Losing weight is a daily battle. There is no question about that. Individuals who have seen success in weight loss can tell you that getting there was a definite journey; a series of decisions made one moment at a time that added up over time. This time of year seems to be the hardest time for people to stick with their healthy habits and reach their goals. If you are finding yourself struggling, remember the 3 R’s of weight loss.
RECOMMIT
Nobody achieves anything by giving up. One of the biggest mistakes that people make is saying things like…”Oh, I screwed up today (Tuesday) so i’ll start over again on Monday.” Don’t think like that. Sure, it is great to have a day that gets you back on track with what you are doing, but how about change your mindset to…”Wow, I really overate at lunch today. I am going to get back to my regular eating habits at dinner.” Don’t let one bad decision lead to another. Don’t let one wandering handful of candy lead you to eating the whole candy jar. Don’t guilt yourself for a bad choice made. Get over it. Move on, and start making better choices. Don’t wait until tomorrow, do it now. Making a healthy lifestyle for yourself is a matter of recommitting whenever you slip up. Sure, we all have our moments of weakness, but consistency is what is going to help you see results.
REDISCOVER
Far too often I have to sit my clients down and ask them again why they are attempting to do what they are doing in the first place. Goals without purpose are meaningless, and most likely won’t be achieved. Rediscover what it is that you really want out of life, and how you are going to get there. Stop thinking into to future as to what it will be like when you, “one day,” achieve your goals, and start achieving your goals NOW. It IS possible. You CAN do it. It is also important to rediscover healthy foods that you like when you get in a rut of eating the same things, and to rediscover physical activity that is fun to you. If you are always forcing yourself to do things you hate and eat things you detest, you won’t get very far at all.
RECORD
This is the most important one, by far. I have said it, 899,444,564,2343,984 times. If you want to see success with weight loss, WRITE DOWN WHAT YOU EAT. It doesn’t mean that you have to be a calorie counting fiend. It doesn’t mean that you can never have a treat here or there, but it WILL make you accountable for what is going into your mouth. Writing down your food helps you to realize what exactly you are consuming. It will help you learn better habits with snacking. It may help you to realize that the quality of food you are eating is pretty low. It may even cause you to realize why in the world you can’t seem to drop that last 20 pounds. Mindless eating is a scary thing, and SO many people underestimate the amount of food that goes into their mouth. WRITE. IT. DOWN. I promise it is the key to success.
Have you seen success with recommitting, rediscovering or recording? What seems to work best for you to keep yourself on track with your health and fitness goals?
One year ago today…Pumpkin Invasion…Healthy Pumpkin pie, cookies, bread, muffins, and oatmeal recipes
Don’t forget to enter this month’s Hits for Healthy Holidays Music Mix Giveaway!
Great post; particularly your comment “losing weight is a battle”. It makes me feel better to be able to acknowledge that, rather than pretending that healthy eating and dropping pounds is a breeze because some days it ain’t!
Great post — I have absolutely seen success with recommitting, rediscovering & recording — particularly recording. Recording is the BEST way to keep myself on track with my health and fitness goals for sure because I either a) don’t want to see empty boxes or b) don’t want to put negative notes in those boxes!
Great post! I’m big on recording things. I like to see goals in writing, check things off a to do list, write in my journal, etc.
Hope you are having a good week!
I am reading The 4 Hour Body and my favorite tip from the book is to take pictures of your food! Brilliant! You’ve got a time stamp, portions to look at (he suggests putting your hand in the picture for size reference), and who wants to take a picture of a king size bag of m&ms?! I’m super visual, so I love this idea. Great post, as per usual.
I’ve seen the most success with recommitting. I know what to do to maintain my ideal weight and a healthy body – I just have to do it. I’ve had an amazing past few weeks getting my food consumption under control and have dropped about 8 lbs.
BTW, I used tons of songs from the playlist that I won a few months ago on my marathon playlist and I thought of you every time one of your songs came on. You have no idea how much that motivated me.
Great Post! Just what I needed to hear today! Thank you!
Great advice. I definitely need to refocus and recommit.
I ALWAYS lose weight when I am recording and I have NOT been doing that lately. Thank you for reminding me of some very valuable tools!
Thank you!
I’m all for the record, it stops the mindless eating and forces me to ask myself if I’m hungry. Such an important step.