2020 has ended. We are all making all these New Year Resolutions that we know in our heart of hearts that we will absolutely not keep. We want to eat healthier, and lose weight but many of us still struggle with keeping our weight at a decent level.
I have a lot of friends asking me what I do to keep in shape. It is actually as simple gathering the courage to really WANT to make the change and that involves a lot of moxy! So the first trick to losing weight is self-discipline. Be disciplined and everything else will fall into place. I have my weight fluctuating throughout the year but I make sure it doesn’t get out of control. If I add more than 5 to 10 pounds at a time I watch what I eat like a hawk. If you need help, tell one or two trusted love ones to help you be accountable. Weigh yourself in front of them and report to them in order to keep on track.
Secondly, you really need to watch what you eat, and this means being diligent with carbs as much as calories. In fact, there is a lot to the new Aitkens and keto diet philosophies—read up on them and look into apps and other motivational aides to make sure that this isn’t just another fad diet for you, but a meaningful change to the way you’re going to start living your life!
Like the most precious things we want in life, you have to want it SO badly that it consumes you all the time. It is very difficult to lose weight if you don’t have the determination to do it. You have to be committed to the course and be prepared to go through with it despite some of the discomforts you might experience along the way. Nothing good is easy, every thing worthwhile will require efforts and only those who are willing to make the necessary efforts will prevail at the end of the day.
I cannot afford a fancy nutrition guru or nutrition chef to guide me on my weight management journey, so I tried out many things and at the end of the day I found something that worked for me. Don’t laugh but I made a vision board—a kind of scrapbook visual journey including photos of me when I was at my heaviest and lowest point of my life and then photos when I was thinner and happier as well as cut outs of models and others that I secretly found so beautiful. Having those photos next to me on the vision board helped me focus on why I was making so many sacrifices with food, and helped keep me on track with my new healthy lifestyle!
Here are some key take-aways that you can cut out for your personal vision board—you’ve got this!
1. Have the end goal in mind. You have to find a way to encourage yourself so that you can stick through your weight loss journey.
2. Reimagine your views about food. Forget everything you know about food and open your mind to a new way of thinking about food.
3. Configure your taste palette so that you can handle nutritious food and not necessarily delicious food.
4. Watch when you eat. You should control eating carbohydrates at night because you are just going to go to sleep without a lot of activity to help you burn some of those calories which carbohydrates have in abundance.
5. Watch what you eat. I will rather eat rice, chicken, and vegetables than snack on chocolates and chips that will give me all these calories and leave me still feeling hungry. So control what you eat. Don’t eat food because they taste nice eat because you need nutrition.
6. Do intermittent fasting. I don’t eat from around 7pm to about 10am the next morning. That gives me 15hrs of fasting. I drink water in between but I don’t eat in between those times. I work from home so I can control my time better. If you have to go into the office make sure you have a well balanced breakfast like oatmeal, eggs and fruits before you go to work that way you won’t need to eat till lunch time.
7. Have a cheat day. My cheat day is Wednesday. On Wednesday I can eat whatever I like, indulge in chocolates, ice cream whatever I like. But don’t over indulge because that could be counter productive in the long run.
8. Work out at least 3times a week if you can. Exercise is good for your over all health you should exercise at least 30mins 3 times a week.
9. Lastly remember that it is not losing the weight that is the problem, it is losing the weight and keeping it off that is the main problem! Many people try so hard and lose weight but they gain it all back if they are not disciplined to keep it off. You need to stop thinking of a diet and motivate yourself to make a lifestyle change!
