You've made the decision to lose weight and decide to do some research to see what the next right step in your weight loss journey will be. You had the best of intentions to find out how to reach a healthy weight only to be drowned in a deluge of weight loss ads and articles that completely overwhelm and confuse you. You were just trying to figure out your ideal weight and set your weight loss goals and the internet hit you with a mean right hook of overwhelm.
First off, congratulations on taking the first and hardest step. That's no joke. The first step is always the hardest in anything that we do. It takes overcoming your inner critic, being open to tough work and the possibility of looking like a fool in the process.
This is your permission slip to look and feel silly. Keep going and always keep your focus on what you have to gain in losing weight, not what you have to give up. That previous sentence is the best piece of weight loss advice you'll ever get. In fact, that is actually the secret to lose weight fast.
Don't get discouraged or confused by all the weight loss diets out there. There’s are new diet plans for every day of the year claiming to be based on current research. Don’t drive yourself crazy researching and trying to decide if a high-protein diet, low-carb diet, the paleo diet, the keto diet or whatever-the-name of another popular diet is right for you. That is time you could spend learning how to prepare delicious, nutritious foods and learn a healthy lifestyle.
Put down the Google search screaming about fat loss, easy tweaks and tricking your doctor into performing a gastric bypass on you. Seriously, the latter nonsense is out there. And to be honest, you know the health problems associated with excess belly fat, but you’re more interested in getting rid of it.
And to be honest, none of us want to do the cardio workouts guaranteed to slim our belly area. Cardio is great for you and regardless of how much you read about it, every minute of it is going to suck until your done. Unless that cardio is sexy time… And any articles boasting how to find the ‘healthiest’ fast food or junk food are nonsense. Trying to find healthy fast food is like trying to find family-friendly porn. It doesn’t exist.
Focus on the health benefits instead of searching for diet plans. You use a totally different part of your brain to think of what’s possible versus what you have to do.
Health benefits of weight loss include, but are not limited to:
Better quality sleep - Better, longer and less snoring. Hey-ho!
Better mood
Decreased inflammation
Improved sex drive and sexual performance
Improvement in (and sometimes even reversal of) insulin resistance
Reduced risk of certain types of cancer, heart disease and early onset decline in cognitive function
Less pressure on your knees and other joints - Dramatic results can be seen after losing just 10 extra pounds.
Prolonged staring at yourself naked in the mirror because you not only like what you see, you love it!
When you approach weight loss from a place of loving your body instead of hating it, you'll lose weight sooner and keep it off. While you can curse my name the entire time at the gym or while you're meal prepping, as long as your intention is to move from a place of joy and self love, you'll reach your goals. Aside, I'm convinced swearing burns calories.
Below are some valuable, realistic weight loss resources that you can start to put to use today. Right now. Not Monday, not after the next holiday, not when all the stars align. Right now in this beautiful moment that is part of the story of your life.