“How to lose weight for good?” – a million dollar question. And a question I was asking myself for 20 years while trying to lose weight. (So probably I’ve asked it more than a million time and if I’ve got a dollar every time I’ve asked if I would have a million in the bank. Just a side note why it’s a million dollar question, now back to the point).
And I have a sneaky suspicion that you’ve asked yourself the same more than once, right?
You also tried numerous diets and they didn’t work.
You’ve been trying to find answers on Facebook, Google, Instagram. But You’ve only got more depressed by all transformations and stories of others losing weight and looking hot, while you’re eating 1200kcal per day and scale didn’t move at all in the past 3 weeks!
How do I know that?
I’ve been there for a way too long. I’ve tried all diets. I was eating 800 kcal per day. I was looking for the answers and… failed miserably every time.
Until one sunny and glorious day when I just woke up and discovered the secret to lose weight for good and I lost all the weight at once and lived happily ever after.
Wait? No! It was completely different than that!
Yes, I’ve lost 50 pounds in 9 months but how I got there has nothing to do with discovering a secret that got me all I wanted.
And It has all to do with ME being able to take a completely different approach than anything I knew till then. With ME being ready to change. With ME being able to be patient, to trust the process and to KNOW that I can achieve anything.
So if you want to lose weight for good, if you want to get confidence, if you want to be healthy and sexy, here it is. How to lose weight for good – your question is answered.
Are you ready? Let’s start!
Step 1 – How to lose weight for good: Know where you’re going
No meal plan? No diet? My first step is to know where I’m going?
Yes!
Imagine a day when you are sitting in your car. You’re turning the engine on and you don’t know where you are going! Will you ever get there? I don’t think so.
Till now you’ve been trying every diet with the goal to lose weight. Think about it, if your goal is to lose weight even when you lose 1 pound you’ve achieved it.
Setting a gold is very important but setting a goal in the right way is much more important.
Have you ever asked yourself why New Year’s resolutions don’t work? Numerous scientific studies have shown that only 8% of people achieve their New Year’s resolution.
This is not to tell you that setting a goal or making a New Year’s resolution doesn’t work. It’s just to say that you want to do what 8% of people who achieve their resolution do.
So what is the big secret behind successful goal setting?
It is to set a goal in the right. A goal should be specific, meaningful to you, realistic and have a certain timeframe.
Here are a few questions I want you to answer:
- How much weight do you want to lose?
- Till when I want to lose this weight?
- How do I want to feel in my new body?
Now your goal will be different. For example July 1st 2019 my weight is 130 pounds. I feel so energetic and vital. I’m attractive, confident and sexy.
It’s different then only I want to lose weight, right?
Write down your goal.
Step 1 on how to lose weight for good – accomplished!
Step 2 – How to lose weight for good: Know your WHY
I want to start by saying that the most important thing to achieve your goal is to take the first step.
You don’t have to know everything, you don’t have to know every step, you don’t have to know how you will get to your goal but you have to be willing to take the first step.
This can be very scary because all the frustration and resentment we’ve built over the years of failing with diets and weight loss programs, but your willingness to face fear and to go out of your comfort zone is essential to losing weight for good.
Every achievement starts with the first step and your achievement to lose weight starts with a single step.
You also have to think about obstacles, about hard times, about life that is going to happen during your weight loss journey.
It’s easy to start, you’ve started a million times now. But the hard part is to continue when it is hard, to get up when you fall down, to get over your mistakes, to forgive yourself when you make mistake, to trust the process despite plateau that lasts for 2-3 weeks even though you are working so hard.
The hard part is not to give up.
And what makes you keep going during hard times, during times when you want to give up is having a strong motivation to lose weight.
Here comes the question: Where to find motivation?
If you’re waiting for motivation to come, you’ll be waiting forever.
Motivation doesn’t come, we create it.
Sara Dune
We create it from all the things that are important to us. Our health, our family, our friends, partner, energy level,… and that is your WHY.
Everyone is different. Everyone has different things that are important to them. That means that your WHY will be so much different than anyone else’s.
So before you start thinking how to lose weight for good, ask your self WHY you want to lose weight. And be very honest with yourself.
We’re often so caught up with what society, our family or our partner want from us that we forget what we want. So this time is all about you.
What do you want and why you want it.
Next step is – list 10 reasons why you want to lose weight.
Step 2 on how to lose weight for good – accomplished!
Step 3 – How to lose weight for good: Healthy habits for life
Media, adverts, campaigns, social media, weight loss programs, and diets out there are saying only “eat less and exercise more”. If it was that simple everyone would be fit till now!
They told you if it is not working try harder, eat fewer calories and spend endless hours in the gym.
This information has led to slowing down your metabolism, feeling deprived, feeling like a failure and giving up eventually.
It is very important to recognize that it hasn’t been your fault, its just information you have been told didn’t work for you.
I’ve been struggling for 20 years with same, spinning in circles of trying diets, feeling deprived, being hungry all the time, binging, feeling ashamed and giving up.
It’s the time to implement healthy habits (and I underline word healthy) cause that is the way to lose weight for good, have a healthy body, more energy and to ENJOY the process.
Now that you know WHAT is your weight loss goal and WHY you want to achieve it It’s the time to focus on HOW you will do that.
The key is to keep things simple.
Don’t overwhelm yourself cause that will lead you to frustration and not losing weight for good.
I’ll list for you healthy habits that will show you how to lose weight for good.
Choose 1 healthy habit every day or every second day, implement it, commit to it, and when you master it move on to another one. (That means that you are building habits on top of each other, and that will make is important to make this weight loss for good).
And don’t forget, take things slowly.
You’re building a new life for yourself, there is no need to rush. (I know that we’re tempted by commercial – lose 15 pounds in 15 days, lose 30 pounds in a month… but just remember, you haven’t gained weight in 2 weeks so don’t expect to lose it in 2 weeks).
Healthy habits to lose weight for good:
1. Sleep 8 hours a day
Sleeping helps you burn more calories and boost fat loss.
Study after study is showing that if you have enough night-rest you will burn more calories during the day, even when you are not working out and as well your fat loss will be increased compared to others who do not sleep as much as their body needs. Not to mention better mood, focus and decision making, which is so important during your weight loss.
2. Drink at least 2 litres of pure water per day
Water is the most important nutrient in your diet!
Studies have shown that an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits while the decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase.
To keep your metabolism going hydrate, hydrate and hydrate a little more.
3. Drink lemon water first thing in the morning
Squeeze half lemon into the glass of hot water and drink it first thing in the morning. It helps you rehydrate your body, flush your digestive system and boost your metabolism.
4. Stop refined and junk food
This one might be hard. Are ready for the challenge?
My general rule is to focus on whole food.
That means that things that are coming out of the box are usually refined with added sugar, preservatives, and all the nasty stuff. We will try doing it slower and more simple here.
Focus your nutrition on tons of vegetables, beans, fish, meat, eggs and some fruit, nuts, and seeds.
And stop intake of sodas and juices (you can have freshly squeezed ones), sweets (use stevia to sweeten your coffee), all kinds of fast food, white bread.
Be very careful with intake of dairy (greek yoghurt and cottage cheese can be good options), bread even a whole grain bread, grains, and cereal.
There is much more to nutrition but this is very simple and great start.
5. Move your body
I will not tell you to go to the gym every day and spend one hour on the treadmill (that didn’t work for me as well).
What works is – find the exercise that you LOVE doing!
Is it yoga, pilates, running, gym, walking… Find an activity that you love and commit to doing it! If it’s walk do it every day for half an hour, you can do yoga three times a week for an hour.
Whatever you choose, put it in your calendar, commit and consider it as the most important meeting that you have, no rescheduling or delaying, just do it!
6. Prepare your meals and snacks
If you know that you have no time to make food every day, prepare your meals in advance.
Having ready meal will decrease the chance that you will go for non-healthy food choice because let’s face it, when you come home tired, stressed, hungry the last thing you want to do is cooking.
Make your plan, do grocery shopping and prepare your meals.
7. Don’t drink calories
Focus on drinking enough water, tea, and coffee instead of sodas and juices.
As I have mentioned you can switch store-bought juices to freshly squeezed juices without added sugar and preservatives.
This also applies to alcohol intake. Alcohol will ruin all your effort in weight loss. Not only that is highly caloric but also has a tremendous negative effect on your cardiovascular and nervous system.
Limit your alcohol intake on red wine and you can have 4 glasses of red wine during a week.
Now 3 steps on how to lose weight for good are done!
These are the steps that helped me to lose 50 pounds and keep them off.
These are the steps that will help you lose weight, get healthy and sexy body you desire and build confidence that will affect absolutely every area of your life.
Weight loss is about getting rid of fat but it’s so much more than that.
It’s about feeling differently about yourself, it’s about loving yourself, it’s about having energy, confidence and yes, healthy and sexy body.
Steps are here, are you ready to take them?
From my heart to yours,
Sara Dune, MPharm
Weight loss & Love Coach
