The markers of diet products would have everyone believe that anyone can lose weight easily. When you couple these types of claims with the advice and comments about weight loss that many high-metabolism, stick-thin people are quick to give, you may be wondering if something is wrong with you. Why can’t you seem to lose weight? After all, you eat less than your skinny peers, you’ve purchased the equipment, read the books, popped the diet pills and nothing is melting away.
The truth is losing weight can be done, but it is not as easy as people would have you believe. Society has programmed our minds to believe that pills, products, equipment and starving ourselves is the answer to melting fat - and the majority of us believe it. That is why billions of dollars are spent each year on these services and products. Yet, we are still overweight.
The truth is the concept of weight loss is easy. You simply have to eat less calories than you burn. While that sounds simple, why can’t we do it? Why aren’t those of us who want to lose weight more than anything in the world unable to do it? The answer is we don’t lose weight because losing weight is hard, and the fact that losing weight involves more than just eating a salad instead of a pizza or going to the gym three or four times a week.
The only way to truly start losing weight and to get your health on the right track is to change your mind-set and your lifestyle. Here is a list of the things you will need to evaluate and get right before the fat will truly start melting off:
Weight Loss - Your Mental Approach
Getting excited and psyched up to lose weight is a great thing. However, unless you view the process as a change in lifestyle instead of a way to ‘look’ a certain way, the changes you make will not last. The excitement of losing weight will pass because you are not approaching weight loss for the right reasons or as a permanent change in the way you live.
By approaching weight loss for the sake of appearance only, you are setting yourself up to fail. You will have to change your mental approach and see that the efforts you are going to be putting into the weight loss process are more than just about the way you will look. It is also about becoming healthy, having more energy, living longer, and being a good steward to your body. When approached from this mindset, you will still remain motivated even if the scale doesn’t move for a week or more—versus getting depressed and pigging out and eating a bag of chips or skipping your workouts.
Weight Loss - Your Exercise Style
If you want to lose weight you are going to have to move your body. There really is no way around that fact. Granted, you may lose some weight by changing up your eating habits, but that will only go so far. You will eventually hit a wall and your weight loss will stop. While the thought of exercise isn’t exciting or fun for most of us, it can be if you set reasonable goals and routines for yourself. You will have to build your body up slowly.
The worst thing you can do when starting to exercise is to go on a power-walk or sign up for high aerobic workout classes. Going full speed ahead right out of the gate will only burn you out, if an injury doesn’t put you on the sidelines first. Exercising isn’t about killing yourself. It is about discovering the types of activities that you like and doing them on a regular basis. For some it may be walking, others may prefer riding a bike, swimming, roller blades, running, weight training, dancing and so on. It doesn’t matter what your sister or best friend does for their exercise routines, do what you like and exercise won’t feel like such a chore.
Weight Loss - Your Eating Style
If you want to lose weight you are going to have to be mentally conscious about the foods you eat. Every single day you will need to work at it and replace the unhealthy foods that you eat with healthier ones. Doing this doesn’t mean you cannot ever have your favorite foods again, it just means you don’t make meals out of them day in and day out - and you don’t eat them whenever the mood or craves strike. Changing your eating style is a must if you want to lose weight permanently.
Your Ability to Accept Failure
Many people that start down the road to losing weight and getting healthy will quit at the first bump in the road. The ability to accept failure, dust off, and begin again is the key to losing weight. No one is perfect. You will have good days, bad days, sick days, and so on. When these times come around, go with it - and begin again. Don’t just stop. You are not a loser or a failure. You are just human.
Recommended Reading
For more information and advice on successfully losing weight, take a look at the following books:
Suzanne Somers’ Eat Great, Lose Weight
Lose Weight, Have More Energy & Be Happier in 10 Days
Think Thin, Be Thin: 101 Psychological Ways to Lose Weight
If I’m So Smart, Why Can’t I Lose Weight? Tools to Get it Done
Choose to Lose: A Food Lover’s Guide to Permanent Weight Loss
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