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I truly want people to be happy, comfortable and confident in their bodies and in who it is that they are. I want you to be able to look in the mirror, love what you see and be the badass I know that you are. And if losing weight is something that will help you love and accept yourself, then I hope that you find this post helpful.
Often, many people will jump into a dieting trend and completely upheaving their current lifestyle. But what typically ends up happening, especially when the diet ends or if they fall off course (even after seeing some success), is weight regain, and sometimes more than what was originally lost. I’m sure that you can imagine the pain and frustration that may result. Maybe you’ve even lived through it yourself. Maybe you’ve lived through all of the negative self-talk of how “you’re not good enough”, “if only you had more self-control”, constantly beating yourself up. I know I’ve lived through this several times over and is an awful cycle that many people are caught in, and one that I wish I could break everyone out of.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what it is that I think of you or anyone else for that matter, as the only real opinion that really counts is your own opinion of yourself. And if weight-loss is your goal, I want you to achieve it. I want you to be successful for the long-haul. I want you to never have to worry again about your weight. I want you to be happy.
So, if this is something that you’re serious about, please considered the following five points to help get you started on the right foot:
1. Understand Where it is That You are At
Calories in versus Calories Out
What I mean by this, is to start putting your current lifestyle into perspective by tracking what you are eating and your current activity level. It’s one thing to have a general idea of what you eat and do in a day and it’s another to have it listed clearly before you. So how much calories are you consuming in a day? How many calories are you burning?
Personally, one way that I like to track this information is by entering my meals into My FitnessPal (image on the right). This has an unlimited range of food items that you can enter, scan barcodes, and even create your own recipes either through the app or online (and it’s free!). The app can also sync with other applications such as Fitbit and will also update your calories burned.
The goal is to track your calories and physical activity for one to two weeks.
NOTE: When you start tracking your calories do not change your current eating habits. The point of this exercise is to get a true snapshot of what you regularly consume, so you can generate a more defined planned on achieving your goals.
Weight
Stepping on the scale once may not give you an accurate depiction of your true weight. Truth is, weight fluctuates daily depending on what it is that you’re eating, how frequent your bowel movements are, hydration levels, hormones, the amount of inflammation in your body, where you are in your cycle, and so forth. Just from the example to the left, you can see how my weight varies each day.
For example, I can easily “gain” three pounds compared to the day before, where I may have eaten ice cream, or muffins, or something out of the ordinary. This is a documented trend for myself and I now know to expect the scale to go up if I’ve eaten something irregular the next day I go to weigh myself. This has also created confidence now having documented history of what to expect and takes the pressure off when I want to indulge.
Therefore, to get a more accurate idea of your true weight, weigh yourself daily at the same time (preferably first thing in the morning, before your first meal) for a week. From there take the sum of your weight to calculate what your true current weight is.
Body Composition
This is optional, but you can also go as far as measuring your body composition. Take measurements of your arms, waist, hips, etc. You can go so far to determine your body fat and lean body mass percentage by buying a pair of skinfold measures (they’re pretty cheap on Amazon). Some people find this to be a helpful and motivating tool to stick to their health and fitness goals and track their progress.
2. Determine What Your Goals Are
Now that you have a clear idea of where you currently are and what your true weight is, take some time to determine what your goal is, along with achievable action steps. A general rule of thumb when it comes to sustainable weight-loss is to aim for a loss of 1% per week. I know that 1% may not seem sexy, but if you want to be able to lose the weight in a sustainable way and keep it off long-term, you must be patient and be in it for the long haul, by adopting healthy lifestyle behaviours overtime.
For example, Jessie is 250 pounds and would like to lose 50lbs. 1% of 50 pounds is 1.5 pounds (50 x 0.01 = 1.5), which would be the ideal/recommended amount of weight to lose per week. If Jessie stayed the course with their weight-loss goal, they would then be able to set a timeline to lose the 50 pounds in just over 33 weeks (50/1.5lbs = 33.33) or just over 8 months (33.33/4weeks per month = 8.33). When you’ve determined your weight-loss goal, you can use the same principle in the example above for a general timeline of when you would like to achieve your goal.
3. Create a Caloric Deficit
Now that you know what you have a good idea of your calories in versus calories out and what your goal is, now is the time to start working towards your goals.
To lose weight, you’re going to have to be in a caloric deficit. Now, this may not necessarily mean eat fewer calories, as you may decide to burn more calories by increasing physical activity. This is up to you to decide the best course of action. You can even do a combination of eating a bit less and being more active.
Now that you have a clear idea of what you typically eat in a day, you can start switching out some of those foods with healthier alternatives. For example, if you are someone who loves to eat chips regularly, simply cutting chips out of your diet and replacing them with fresh veggies, or popcorn (without butter) will drastically cut calories from your diet. Likewise, if you love soda and drink it regularly, you can replace soda with water or herbal teas to cut calories.
Similarly, you now have an idea of how active you are. If you’ve been tracking your steps, you can consider setting a goal to increase your daily step count. Or perhaps join a sports team or start jogging. Again, the ball is in your court as to how you would like to create a caloric deficit.
4. Keep Tracking Your Calories and Weight
Look, I don’t want you to become obsessed with numbers, that is honestly not the goal. And if you find that it is becoming an unhealthy obsession, it is a good idea to stop tracking your calories and weight. But, if it is not a problem for you, tracking daily will help to hold you accountable to your goals and at the same time, educate you on the calories and nutrient content found in the common foods that you eat, as well as give you an idea on how your body responds to certain foods (I.e., if your weight fluctuates the next day after eating something abnormal from your diet). It will also help you stay the course with your goal, such as in the following scenarios:
You’re not losing weight but have maintained a steady weight for a few weeks (which is still great news by the way – you’re not gaining!) then you may need to create a larger deficit or take a diet break (this is context dependent and varies from person to person)
You’re slightly going up in weight - then you can take corrective action increase physical activity or decrease calories (or both)
You’re steadily going down in weight – then you know you’re on the right track.
I personally created a mini tracker for myself for my own personal health and fitness goals, that you can see in the image posted above to give you an idea of how to track for yourself.
5. Be Patient and Kind to Yourself
I know that you may be wanting to see instant results right away, but it is important to be patient. It is also important to be patient with yourself, especially if you veered off track from your goals. It’s going to happen, so accept that you are not perfect and that you’re going to stumble along the way. I’m not saying this to discourage you, but to make this easier for you and to empower you so you are not so critical on yourself in those moments if you do stumble. Don’t let getting off course defeat you and say “f*ck it.” Rather, just get back on track with your next meal or your next scheduled workout. Ultimately, it matters that you are consistent with your new lifestyle not perfect.
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