Yes living a healthy lifestyle is about the results, about seeing your body transform into something you never thought it could be. But, it's also about so much more. It's about the small triumphs you find yourself reaching along the way, about training muscles you never even knew your body had, exploring tastes you never knew you would like through cooking skills you never knew you had. It's about cutting minutes off your 5k time and feeling so accomplished, about lifting more weight and pushing to get one more rep in that last set. It's not about competing with the person standing next to you or feeling jealous when someone does better than you, it's about yourself and the changes you see in yourself. It's about the change to feeling more positive, to having more energy, to loving yourself a little bit more than usual. It's about all of that too.

I have heard countless times that people give up on their healthy lifestyle because they aren't "seeing" the results. What you're not seeing is the change in your attitude, the change in the way you feel, the increase in energy your body has throughout the day. You're not seeing the increase in positive chemicals released in your brain or the millions of muscle fibers growing stronger and healthier. You're not seeing the years you're adding onto your life by improving your cardiac health and overall body health. That's what you don't see, and that's what matters most.

Many times, the changes that occur in our body to make us physically fit are the changes that occur internally first.

If you're really into leading a healthy lifestyle, the physical results are just an added plus, a nice little cherry on top of the sundae.

Moral of the story? Do not give up so easily. Do not give up so fast. Some people lose weight faster than others and some never lose it at all. The important part is that you're being healthy, you're changing your body for the better internally. You're releasing those happy endorphins into your brain, you're smiling more, working harder, and feeling better. Don't let those perks fade because you can't see the physical results. That's not what a healthy lifestyle is all about.