How to lose weight & the importance of mindset

It's so easy to get stuck thinking about your weight; how to lose it, how to keep it off, and even for some; how to gain it.  Whether you're a man, woman or teenager, we've all compared ourselves to billboards and fit-stagrammers. Our image-focused society focuses on appearance so much, it can seem inescapable. 

What actually works to help you lose weight?

Comparing yourself to others and shaming yourself every time you stray from your diet or workout regime is a bad habit, and leads to overeating, bad self-esteem, binging, trying crazy unrealistic diets and ensures a lifetime of fluctuating weight. But for some reason, we all do it.

Instead of focusing purely on weight loss though, it's been found that focusing on a positive outcome like better health is way more effective for long-term weightloss. Now's the time to stop making yourself feel bad about your weight, and start focusing on the end goal: Living a happier, healthier life. 

Focus on healthy habits for long term weight loss

When you focus too much on any outcome, you get exhausted along the way. If you focus on day-to-day goals though, you'll find you reach the same outcome without all the worry. Let's be honest though, it's easy to say you want to lose weight, but harder to stick to your strategies. So instead of putting excessive pressure on yourself like banning yourself from eating cheese and saying you'll run 15 kms every day, make your day-to-day goals more achievable. 

Instead of these negative goals:

- I'll fit into my skinny jeans in 4 weeks

- I won't eat carbs for 2 months

Try these positive, achievable, measurable goals

- I'll try to eat 5 veggies everyday

- I'll get moving for 30 minutes 5 days a week, even if it's just a walk down the street and back.

- I'll find new healthy recipes and plan 3 meals each week (leaving less time to eat fast food)

- I'll eat vegetarian meals 5 out of 7 days

- I'll have 5 alcohol-free nights a week

The goals above are weight-loss strategies disguised as wellness strategies! By aiming to enhance your health, you approach weight loss in a positive way rather than from a negative, self-punishing angle.

Goal setting & Technology

One of the best things about technology is it's ability to change our behaviour with cool apps and programs and this works for weight loss and wellness too. My favourite for goals setting is WOOP: Where you set a wish, outcome, obstacle and a plan. 

Eg. Wish: To be lighter and healthier

Outcome: I'll feel more confident in my own skin & with my partner

Obstacle: I don't have enough time to shop and cook healthy food

Plan: (when I encounter my obstacle, I'll....)

eg. When I don't have enough time to cook and shop for healthy food I'll...

-Order a weeks' worth of veggies and groceries online, and prepare 3 quick, healthy meals to freeze for the week.

The Woop app is an evidence-based way to stick to your goals, and find actionable ways to make them happen. There are plenty of other fitness and goal-setting apps, but I think Woop seems more authentic. It works with you and your mindset rather than using financial motivation, like apps such as Pact. It's amazing how goals pop into your head when you're using the app - things you didn't even know were important to you. 

Goal setting doesn't have to be a mission

The term goal setting sounds like boring terminology used in stuffy conference rooms and tedious hour-long meetings; but it doesn't have to be. Change the word 'goal' to 'ways for me to be healthier,' and the focus and accountability comes back to you. 

Weight loss for health not looks

Another important weight loss mindset change: Remember being in a healthy weight range is better for your body, it's not about looking a certain way. Carrying extra weight around your tummy is directly linked to heart problems, while generally carrying extra weight is hard on your joints and can accelerate osteoarthritis and joint degeneration.

What do you think are important aspects of weight loss?

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Weight Loss Mindset: 10 tips for change

Every day individuals resign themselves to make the adjustments to their life to deliver real body change. It sometimes helps to know some of the most important elements of the fat loss lifestyle. Here is some insight that may help you make the switch into your new fat loss lifestyle, my 10 tips for real body change.

1) Stop playing the weight loss game and get into fat loss.

If you are still using a scale to measure your progress in body change, it will be virtually impossible to know what kind of weight you are losing. Just because you are losing weight does not mean you are losing fat. Too often it is not fat people are losing but rather water or even worse, muscle. This leads to yo-yo dieting and  weight rebound. A loss of muscle will make the metabolism less efficient in the long run. This is a key reason why chronic dieters have a more difficult time getting any sort of result as they age. To avoid this issue get something to monitor fat loss.

2) Stop counting calories and start paying attention to your body.

Counting calories is a one-size-fits-all process that works for very few. Instead of trying to practice food avoidance or portion control, pay attention to the signals your body sends. After each meal, monitor hunger, cravings and energy levels. These sensations can act as biofeedback tools that give you insight into your hormonal fat burning metabolism and help you adjust your diet. By eating in a way that generates less hunger and cravings and more stable energy you can fine tune your diet to the perfect approach for you. Eating this way will result in eating less calories without even trying and will turn weight loss to fat loss. One hint, protein and fiber are the key tools to balance these sensations so eat more of them.

3) Learn the process and stop doing protocols

Your body does not conform to simple math equations and does not respond like everyone else. You are unique and therefore require an approach that matches your individual metabolism. Instead of following a one-size-fits-all diet, or an off the shelf program, spend some time finding out your own fat loss formula. Approaching body change this way assures you will have something that always works even when your metabolism goes through changes (aging, children, menopause, etc.).

4) Don’t just eat healthy, eat for fat loss

A healthy diet does not always equal a fat loss diet, but a fat loss diet almost always equals a healthy diet. There are plenty of healthy foods that may not help your fat loss goals. While whole grains, nuts, dairy, and fruits are all healthy, some or all of them may need to be minimized according to your individual metabolic processes. Spend time figuring out what can stay and what needs to go. It won’t be the same for everyone.

5) BE, DO, HAVE

It is important to understand that the way many people go about change is backwards. Most people think if they simply DO something different, they will then HAVE what they want and BEcome a different person. This is often stated as the DO, HAVE, BE mindset. Or, they may feel if they are given something, like money (HAVE), they will be able to DO all the stuff they want and will BEcome a different person. This is the HAVE, DO, BE mindset. Both of these models are wrong. To make a true change, you have to BE the thing you are trying to become right now in the present moment. Then you will automatically DO the things necessary to HAVE what you desire…..BE, DO, HAVE

6) No Victim Talk and no blame

There is no room for blame in change. Resist the temptation to use the behaviors of others to justify your own. Just because your spouse, coworkers and others around you eat junk and are sedentary has nothing to do with you. Surround yourself with the support system you need. Take all blame, expectation, judgment, and excuses out of your mindset. Your success or failure is 100% up to you. You are either going to do it or not, it is up to you.

7) Eat Preemptively

Many people take an eat less approach to body change. Problem is you live in a body designed through the centuries to seek out food and maximize fat storage. This is an ancient survival mechanism we humans inherited from our ancestors who lived in a time where the next meal was never guaranteed. Now you live in a world where sweet, fatty, salty, and addictive food is on every corner. You can’t win a battle of wills against your physiology. Very few people can simply eat less and avoid food, and if you are overweight there is little chance you are one of them. Instead of fasting, eating less, or practicing food avoidance, eat preemptively. By eating more of the right things more often you can “preempt” hunger, cravings, and drops in blood sugar that lead you to make the poor choices in the first place.

8 ) Exercise for ME, meaning you

Exercise in a way that works for your body. Rest-based training is a good way to do that since it allows you to exercise at a high intensity, but do it at a manageable level and progress at your own pace. Not only does this mean you should avoid the popular boot camp trends of “keep going” and “out compete”, it also means choosing programs that suit you. While there is certainly a best approach for body change (see below), the bulk of your exercise should be something you love and can be consistent with.

9) Realize there is a best approach to body change

To get the most out of exercise, research shows cross-training is best. Some of us like to lift weight and some like cardio. Others like yoga and some like swimming. The best approach for body change involves cardiovascular exercise combined with weight training. If you want to lose fat and not muscle you need to learn to weight train and not simply try to “run off” the weight. There are many good programs, including the metabolic effect workouts, that utilize weight training in a way that generates a cardio effect. Search for these type programs. Some good ones include Crossfit, Metabolic Effect’s system of Metabolic Physique Conditioning, some forms of Power Yoga, and metabolic conditioning programs run by many good personal trainers.

10) Sleep and Stress

Neither one of these things have calories but we all know they drastically impact how we feel, whether we exercise or not and what we choose to eat. Research shows 8 hours of sleep a night can make a huge difference in hunger, cravings, and energy levels. It is your choice. Is staying up late to watch your favorite TV show worth more than body change?

Comment below a mindset tip you've learnt over your weight loss journey, I'd love to hear them :)

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