Lots of things can obscure the results of your hard work. Like seriously, so much. It doesn’t mean you’re not making serious progress. There’s a thing over in the lose it sun called the paper towel theory. It’s more relevant to weight loss than gaining muscle and strength but the point is that results become more noticeable and impactful the further in your journey that you are.

But in the event that you’re bulking up and/or specifically looking for motivation, not shooting your self in the foot goes a long way too. For me if I’m impatient and need the win on the scale, that means I need to eat clean and avoid alcohol. You don’t get to pound back a bottle of wine, eat all the salty carby food then complain about being bloated and fat, ya know? Even if you’re at a deficit, you’re gonna stall seeing progress (both weight loss and muscle gain) if your diet is full of the wrong junk.

I hope that made sense. Also measurements can help too.

But yes, fitness is really more of a mental challenge than a physical one ime. Making the gym a happy place to go to helps me keep my head in the game and I can often be found doing a bunch of lightweight stuff just to be able to say I got my butt to the gym that day. It’s not about how many times you fall down but instead about how many times you stand up.