Your intention for how you want your body to look doesn’t overpower your body’s biology, psychology, and needs.
I get that you have this image in your mind of how you want to look. It very well might be a reasonable goal. But it could just as easily require you to engage in behaviors that don’t mesh with YOU.
Your goal physique might require you to eat less than your body will let you.
Your goal physique might require you to engage in exercise you really don’t enjoy.
Your goal physique might require you to be someone you’re not.
All of these things can be overpowered in the short term. And if your goal is just to achieve a particular physique temporarily (and there’s nothing wrong with that), you can most likely power through those misalignments.
But in the long-term your body is going to get to a place of homeostasis. It’s going to get what it needs to feel fulfilled.
Now, this might sound discouraging, but I prefer you see it as empowering.
Because once you accept this fact, you can start taking actions that allow you to feel your best mentally, emotionally, and physically. And once you’re in alignment, your ideal body is the natural side effect.
Your ideal body might not look like you thought it would, but it doesn’t matter. You really weren’t after a look anyways – you were after a feeling that was disguised as a look.
You can like what you see in the mirror at any weight. You can feel your best at a wide range of different body weights. You can be confident and feel connected with other people independent of what you look like.
And all this happens once you act in alignment with your body and start honoring what it says it needs.
That means feeding it enough calories, finding joy in the physical activity you do, and acting true to yourself.
Ironically, once you do that, your body tends to change anyways. But this time it isn’t forced and the changes last a lifetime.