Losing weight and keeping it off can be challenging. With summer and the warm weather behind us, we can start to feel the bulge with eating more and moving less.
The last few kilos can be the toughest to shed and keeping it off is even more challenging especially when we have a lot of external stresses around us.
Here are some tips for staying on track to losing and keeping the last few kilos off!
Visualise: If you can’t imagine yourself leaner you will not get leaner. The power of the mind is imperative when it comes to weight loss! If you have an old photo of yourself as you’d like to look keep it close by; in your wallet or on your fridge. The next time you go to grab a poor food choice look at the photo for motivation not to take a bite.
Value what you want to create more than what you want in the moment: once you’ve set the intention to lose weight, you have to be committed to taking steps towards it day by day and these may be little changes. Cutting out sugar from your coffee or getting up 30mins earlier to go for a run are examples. Each time you practice the steps, the more deeply it gets ingrained. Where most people fail is giving up when they’ve gotten distracted or stressed, they’ve had a binge and quit.
The thing is everyone has slips ups or setbacks. You just have to come back to the intention or goal you set and recommit to it. Those distractions whether it be eating a block of chocolate because you’ve had a bad day or you’re ‘too busy’ looking after your kids and reach for an unhealthy option because you ‘don’t have time for yourself’ are us feeding into our story of why we can’t or shouldn’t keep going. Buying into the story gets you know where. It’s just fear of our ego that likes to stay comfortable.
Question how much do you buy into your story? Is it real or just a distraction from you achieving your goals? Value your goals more than the distraction in the moment, the aversion, the pleasure in the moment and remember Rome was not built in a day. Neither is a new body!
Do a clean out: autumn is a great time to consolidate and organise, and what better time than to clean out and organise your kitchen pantry and fridge. The saying, ‘you are a reflection of your surroundings’ rings true. Have a think about your pantry and fridge. Is it organised and clean or stuffed to the brim with old food and mess? The state of your fridge and pantry could resemble the state of your mind when it comes to your relationship with food.
Taking the time to throw away old, unhealthy, processed or out-of-date foods and re-organising all the healthy foods you’re going to nourish your body with can instantly making you feel lighter and prepared for what goes in your mouth.
Eat slowly and mindfully: Easter is just around the corner and the temptation to eat chocolate is everywhere. Totally depriving yourself can lead to a binge. By eating small amounts of naughty foods isn’t so bad if you can stop when you should. Try 3 Easter eggs instead of the whole packet. Try eating slowly, smell the food, when you eat it, chew slowly and observe the texture and taste.
You may even find by doing this the urgency to stuff more down and repeatedly keep eating lessens. As we become mindful of the taste and texture the urgency to keep eating lessens and we may find that the build-up in our mind of how good the food will taste, in actual fact isn’t as desirable in reality.
It’s never too late to get back on the wagon. If you have a slip up, it’s not an excuse to quit. Consistency is key to losing weight and keeping it off. Even if you have a bad day you can always make a healthy choice for the next meal. The more you practice making good choices, being consistent you’ll lose kilos and be better equipped to keep it off.