By Charlene Nieves
Do you want to lose weight? Don’t be ashamed if you do! Living a healthier lifestyle is possible for everyone at any age. Losing weight takes a lot of patience, strength and commitment. For some individuals it will be easier than others to shed the extra pounds but the important thing to remember is to never compare yourself to others and keep going! Everyone has their own unique weight loss journey but what they all have in common was their decision to lose weight. Here are some tips if you are deciding to lose weight and want some insight into the journey:
Sacrifices
Before you begin you have to understand that you will be making sacrifices for a long time. You will have to cut back on eating certain foods that are bad for you even though they’re delicious. Healthy food isn’t always the tastiest but if you get creative in the kitchen you can make it work. Along with cutting back on certain foods, you will also have to increase your movement to burn extra calories. This means you should find yourself more at the gym then laying down watching TV all day. These sacrifices will last until you reach your desired weight loss goal and then you can loosen it up a bit to maintain the current weight you’ve reached.
Commitment
If you want to lose weight then you need to stick to your goal. Many have started this journey only to feel discouraged after a couple of weeks or months and quit. Please don’t do that! It will take a lot of commitment before you start to see a difference in your weight and even more time for others who don’t look at you every day to tell the difference. Even though you can’t physically see the results, if you’re eating well and exercising you could be building muscle that isn’t noticeable yet. Building strength is a plus for your weight loss journey because along with losing some pounds you’re gaining some muscle.
Starting Over
You might reach a point where you decide to give up on your weight loss journey for any reason. You could start to believe that it is impossible for you to lose weight and you don’t want to bother anymore. Once you stop trying you decide to go back to your old habits and how you were when you first started. The important thing to remember is that you can always try again. Do not let yourself feel defeated over past errors and instead use them as a learning tool to not commit the same mistakes again. Prove yourself wrong and show the past you that you can reach your goals!
Support
Try to find supportive friends and family to join you on this journey. If you have friends and family who are losing weight with you it’ll be even more fun! You can plan out days to work out or prepare meals together. The best part is that you’ll be able to hold each other accountable for mistakes made during your journeys and encourage each other to stay on the right track. If you don’t have any friends or family members who want to join you on this journey, there are a lot of online weight loss support groups that you can join and chat with other people who are on their own weight loss journeys. You can also join a gym and take a fitness class where you’ll meet people in your area who are trying to accomplish the same goals as you. The most important support system you should have is yourself. It is up to you at the end of the day to continue this journey and you need to hold yourself accountable.
Overeating
There will be days where you will go too far and overeat. This happens to many people on their weight loss journey so don’t give up yet if you find yourself consuming extra calories. You might decide to have cheat days and accidentally over eat which sets you back on all the progress you made the days before. Not everyone’s weight loss journey is perfect and mistakes happen. The important thing to do in this situation is to accept that you made a mistake, learn from it and try not to do it again. Do not give up or feel discouraged if you’ve overeaten, try to work extra hard on your workout the next day or stop eating immediately when you’ve realized you’ve gone too far and go for an extra jog after you’ve digested everything.
Exercising
Along with a good diet, exercising will help you reach your weight loss goals faster. You don’t have to go to a gym to exercise when you can do it in the comfort of your own home! You can use household materials to exercise such as cans instead of weights or walking up and down the stairs instead of using a treadmill. There are also workout DVDs you can buy or watch fitness YouTube videos for free. Likewise, there are many apps you can download in the app store (some for free!) that have full workout plans you can follow and customize with your own fitness goals.
Patience
Patience is a priority for your weight loss journey. If you want a fast alternative to losing weight then weight loss surgery is an option. If you don’t have the money to pay for surgery then losing weight naturally is the only way to go. For some individuals it takes weeks, months or even years to get to their weight loss goal. The ones who’ve reached those goals had to deal with a lot of patience to achieve what they lost. The best advice I could give is to try and enjoy your weight loss journey. There will be a lot of times where you will feel miserable and sad but try to focus on the small achievements and admire your strength thus far.
Diet
You have to eat a well-balanced diet to lose weight. The problem that most people have with diets is they find them too restrictive or bland. If you want to try healthy Obvi recipes to spice up your weight loss journey, click here! If you’ve researched different diets and find them way too restrictive for you then try to cut down on your daily caloric intake instead. The average daily caloric intake for women is around 2,000 cals and for men it’s around 2,400 cals. Your specific daily caloric intake number depends on your age and basal metabolic rate. There are different apps and calculators online that you can use to calculate your specific daily caloric intake. The goal is to eat below your daily caloric intake every day to lose at least 1 pound a week.
Step Away from the Scale
One of the biggest mistakes people commit on their weight loss journey is constantly checking the scale to see if they lost weight. If you don’t see immediate results you will feel defeated and it will discourage you from completing your weight loss journey. Our weight fluctuates so much from day to day and even hour to hour depending on what we’ve eaten and other factors. The best time to check your weight is once a week or once every two weeks. Mornings when you wake up are the best time to check because stomach is empty and you’ll have a more accurate depiction of your body weight. To keep yourself motivated, try writing down your weight every time you check so you can track your progress.
Remember Why You Started
There will be a lot of times during your weight loss journey where you’ll want to give up but always remember why you started. There was a reason why you made the decision to lose weight and you’ll do a disservice to yourself if you give up. You knew this journey was going to be hard but you decided to make the commitment to reach your goals. Try to imagine the finish line and how happy you’ll be when you get to live with the results you’ve dreamed of. Nothing in life comes easy and all of the hard work and sacrifices will pay off in the end if you get there so do it!
Do you have any additional advice for the weight loss journey? Share them in the comments down below!
Autoship