continue to compare you to the other paper towel roll, and still notice very little difference. Now you're seriously beginning to doubt your exercise and portion control efforts will ever work!
But you're determined!
You work hard!
You continue to exercise and are careful with your meals.
Three more weeks go by, the sheets peel off day after day, before you get up the courage to compare yourself to the other you (the other paper towel.)
WOW!
It is working!!
OK, so you're not skinny, but you are smaller!!!
By the end of two more monthly challenges, you're down a good few pounds and closer to your ideal weight, you're happy. And we're all happy for you too.
What did you learn?
The lesson to be learned here is: Fat is like paper towels, it comes off in sheets.
When you are heavy, you are big around. And when you are big around, that fat is spread over a MUCH larger area.
The closer you get to the lean you, the more each lost pound of fat shows, because it is spread over a smaller area.
While the outside sheet may only cover 1 layer of the roll, the inside sheet may go around 4 times. That last sheet looks like it gives you 4 times the results of the first sheet, but in reality, the results are the same, your perception is just different!
Remember: You can't hope to see that inner core (the cardboard roll) unless you're willing to patiently peel off each sheet of towel to get there.