The Secret To Weight Loss Success
Is there really a secret to losing weight? Yep! There is!
It just may not be as sexy and exciting as it sounds. :( That's too bad, right? BUT, you know what's even better than exciting? It's simple and it really, really works.
For years, I tried to find this secret. I would bounce around in my weight anywhere from 15 pounds above where I wanted to be all the way up to 35-40 pounds over my goal weight. (Even more while I was pregnant) On a 5'1" frame, that makes a pretty big difference, I assure you. I tried a variety of things to get there. I mean, I think most of us have! Right?
Here are a few of my favorite highlights from those efforts. I tried -
🙃 The cabbage soup diet - for 1 meal. (Gross!)
🙃 Something centered around grapefruit (?)
🙃 Drinking my mom's slimming shakes
🙃 Following the Zone diet with all it's bars and stuff several times a day
🙃 Attending ROTC Camp Challenge - Essentially a Boot Camp for college students without having to commit to enlisting at the end
🙃 Marching in a Drum and Bugle Corps
🙃 Majoring in Fitness and Wellness Management in college
Some of these helped me lose weight. Others, not so much. And the ones that did were not sustainable. So, when the camp or the summer was over, I had no new habits and just gained all the weight back.
Even making Fitness my major and career goals did NOT provide me with a fast track to weight loss.
The Answer Is Not A Hack
The problem really was that I was always looking for a hack. For a quick fix to help me get to the weight I envisioned as the perfect weight for me, so I could go back to my old ways and somehow magically maintain that preferred weight.
What I failed to recognize was that weight loss really could be simple and could totally FIT into your life. AND that it NEEDS to fit into your life or it won't last.
The SECRET to weight loss is this.
Consistency In Healthy Choices
You need to consistently make healthy choices with your food and movement in a way that is proven to provide healthy weight loss and management over time.
Ooooh. That consistency thing? Yep! You gotta be consistent. And it's gotta be with something that you can live with. And it's gotta be something that is balanced and healthy. AND it's gotta have some flexibility so you can live your life, enjoy celebrations like birthdays and holidays, without fearing that you'll wreck all of your efforts going forward.
At that point, you can lose weight and keep it off without feeling like you're sacrificing much of anything to get there.
Pick 1 Thing
But how do you build consistency when it's hard to even get started?
Start small. Many times, we begin by sprinting full speed ahead. But then we crash and burn and end up worse than we were when we started.
Instead. Pick 1 thing. AND ONLY ONE THING to work on becoming consistent with. Pick something that is a push for you but will be totally doable with some time and effort.
For example, many times, when dealing with nutrition goals, I will recommend starting with a water goal. That's a goal to drink about half your body weight in ounces. If you're 150 pounds, you would aim for 75 ounces of water.
Why water?
Water has a lot of benefits. And if you don't have enough, it can really cause some issues and make it darn near impossible to begin to lose weight.
- If you're thirsty, sometimes your body thinks you're hungry, so you end up eating extra food you didn't need.
- When you drink water before eating, not only do you avoid those extra calories from thirst confusion, but you also fill up your tummy a bit so your body is more ready to recognize when you've had enough to eat.
- And then there's a lot of scientific stuff with how your cells work better when they have enough water, so your body will actually cooperate with you better in your weight loss efforts if you drink enough water each day.
- So many more reasons!
Then what?
After you've gone a couple three weeks on your first goal, and you've got a good handle on it, pick 1 more thing to work on.
From there, you will grow into good life-long habits that will sustain a healthy lifestyle and a healthy weight. And that, my friend, is when you can successfully reach your goals for the long term.
Tell me in the comments, what is your ONE goal to work on this month that will help you feel more successful with your nutrition without going overboard and feeling deprived through the holidays?