Gone are the days when losing weight was the most backbreaking task of all. Now, all you need to do is pluck out all the distractions and negative vibes surrounding yourself.
For a victorious long term weight loss plan, you need to stay motivated by making some healthy changes in your life. Following new trends can be hard at first, but soon you will get fond of these orderly habits. Give yourself some time to adapt, slowly take a step forward and follow these productive routine practices step by step:
Find your ‘Why’
We start with the most important tip of them all. Understanding ‘why’ you want to make a change to your weight. How many times do you tell yourself ‘oh I need to lose weight’ or set weight loss goals without first addressing why your doing it?
The reason its so important is because unlocking the ‘why’ will reveal your core values. Core values do not disappear, they are something that is ingrained in your sub-conscious and guides you through your life. Linking your weight loss goal to this creates a powerful connection that is crucial for motivation and success.
An example for you. Bob wants to lose weight. His goal is to lose 12 pounds in 12 weeks. Why does Bob want to do this? Bob VALUES his family more than anything. Knowing he is currently unable to keep up with his kids and may not be able to see them grow up due to his weight problem scares Bob the most. Therefore Bobs new goal is to lose 12 pounds in 12 weeks BECAUSE he wants to be actively involved with his kids while they’re young and be around to watch them grow into adults.
Tell me that isn’t motivating!
Stop Comparing
Stop comparing yourself to others. One of the biggest problems in todays society is the rise of social media and with it supermodels and ‘influencers’. Images of these people tend to dominate your social media feed, showing off and promoting a highly unattainable and edited figure. In turn this makes trying not to compare yourself to these size 0 models a tricky job indeed. Research has supported the negative effect of aspiring to these standards and actually showed people who do, put on weight!
What should you compare yourself to then?
If your going to compare yourself to anyone let it be YOURSELF! Focusing on your own body and photos of you at your healthiest will help boost your confidence, mood and motivation to succeed in your weight loss goals.
Don’t Weigh Yourself Everyday
If your feeling fit and healthy then the weighing scales can say what they like. Your weight is constantly changing due to numerous factors. The important factor that most people care about is FAT. This goal of fat loss however, often gets translated into weight loss. Would you be happy losing 20 pounds and finding out it was all muscle? I don’t think so. Losing 1 pound of fat requires a calorie deficit of roughly 3500 calories (500 a day). This is therefore a slow process that requires consistency.
Consequently, by jumping on the scales every single day your more likely weighing the meal you had last night or the fluctuations in your water level rather than actual fat loss. This can lead to discouragement and failure to achieve your goals. When it comes to weighing yourself stick to once a week max and be mindful that your muscles growing will add weight so preferably get a scales which looks at your body composition rather than just weight.
Keep A Food Diary
Keeping a food diary is arguably the most effective technique for sustained weight loss. In fact recent research has shown that people recording in a food dairy 6 days a week lost DOUBLE the weight compared to people who recorded 1 day a week.
Why does it work?
- Increases your awareness – As soon as you start writing down what you are eating you become AWARE of not only what your eating but how much and why your doing it.
- Helps identify areas to change – Most commonly areas of overeating. One of the biggest issues is snacking and people often don’t realise just how much they are snacking and the calories it adds up to. By seeing this all written down it helps initiate an intervention.
To conclude, Weight loss can seem like a daunting task and you may feel pressure to implement every single strategy you see. Try to avoid this and instead find strategies that help YOU the most. This should be done by taking 1 step at a time, until you find a couple that work for you.
Alternatively if your looking for extra assistance and are ready to take your FAT loss to another level get in contact and we can get started on creating a functional weight loss programme tailored to you now.