Anyone that is or has been overweight or obese will know the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness in any quest to reach a healthy weight, almost as if the odds are stacked against you. It’s important that people who do need to lose significant weight know that it is possible and that it will be well worth the effort.
Getting Started
Taking the first steps towards deciding to work towards a healthy weight are often the easiest; however, it’s important that you are ready to ditch your old unhealthy habits. Taking the first steps can be half the battle if you are truly ready to dedicate your time and effort to controlling your weight.
To begin with you should make a list of your reasons for wanting to make a change to your body. You should not find discouragement in your previous weight loss attempts but rather see them as stepping stones towards your ultimate weight loss success.
Set out what you plan to do, how you will manage your diet and exercise regimes and set your targets for weight loss in the coming months. Unless there is an obvious illness or injury that might hinder you, it’s not advised that you visit a Doctor, but this is something you can do if you want to get advice from them and add them to your weight loss support structure.
Research Methods & Paths
It’s important that you find a plan that you think will work for you, there are some vital aspects to include in any diet but there is no set plan that applies to every person that needs to lose weight. The vital aspects include; a log of your calorie intake, the self discipline to stick to it and at least 7 hours a week of both strength and cardiovascular training.
Exercise
Most people that are obese or overweight generally start with walking. Seven hours a week of walking is easily manageable for most people and a slow walk can quickly develop into a fast walk and from there into a jog. You probably won’t be able to run from day one and that isn’t a problem, as long as you apply yourself to your walking routine and push yourself forward both physically and mentally.
For particularly obese people exercise can be extremely difficult and / or painful; however, this pain and difficulty will begin to ease as your weight starts to drop and you shouldn’t let it force you into a vicious circle of being too obese to properly exercise because you can’t lose weight through exercise.
Motivate Yourself
Motivation is a crucial ingredient in any weight loss campaign. To begin with it’s relatively easy to keep yourself motivated as you see your weight dropping along with your clothes size, the true test is when your progress begins to slow and you have to motivate yourself.
This is often where your list of reasons comes into the equation, it can also be advisable to keep a log of images to track the weight loss progress that you have made. Make sure that you keep friends and family involved so that you keep some kind of level of accountability and responsibility.
Time Scales
If you can really give your regime or plan everything you’ve got then you can expect to lose around 10% of your total weight over a four month period and perhaps 20% in 12 months. If you are more patient then you might expect a 5% loss over a four month period and a 10% loss in 12 months.
With a tailored diet that covers nutrition, exercise and more including technologies and different methods it’s possible to lose 7 lbs a week or even more. You might like to look at fast weight loss programs online to get an idea of what these programs involve.
Getting over Eating for Comfort
Becoming obese is a vicious circle for many as they are frustrated and sad because of their size and weight and in turn eat junk to comfort themselves. One way to tackle this issue is to simply remove all comfort food from your home and confront the feelings that make you want to indulge.
How to Avoid ‘Support Sabotage’
The situation can arise that certain people might not want you to ditch your unhealthy habits.
Everyone enjoys eating junk food but not alone, your friends, family or even partner may find it hard to accept that you have changed your dietary habits and may try to convince you to take up your old diet again. Problems may also arise if you stop going out drinking with friends due to the calories in drink or even if your partner likes the size you are currently.
You have to accept that different people may have different feelings about the lifestyle change that you are making and you may even need to distance yourself from the particularly unhelpful people while you are making your weight loss journey.
Losing weight is never easy for anyone and it’s not going to be easy any time soon. If you truly want to change the way you look and your lifestyle then it’s important that you stay focused and constantly motivate yourself to push harder and reach further.
Featured images:
- License: Royalty Free or iStock source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1006881
This article was written by Kim Kellas, a weight loss specialist from Fast Track Weight Loss.