Ah losing weight… Aren’t we all trying to lose weight for the next event, for the doctor who keeps questioning our recent weight gain or for that little black dress/suit you can’t fit into anymore. Weight loss is big business and a major concern for people of all shapes and sizes. At the beginning of 2017, I too decided that I wanted to lose weight. I lost 40 pounds but as of this year, I am struggling with my journey. It takes a lot of work to stay motivated to work towards your goals and there will be mishaps along the way. But since I’m still on my journey, I wanted to share some tips on how I prepared myself to finally get started and stay consistent with weight loss and eating clean.
1. Learn to love yourself as you are now. I’ve always been overweight and I hated myself because of it. But once I learned to love myself and be confident in who I am as a plus sized woman, I was finally able to take weight loss seriously. You have to love yourself so much that you don’t want anything but the best for you! And that includes dropping those pounds!
2. Set your intentions around why you want to lose weight. I made sure to pick reasons that would still resonate with me even after I lost 10 pounds, 20 pounds and eventually 100 pounds. Make sure it’s something that keeps the fire burning, gets you to the gym, and motivates you to eat that oatmeal for breakfast every morning. One of my biggest motivators is overall health and hope for the future. There’s so much I want to achieve and being overweight can sometimes get in the way. Per my last post, being overweight can also be a contributing factor to developing chronic illness. It’s important to get real with yourself about what will be a consistent and constant motivation for you stay on your weight loss journey. And once you find it, write it on your bathroom mirror, the scale, your phone, or in your journal. Keep it in view at all times!
3. Double and triple check your identified intentions. Are you just losing weight to get back at someone who hurt you? Are you losing weight just to feel and look prettier? These reasons are common for a lot of people but they may not help you to keep the weight off. Think of reasons that are long lasting like getting healthier so you can play with your children, or losing weight so you’re no longer a pre-Diabetic. The more positive and long standing the intention, the easier it will be to revisit at times when things get tough.
4. Make a plan and give yourself a start date. How are you going to lose weight? Will you join a gym? Or will you just be working out outside of the gym? What are the challenges to getting started? Is family not supportive? Take inventory of what you want or need to do to lose weight and make sure you think about what would get in the way of those plans and how to deal with it. Then once you’re al set, pick a date to start where you haven everything prepared and ready. For example, the pantry is stocked with on plan foods to eat, you’ve planned your workout schedule and even alerted friends and family to this new change. Those who plan, plan to succeed.
5. You will mess up and get off track, but don’t give up or beat yourself up. We are human and make mistakes; but the most important thing is not to give up on your journey for a day or even a week worth of binge eating damage. Keep pushing and keep going back to your weight loss plan and revisit your reasons to continue working towards your weight loss goals. Remind yourself after your 2nd piece of cake at that social outing why you started this journey and why you want to continue!
6. If you mess up today, make an immediate plan to get back on track today. It’s easy to turn one binge into a week long thing. It’s ok to eat a burger or have cake for one day. One meal or day will not make you gain back all the weight you’ve lost. Just be prepared to go without that yummy goodness at your next meal by making a plan for that day and tomorrow. We often like to think if we ate off plan today, we will just start again tomorrow, or the next day, or next week. No, this way of thinking is a slippery slope! Getting back on the plan with the next meal does far less damage to your eating plan. For example, if you had McDonald’s for breakfast today, don’t go get more fast food for lunch and dinner. Make your next meal a salad or something that isn’t as unhealthy. When I get off plan I like to meal prep some healthy food that is tasty and satisfying to get me back on track for several days.
7. Seek professional help. When I say this I don’t just mean a trainer. I also mean get in touch with a therapist! Weight loss is very much a psychological thing. You’ll notice how things will shift and change for you as you shed weight, gain weight, or even try to maintain your weight. And sometimes when we miss the mark, failure can be discouraging causing you to feel like your journey is not worth it. Talking to someone who wants to support and understand your journey at heart can be helpful and liberating during your weight loss journey.
This isn’t an exhaustive list of weight loss tips by any means! But these are some of the things I found helpful that others may not be thinking about. Also, it is never too late to start a weight loss journey. Be gentle with yourself! There will be times when you binge on ice cream, skip the gym and drink a whole bottle of wine. But if you keep trying, and get clear with yourself about why you’re doing this you will see results!
Questions, comments, or concerns? Do you have your own tips to share? Looking for some extra support around your weight loss journey? Please reach out to me down below or email me at thehealingspiritcounseling@gmail.com.