““I have every self-help and diet book out there, and here I am, still 40 pounds overweight. Sometimes I lose weight and get all excited, only to sabotage myself and eat like a horse. What is wrong with me?””
Sound familiar?
What if I said there isn’t anything wrong with you? What if you started from the opposite side of the judgment street and started calling yourself something totally awesome? If 85% of diets fail, maybe the problem isn’t with you at all, but with the approach to weight loss through dieting. Dieting is deprivation. It torments.
We are human. We don’t like being hungry or feeling deprived. We need energy to stay alive. When you get the right energy from the right foods, it will be just like high test gas in a car. You’ll burn your fuel efficiently and have the energy and focus to live life fully.
You Are What You Eat
If you want to lose 40 pounds, follow these 6 tips to get results:
- rev up your metabolism - Metabolism is the process within your body that converts the food you eat into energy. Your body needs energy just to manage all bodily functions; beyond that it needs energy for you to perform activities you might do throughout the day. The key is to eat enough food to give your body enough energy to manage these tasks, but not too much or too little. It’s like Goldilocks choosing the right bowl of porrige. Head on over to my blog to see more about metabolism and take a measurement of your own daily requirements.
- be patient - those 40 pounds didn’t show up in two or three months; lasting weight loss happens over many months or even years. Change your food and take it step by step
3. fire any and all judges, i.e., your spouse, friends, kids, who mention your weight or comment on what you eat. That’s called shaming and has a boomerang effect, yes? Practice these sentences.
4. get all junk food out of your house; save “treats” for outside special occasions and they will feel like treats instead of mindless eating.
5. find sweetness in your life from things other than sugar: hugs, good deeds, nature walks and pets - whatever lifts your spirits.
6. scroll through my recipes for some quick and easy meals
Get Non-Judgmental Support
We are a very impatient culture. We want instant results. When you look at weight, you may want instant results when you want to lose, but those same pounds you want to lose were not gained in an instant. Weight gain is gradual, and if you want to lose, you need to be patient. You need to sort out the things that will help you from the things that won’t.
You may have been shamed in the past after losing a bunch of weight while dieting, only to gain it back. This can be especially damaging to self-esteem. If this has happened to you, you may have gone back and repeated the diet, only to lose and gain once again. This is a form of expensive, non-productive punishment.
Ditch Cravings? Here's How
If you really want to lose weight, stop thinking about the weight. Instead, start thinking about how you’ll feel when you get enough food and get rid of hunger cravings. Think of how you’ll feel when your blood sugar starts to stabilize and your new habits help you let go of unwanted weight.
Did you know that the cravings you’ve had come from eating low nutrient foods that have sugar, artificial sweeteners and additives in them? Your body is highly intelligent and knows you cannot get the nutrients you need from these foods, so your brain will signal you to eat more. If you eat more of the low nutrient foods, your brain won’t be satisfied and will call for more food. The vicious cycle continues until your food changes to nutrient rich foods. And no worries, these are foods that taste GOOD.
Remember, you CAN feel better. You CAN be a healthier weight. It’s a process that takes time but in the end it helps you reach that long desired goal and frees you to spend your days pursuing things that have meaning to you.
Head on over to my Programs page to see how I can help you.
Don’t stay feeling frustrated. Clear out those bookshelves and get into the mindset of successful change. It’s much more fun.