Losing weight, especially targeting body fat is hard! I’ve been there so whether you have a few pounds to lose or a few stone or more, keep reading to get my take on the most important things you need to think about to lose weight today and keep it off!

Find Your Why For Weight Loss Success:

Willpower alone is not going to keep you going on the days when you are tired, hungry or moody and the thoughts of going out for run in the morning before work is the last thing you want to do….but your “why” will! That’s why I ask all my clients to sit down with a pen and paper and ask themselves why they want to lose weight. You’ll probably come up with answers like to fit into my little black dress for Christmas or to be healthier. These are good and valid reasons but I want you to keep digging…deeper!

Keep asking why and you will eventually get down to a feeling….a feeling you want to experience and which you think you’ll feel when you get to your goal weight. This feeling is your motivation. Perhaps you want to feel more confident, calmer or stronger inside and out. This is your why and you need to keep this idea at the forefront of your mind, especially when you’ve a decision to make effecting your goals.

Find Your Exercise:

There are many, many types of exercise. My suggestion to you, if you are new to working out, is to try many different forms. For exercise to be effective, for lose weight anyway, there is one thing you need to be and that’s consistent! To be consistent, you need to like what you are doing. So test all different types of exercise out, find the ones you like and stick to them.

Personally, I find that HIIT (high intensity interval training) works best for me. The workouts are shorter than long steady state cardio session and while you may burn fewer calories during the workout, the EPOC or calories burnt after the session are higher. This type of exercise also seems to help in muscle retention, especially if you are dieting. The more muscle you have on your frame, the more calories you burn at rest which is very important for keeping the metabolism high. And perhaps, most importantly, this allows us to eat more without gaining body fat!

Find A Way To Track Your Food (at least when you are starting out):

You can only change something when you know what you are already doing. To lose weight you need to know what you are eating, when you are eating it and why you are eating it.

My nutrition coaching clients will always start by writing out what they eat over the course of a week. You can do this too. Don’t change anything, just write down what you are eating as it is. Make sure to be totally honest with yourself. Extra bites from your children’s plates, that latte from Starbucks and the that second serving of cereal all add up. This way you can clearly see where you can possibly start to create change in your diet. You can do it in a logical way rather than haphazardly.

There are also many apps available too, which can come in really handy if you want to track your foods in a more detailed way. I use MyFitnessPal and find it invaluable. Not only does it tell me how many calories I’m taking in but I also get a macronutrient breakdown for the day. Overtime, you will become more familiar with food portion sizes and accompanying calorie count and can then eat more intuitively. It helps, though in the beginning to be more structured!

Think about weight loss as a journey. You’ve boarded the plane and you’ve just taken off. You’ve a long way to go but you know you’ll get there. You know because you trust the pilot will plot the right course and will make little tiny adjustments as needed to reach your destination. Be consistent with your exercise, track your food and track your weight. Look at the overall picture and make the correct course adjustments. And finally, trust yourself to get there!

Bonus Tip To Lose Weight:

Remember that feeling you came up with as your why? I want you to start acting as if you have already achieved the weight loss you desire. Close your eyes, and visualise yourself at your ideal weight. See yourself moving around confident and free. Feel that sense of pride bubble up inside.

Your mind can’t tell the difference between the visual outer world and the visualizations you create inside your head. Connections are fired and wired in your brain, emotions are released and your body starts to create the chemicals it needs to sustain these feelings. It then brings more of them to you. Add this visualisation in daily. You will start to actively make choices that will bring you closer to this image in your mind. Give it a try! To read more about visualisation and weight loss, check out this article

All the best on your journey. Let me know if any of this resonated with you and whether you would like a more detailed post on any of the points.

Carol xoxo