Within my group of Facebook friends (and in real life), I’ve noticed a steady increase of people (both girls and guys) updating their status to say they want to lose weight, they’re sick of how they look, etc, etc. I know this feeling really well so I understand the push to lose weight, I also understand that many of them probably aren’t ready to make moves yet,and that many of them probably believe they’ll lose 20 lbs by tomorrow.
That’s not how it works. It took a long time to put the weight on, it’s going to feel like it takes a long time to get it off. But actually, spending a year to lose what took you 25 years to put on, isn’t really a bad deal.
For me, weight loss was something I had to be ready for. Sure, I was ready to lose weight for a long time, I was tired, I was sad, I was miserable- but mentally I wasn’t willing or able to give myself the attention or I wasn’t ready to put in the effort. I hadn’t come to terms with my sweating phobia yet.
If you are someone whose not active at all right now, but wants to lose some weight, you may want to take baby steps. You’re not going to go out and run a marathon, sorry, but someday you may be able to! When I started running, I made it around the track once, that was it, and it was a huge accomplishment.
Baby steps to start losing weight:
- Go for a walk, once a day, for as long as you can. It should be a nice brisk walk to get your heart rate going. Even if it’s 15 minutes; it’s 15 minutes more than you were doing before.
- Cut out all sugary drinks. Limit yourself to water, coffee and one glass of milk a day. If you’re a pop drinker you’ll see a major difference.
- If you snack throughout the day, go to the store and buy fruits and veggies, throw out the chips and chocolate. You can eat as many grapes, and carrots as you want- they’ll never hurt you like junk food does.
- Eat slowly, with no distractions- If you’re watching tv, reading or eating fast; your body may be delayed in telling you it’s full.
- Don’t skip breakfast. The logic of not eating breakfast so you can eat more later in the day is just silly and counterproductive. Breakfast kick starts your metabolism and gets you going. So just eat a piece of toast, k?
- Cut your alcohol intake down. I’m not saying don’t drink at all, but cut it back, it’s a lot of empty, silly calories.You can have fun without drinking excessively.
- Question whether you’re hungry or not before you eat, if you aren’t, don’t eat it. Don’t confuse thirst for hunger and learn to recognize emotional hunger from actual hunger- these are hard and will take a while.
Things not to do:
- Don’t buy pills, potions, meals, or DVD’s that will make you lose weight. Nothing will make you lose weight except yourself and motivation.
- Don’t go out and spend thousands on fancy equipment or fancy clothes, at first you just need a cheap pair of sneakers, some fresh produce and support.
- Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help or advice. The fitness community is warm, welcoming and encouraging to anyone, at any level.
- Don’t beat yourself up
- Don’t weigh yourself daily, pick one day a week and make that your weigh in day. The body fluctuates in funny weighs and looking at the scale every day may throw you off.
- Don’t make excuses, make a schedule that suits you and stick to it, come Hell or high waters.
- Don’t compare yourself to other people. They have a whole different body makeup, a whole different history and a whole different story.
- Don’t give yourself unrealistic goals. strive for 1-2 lb loss a week, that’s what is considered healthy.
Anyone can do these things. Yes, it’s hard and yes, it takes time and effort and you may cry a little out of frustration, but that’s okay. Losing weight is not just losing weight, it’s a journey where you learn about yourself. I have faith in every single person that they can do this, and that they can be happy in their own skin.
Are you trying to lose weight?
Advice? Tips? Things that worked for you?
What’s your fitness goal?
Note: I shouldn’t have to say this, but I will; I’m not a doctor or a professional. I’m just a girl who has lost weight and these are steps that helped me and many others. You can’t sue me if they don’t work for you.
15 Comments
Love this! I hopped on the scale yesterday after running for 3 weeks and was a little disappointed, but I know that it takes time and that I building muscle now. Eating right is a struggle for me as my kids ask for the cookies and junk. I do limit their intake of such items, but sometimes it’s hard for me, but I have been better this time as I am not on a diet. I don’t want my body to feel like it can’t have something. What I want to do is find a healthy alternative to the peanut butter and chocolate that I love!
You can have the peanut butter and chocolate, just not all the time. Give yourself 2 times a week, you’ll know those are the only times you can have it, so you’ll stead towards healthier stuff until you really need your fix. Eventually you’ll find that a whole week went by and you didn’t think about it. Also, get healthy alternatives for your kids that look and sound like they would be unhealthy. There are tons of them out there!
great tips!! i especially like your “things not to do.” those are so wise!!! im not trying to lose weight; ironically, im actually trying to put about 5 lbs back on after losing my much needed weight last year and then maintaining. my fitness goals are to get stronger and to do more with weights currently! thanks for sharing! SPA LOVE!
I give a lot of credit to you, because putting on weight, when you need to, can be harder than losing! Good luck and thank you!
One of the best pieces of advice about weight loss I ever received was that when I felt hungry I should drink 8 oz of water. If, after 10-15 minutes I was still hungry, then I should go ahead and eat. The other important thing to master is portion control. Just because it is on your plate does not mean it needs to go in your mouth. If your full, stop eating. It sounds logical but most people are trained to finish their meal (there are children starving in Africa you know).
Ahhh yes, starving kids in Africa. And you know what, even if you don’t finish, they’ll still be starving because you won’t be shipping it to them! That took me a long time to learn. I really like your water tip. I always drink water before I eat a meal, but I’ll use it for snacking from now on too!
These are great, i think the idea of losing weight quickly is going to be the downfall in the long run. It is about, how you have done, making a whole lifestyle change. I bet a lot of people could learn so much from you!
I failed so many times because I thought weight would just fall off, it’s hard to not see progress when you’re working so hard and it’s hard to keep pushing, but you have to!
Loving this! Sometimes you have to remind yourself that it takes awhile to see results.
You really do, right now I’m going through that because I hit a plateau, just gotta keep moving. Results come with time and hard work.
I love how you have highlighted things to do and not to do when you are on a journey to lose weight. One thing that helps me is celebrate non-scale victories (a leftover from my Weight Watcher Days), I get excited about being able to do 1 more situp than I could the previous time, increasing my weight on bicep curls, etc. Seeing thse NSV’s reminds me that I am getting stronger and healthier.
I love NSV’s they really get me through the times when my weight isnt dropping. Right now I’m loving seeing my planking time go up every day!
These are great tips! I totally agree about the alcohol–one beer is 100+ calories, in general, and most people I know don’t stop at one. I’m not trying to lose weight, but I do use a lot of these same tips to stay at my healthy weight, so I agree that they work.
this is so great – I’m glad to have found your blog via Blue Dog Belle! I’m losing weight (slowly but surely) and I do have to remind myself constantly that just because progress comes in baby steps doesn’t mean I’ve come any less far. I just got home from my longest run ever ever in the history of ever – 4.4 miles – and it took me 1hr12m which is slower than I’d like, obviously, but if you told me six months ago that I’d be running for that long or that far at all I’d have thought you were crazy! so. yes! woo
That’s awesome! Pretty soon you’ll be running faster and shocking yourself again! Go you! Keep moving!