The magic pill?

You want a magic pill? Don't we all and I'm sorry to say it doesn't exist, I believe that Oprah would have invented it by now!  I bet you would be willing to pay a lot of money just to have "the answer" so once and for all you could lose the weight and live happily ever after.  We live in a world where we can get whatever we want right now, instant gratification.  You can pretty much pay for anything and I cannot even count how many diet pills and so called magical diets there are for sale these days, everyone is trying to make a quick buck.  

The one thing I have learnt with this weight loss journey is that we cannot pay for a better body unless you are willing to go under the knife and that is a painful and expensive way to go and for most of us just not a reality.  To get results we have work for it and wait for the magic to happen, it's certainly not an overnight cure and it's a huge mental game, many people put it in the too hard basket and feel as if they will never figure out just how to do it.  It seems too confusing with all the mixed messages out there about how to eat, I get it! 

Please remember that no matter what we are all unique and what works for someone else is not necessarily what will work for you.  For instance I follow a low carb, high fat, primal diet that dips in and out of ketosis year round, it works for me, it's helped me shed 40kgs and I've maintained that loss for 5 years now. However I do not think that it will work like that for everyone and for most of you out there you won't ever need to go to the ketogenic levels that I have, I use a ketogenic diet to manage health issues like migraines, pcos and menieres disease, when I'm not in ketosis I don't feel my best.  Now I know a lot of people are tempted to monkey see, monkey do and mimic my diet and for many out there it might be the very thing that will help you (hence why I do this) but for a lot of people out there it could be the worst choice and I'm not encouraging everyone to just jump into it without some serious thought first.  

Don't be fooled into thinking that weight loss is the hard part and maintaining is easy, quite the opposite in fact! To maintain your weight loss is one of the hardest things, the changes you need to make in relation to your food choices need to be for the rest of your life. I'm sure you have all tried a "diet" and then stopped "dieting" only to gain the weight back and then some.  You need to make this a lifestyle, yes that sounds cheesy but it's the only sustainable way to keep the weight off. If you are eating shakes and protein bars everyday and you cannot imagine that being a part of your life forever then you will possibly be setting yourself up to fail. It's super important to choose the foods that you enjoy where you have variety, foods that help keep you satiated and the kinds of foods that you know you can eat for the rest of your life. I'm not going to talk about how many calories or macro-nutrients I think you should eat as it's too individual to cover.

So start small, set yourself a realistic goal, do not envision yourself in a unrealistic body, chances are that you will not obtain that idealistic version of yourself.  Set realistic and small goals, you can change this as you get further along, obtaining small goals is mentally much easier, for instance thinking in terms of 5kgs at a time vs losing 40kgs all at once can feel doable. Treat yourself to something lovely like a massage, pedicure, facial, new book, pair of shoes once you have reached your goals, it's a great wee motivator.  

Next step is to make a plan, figure out what style of eating suits your personality and find a support group out there, it's much easier to lose weight when you have the support of others.  There are multiple websites out there that have meal plans and recipe ideas. 

Consistency is key, I cannot stress this enough.  The choices you make on a daily basis is what will determine your fat loss goals, that's not to say that you can't ever have a treat, life is for living so get amongst it but try and plan it so you can find a balance.  Life will always be full of celebrations and exciting times surrounding food and you will have to make conscious choices.  Decide that your brothers wedding is a time you might want to let your hair down, eat all the cake and drink all the wine, but your aunties birthday might be a good time to practice some resistance and remind yourself you can politely say no.

Patience is needed, you will not get anywhere if you cannot practice some patience.  It takes a long time to lose substantial weight in a safe manner.  Some weeks you may not see any losses and other weeks you will feel like you have this dialed in and totally in control.  Like I mentioned earlier, weight loss isn't linear so don't expect the same results every week, just because you don't see your weight changing all the time doesn't mean it's not working.  The worst thing you can do is give up or start dropping your calories too low because then you are setting yourself up for failure and a damaged metabolism.

Results take time and it generally takes a lot longer then you think it will.  Remember you didn't gain weight overnight so one good meal won't make you thin just like one not so great meal won't blow all your efforts. True fat loss takes time and it's not an exact science like many lead you to believe.  If you have a lot of weight to lose it will happen much faster but if you don't have as much to lose it can be a slow and frustrating journey at times, don't give up.  Nothing worth having comes easily.

Most important of all...enjoy the journey! We can be so focused that we miss all the joy that comes from improving our eating habits, discovering new foods and new recipes, starting new hobbies and finding new ways to exercise that you enjoy.  Try not to be so focused on it that you miss out on life in the process! 

Five years ago I was sitting exactly where you are today feeling like it was never going to happen for me, I started this journey scared and fearful I might fail but I had nothing to lose.  I have never looked back x