On a diet, off a diet, back on a diet and then all of sudden the weight not only becomes almost impossible to shift but it is even 5% more than where it started and then you repeat again.
Fad dieting, I believe thankfully is phasing out people are starting to notice what “dieting” actually does to the body and we are starting to shift to lifestyle changes. But I still believe many of us can still be caught up in the thought that it is the answer. I believe it is because we are in world where we want instant gratification. We want everything yesterday.
Diets give that to us, they give us that instant gratification for that event coming up but then due to not be able to sustain it due to incredibly low and metabolism damaging calories we start to eat back to what we were doing before, and we repeat this several times only doing more and more damage to our metabolism, hormones, and internal function.
The past 10 years not only have I been studying this and working with my clients but I have been that person there. After never really being happy with my body and then coming off cruise ship life (working on a cruise ship as a trainer for 2 years) and putting on 10kgs, I was seriously feeling it in my energy, my skin (I had acne), I was constantly sick digestively and my motivational levels were horrendous. I wanted the quick fix answer.
Your weight loss journey is much the same. When we don’t see results, we tend to give up. I get it. I have been there. But I have also been on the other where I stayed persistent and I noticed the other changes and the other shifts it was making in my life and by keeping consistent 18 months later I felt right again!
Following our seminar on Tuesday I thought I would do this Blog on a summary and my top 6 ways of staying lean for life.
For many, the hardest part to their weight-loss journey is once you have lost the weight what then? How do we maintain the loss / or keep losing? A question we get asked the most. I always like to stay go back to BASICS. A lot of the time the basics in everything in life are over-looked.
Here are my top 5 summarised for you (these are in no order)
- Believe & Visualize
Staying lean requires a belief
Do you truly believe you can do it? I mean does your whole body and mind believe it can actually get where you want to go. The power of belief and visualisation is out of this world. “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t your probably right” – Henry Ford.
Such a powerful quote and true. Changing your language, you speak to yourself has incredible powerful shifts in our mindsets. Mindset is literally everything. For us at Real Fitness Training it is one of our first core pillars when it comes to weight loss and health journeys. We know and see the power of the mind and what it can do.
Try shifting your language from
- I can’t do it
- It is too hard
- I will never reach my goals
- I will never achieve that
Just writing these statements down I feel demotivated and imagine so many of us (including myself) has had this internal dialogue repeating this for how many years? By catching yourself when these thoughts come in or when you say them out loud to more empowering statements like
- I commit to becoming the healthiest version of me
- I can do it!
- It is all get easier and easier
- I WILL reach my goals
By changing your thoughts, you will change your results.
“The same level of thinking that created the problem won’t fix the problem” – Albert Einstein
- Maintain and grow lean muscle
Yes, add muscle or at least the VERY least maintain lean muscle. Remember the more muscle you have the higher your metabolic rate. What does this mean? More calories burnt doing NOTHING. When I say add lean muscle I believe body weight activity will just not be enough you want to put your muscles under load using proper strength training programs and changing the load and progressions exercises every 4-6 weeks to be sure the muscles are not adapting and you’re actually working towards growth.
We lose and average of 1-3% of muscle mass per year after the age of 40 this is another reason with age it does become harder if we are not strength training.
Not only will strength training help you feel better, but it will help you function extremely well in everyday life.
- Increase your vegetable intake
Increasing vegetable in take you will notice you won’t crave as much of those processed foods. I like to tell my clients don’t even cut out the processed foods out right away just add more vegetables and drink more water before having them and more than likely you won’t even be able to fit in anything else.
Leafy Vegetables are so high in nutrients and fiber they fuel your body all the way to a cellular level and if that doesn’t make you want to eat more then maybe knowing that increasing vegetables will also help the body detoxify all the junk over the years out of it.
Aim for an extra cup of vegetables a day or per meals and watch your body shift.
- Measure and track
You can’t manage what you don’t track. Even if you have been in the journey for a while and you find your body either is not shifting or come to a standstill then I always encourage to track. Tracking allows you to see what you are actually doing. With the guidance of your coach and your own feeling you will notice some patterns happening with your body.
Remember each of us are individuals and we all require a certain number of calories and macro nutrients splits to get us where we need to go and also to maintain so actually knowing what that looks like is really important for long term results. Because I have spent a little more time measuring and tracking, I now know what a serving size for me actually looks like, I now know what my body needs for fuel and I am really confident going out to social outings and restaurants to be able to balance managing my goals and having fun!
For us we take all of our clients through an initial goals session to find their current basal metabolic rate, exercise activity, body type and where they want to get to be able to best guide them to the right balance of food choices, so they start working with their bodies and not against it. The most surpsingly thing about it is that they are undereating. But again, what you don’t track you can’t manage.
- Manage Stress Levels
Stress has a huge impact on one’s health. By managing the bodies stress and quality of sleep it can make dramatic changes to body composition and also quality of life. But first you must take a good honest look at it. Even for myself I have hired coaches and have one right now to look at my life from the outsider. When you are so in it you sometimes need that fresh pair of eyes. Even coaches need coaches.
Using breath work and breath focused movement meditation like yoga is the way we help our clients manage stress in their lives. Helping our clients to not only feel better but to also be in a rest and digest state making weight loss and maintaining results easier.
6. Stay CONSISTENT
I really can’t stress this one enough. Our health is not a 6-week journey. To have long term solutions for your health and to stay “lean for life” you must think about your journey to be life. Things will ebb and flow, your motivation for showing up to the gym will ebb and flow but just by showing up to the bare minimums and building momentum from there will put you in a better position than stopping everything just because you have lost motivation. Keep moving. Movement is life and without it we would be very sick and unwell.
Don’t give up because you haven’t achieved all your results in the first week or 6 months focus on what you have achieved and remember it is about the journey not the destination. Cliché but true.
When you focus on each step your chances of reaching the destination is a lot higher. Consistency is key for all of life and your health too. If you are feeling demotivated or lost find yourself a coach, if you have a coach and you feel like that tell them, reset and refocus.
We all have times like these, but it is the people who fall down 7 times and get up 8 times that will always get better results.
Do you serve all the people around you but not yourself? Well I have good news for you, you are the people to and you do deserve all the kindness, energy and love too.
Embrace the journey and be kind to yourself.
At Real Fitness training we have been helpings 100’s of humans around the Hills District including Castle Hill, Pennant Hills, Bella Vista, Kellyville, Baulkham Hills and surrounding areas to find long term solutions with their health by looking at their health holistically and never comprising. Our results come from making practical lifestyle changes for each individual. After all, one size does not fit all. We are celebrating 5 amazing years changing people’s lives for the better. To celebrate we are giving all new clients 4 extra sessions for the month of November If you get started with us on an hour personal training session are looking for long term weight loss solutions contact us
