How To Successfully Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals.

It’s that time of year again. As the new year approaches, we evaluate the year that ended and make new goals for the new year. Top on many people’s list is that ever-elusive goal to lose weight and get fit. 

Perhaps you may be frustrated because it seems you can never attain this goal no matter how hard you try.  You lose some weight, but inevitably it keeps coming back. 

Why is losing weight such a struggle for people?  Find Your Unique Weight Loss Solution Here

There are combinations of factors that can sabotage your weight loss goals from the get-go:

1. Misinformation
2. Wrong mindset 
3. Fail to plan
4. Wrong motivation
5. Use food as an emotional crutch

Misinformation 

It’s important to educate yourself in order to become more discerning about your food choices.  There are too many false narratives to sort through and too many fad diets to choose from.  If you are confused, it’s with good reason.  It’s hard to make good food choices when you have been presented with a lot of false narratives.  Some of the worst advice you were given in the official FDA food pyramid is that all fat is bad, and eating a lot of refined carbohydrates (like pasta and bread) is good. 

In reality, not all fat is bad. In fact, some fats are crucial for good health. [1] There are fats that promote brain health [2] and arterial health [3] and protect your immune system. [4] There are fats that do the exact opposite.  You cannot paint all fats with a broad brush stroke and call them all bad.  It’s important to learn the difference so you can make better food choices. Did you know that incorporating healthy fats in your daily diet can actually help you stay healthy and slim?  Living a healthy lifestyle comes with discernment.  Here is a chart to help you tell the difference when it comes to fat.

Eating a high-carb diet consisting of refined carbohydrates will not only make weight loss difficult, it will make it impossible and make you susceptible to developing diabetes. [5] Your body digests simple refined carbohydrates quickly and causes your insulin levels to spike.  Eating a high-carb diet on a consistent basis will lead to insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.  Also, because simple carbs are digested quickly, you do not feel satiated for a long period of time, thus making it easy to overeat and keep snacking.  If that’s not bad enough, they can mess up your microbiome. [6] Your best source of carbohydrates is the complex carbohydrates that come from fruits and vegetables. Complex carbohydrates do not lead to insulin resistance, help you lose weight, and promote a healthy immune system. 

Snacking often is not a useful tool for healthy and sustainable weight loss. Snacking can lead to insulin resistance. Intermittent fasting is a better and easier way to lose weight. Also, when you eat whole foods with healthy fats you feel satiated, making it less likely to want to snack. Frequent snacking will set you up for failure when it comes to reaching your weight loss goals.

Another cultural misconception about food is that healthy foods taste bad. Nothing could be further from the truth. If you cook with healthy fats, herbs, and spices, healthy food can be delicious as well as nourishing. A whole food diet can taste great. It holds your hunger and can help you lose weight gradually and naturally.  

Successful weight loss depends on sorting through misinformation. This can be challenging because sometimes you have to go against the grain and be your own advocate and do your own research. Getting accurate facts will help you make better food choices so you can attain your weight loss goals successfully and permanently. 

One of the biggest obstacles sabotaging your weight loss goals is your mindset. Dieting to lose weight in the short term can lead to successful weight loss, however, what happens in the long term? The problem with dieting is that it is short-lived. Being thin, fit, and healthy is not about dieting, it’s about living a healthy lifestyle.  While you can lose some weight initially by dieting; once you lose that weight, it’s easy to fall back to your old ways that led to the weight gain. Dieting accomplishes nothing. I don’t like dieting. I don’t even like the word diet because; it has the word “die” in it. Dieting produces a scarcity mindset. You feel like you are depriving yourself. It’s counter-productive and will predictably set you up for failure.   However, when you choose to live healthily, you create an abundant, energetic and dynamic mindset.  Choosing to nourish your body and live healthy (instead of “dieting”) will bring you great dividends.

Instead of telling yourself you want to lose weight, you should say I want to be healthy. I want to avoid health problems as I age.  I want to have more energy. I want to feel better. I want to be more productive. Your commitment to being healthy is the correct mindset that will help you create a sustainable model for easy weight loss. A fad diet or a crash diet will never accomplish long-term success.

Living an unhealthy lifestyle is easier than living a healthy lifestyle.  It seems like we are busier than ever and don’t have the time to spend hours in the kitchen cooking to eat healthily. We’re always in a rush and on the go.  There are times when curbside pick-up is necessary, but for some, it’s an everyday occurrence.  Fast food may be convenient, but it will ultimately wreck your health. 

Eating healthy doesn’t have to be time-consuming in the kitchen if you meal prep ahead of time.  Prep food on weekends to make cooking at home easier and faster during the week. Also, try to get some help in the kitchen.  Cooking alone takes longer.  Cook with kids or your significant other. It’s a great way to teach kids the importance of eating healthy and establishing good habits while they are young.  

While it’s convenient to eat without cooking at home, if you want to successfully reach your weight loss goals, cooking at home instead of eating out often is essential.  There is no magic pill or easy button for long-term weight loss.  Some weight loss programs come with pre-packaged food. They can be expensive and unhealthy because of the preservatives, chemicals, and unhealthy oils they are prepackaged with.  Cooking at home with whole foods and healthy oils is far more superior to relying on these “weight loss meals.” If you want long-term success at losing weight and staying thin for good, you need to create a sustainable model for cooking fast and healthy meals at home. When you plan ahead, it becomes easy.

There should be only one reason to desire weight loss. The only reason to lose weight should be to become or stay healthy.  Over the years, I have heard friends tell me they want to lose weight for various reasons like:

I just got divorced and I need to get in shape so I can get into the dating scene.” “I need to lose weight because I have a new boyfriend.” “I need to lose weight so I can look good in my wedding dress.”  “I’m going on vacation. I need to lose weight so I can look good on the beach.” …..

While these reasons may help you stay focused and motivated to reach some quick weight loss for a couple of months; these reasons are not compelling enough to motivate you to successfully keep the weight off permanently. Once you reach that short-term goal, you’re done and you just go back to your old ways. You gain all the weight you lost and then some!  Losing weight should have nothing to do with vanity.  It should be all about health. 

One of the biggest impediments to weight loss can be your emotions. Unfortunately, many people turn to food for comfort. Using food as a distraction from your emotional state or to fill a personal void will never allow you to lose weight. It’s best to face your emotions, stress or problems face on and keep food out of it. Be intentional and never eat unless you are hungry. Never eat because you are bored, stressed, sad, happy, angry or whatever.  Exercise, do a fun activity, talk to a friend, see a therapist if you have to. It’s not food’s role to solve your emotional problems. 

When you change the conversation in your head and understand WHY you want to lose weight, your results will change. You will exponentially increase your chances of successfully losing weight and, more importantly, keep it off for good.  After all, isn’t that the ultimate goal? Once you finally accomplish weight loss and scratch that goal off your new year’s resolution list, do you really want to put it back on? If you want to finally attain your goal to lose weight then stop dieting and start living healthy.