Having lost over 64 kg, I often get asked what my secret is or what are my best tips for losing weight. There is no real secrets I can reveal, but I can give some tips.
In no particular order (except maybe number one):
Number One: START! No Excuses
Pretty obvious I know, but stop with the excuses and start. Not tomorrow, not next week, not after your birthday, or that wedding, or Christmas, or that holiday, or whatever, START NOW! You can still have a good time at what ever event is coming up, but there will always be another even coming up. There is no time quite like the present to kick things off, do just do it! You have to want to do it, and you have to be committed to doing it. The choice is yours and yours alone. Start small, don’t expect to change your life overnight, it’s not sustainable. Make small changes each week, drop something from your diet, start a different type of exercise.
You will fall off the horse, this is ok, we are only human. Get back on the horse as quickly as you can. A few to many drinks on a night out, chocolate cake at a friends birthday party isn’t going to kill you. Stopping and slipping back into old habits might! When you fall off, don’t justify it, don’t make excuses, just accept that you’ve done it and get back on. Illness or injury can often provide a convenient excuse to give up. During your recovery period, keep going, a little slower maybe, but don’t give up.
Number Two: Don’t focus on just the numbers
It’s easy to say, harder to do. TV shows like “The Biggest Loser” teach us that it’s all about how much weight you lose. This can mean that if you are not getting the results on the scales, you think what you are doing isn’t working. When you think it isn’t working, it’s easier to give up The numbers tell part of the story, the other part is harder to measure. It’s about how you feel. How it’s easier to get up that flight of stairs. Easier to carry the shopping in from the car. The compliments you get from your friends and work colleagues. The “Holy shit look at you” you get from someone who hasn’t seen you for a couple of months. You find yourself willing and able to do more that you used to do before.
Number Three: Be honest with yourself
Ultimately you answer to no one but yourself. You need to be honest with yourself. If you can’t take a good long hard look at yourself and be honest about the reasons you are overweight or unfit, you’ll never be able to change bad habits. What is it about your life style that needs to change? Why do you want to change & get fit?
Number Four: Set Goals
Set big goals for the future, but also small achievable goals. Don’t set yourself up for failure by setting a goal that you can’t/won’t achieve. Don’t say that you want to lose 60kg in a year and then fail because it seams insurmountable. Set small goals and check them off along the way. Don’t give up if you don’t meet them though, reset them and keep going.
Number Five: Find what works for you
I’ve found CrossFit and the Paleo diet, this doesn’t mean it’s for everyone. Everyone is different. What works for your work colleague or friend may not work for you. Try different things to find what you can enjoy and sustain. You need to work out what you can commit to. There is no point in trying to keep up a training program that involves 30 hours a week of training if you have a full time job and a family to keep up, it’s simply not possible. If you hate running, find something you do enjoy doing, try walking or riding a bike. Try to make your fitness into a soc ail event. Plan an walk with friends followed by a healthy BBQ rather than an afternoon at the pub.
Number Six: PLAN!
Fail to plan, plan to fail. Spend half an hour a week planning your food, your exercise, your life. I use a food and exercise planner that helps me work out what my week is going to look like. I spend some time on Sunday’s preparing food for the week so that I don’t resort to buying crap and eating the wrong type of food. Working a full time job, doing 11 training sessions a week and training clients means I don’t have a lot of time, by planning and pre-preparing food I make sure that I eat properly.
Number Seven: Exercise and Diet
Like Love and Marriage, Exercise and diet, go together like a horse and carriage (it just doesn’t rhyme as well). You can’t out exercise a bad diet. You may lose weight doing just exercise, however the poor diet will still affect other aspects of your health. Diet alone may help you lose weight, but no exercise won’t help your quality of life. Combine both and see better health, improved fitness, weight loss and a better quality of life. Again, find what works for you for both of these.
Number Eight: Get Support/Help
Personal Trainers, Nutritionists, Health professionals are great but can be expensive. If you can’t afford them try Community Groups, walking groups, Friends, families, Co Workers. Get someone to go walking with you, join the gym with you. While you are only really answerable to yourself, some people find it better if they ‘report’ to someone else. If they have to admit that they fell of the wagon, they are less inclined to do it. Make sure you surround yourself with people who encourage you and support you. Try to stay away from those who try to push you off the wagon every weekend. Talk about your weight loss & fitness with your friends (although try not to make it all you talk about, that gets boring), you’ll find that it will help you keep going.
Number Nine: Don’t stop living life
Losing weight and keeping it off, getting fit and staying that way is about making a sustainable life style change. But you still have to live your life, there will still be parties, weddings, holidays. Enjoy yourself, just be sensible about it. If you do eat or drink to much, get back on the horse If you improve your diet and exercise for 3 months and lose weight then stop, you’ll put the weight back on when you go back to old habits. You need to make sure what you are doing fits in with your life and is sustainable or it won’t work in the long term.
Number Ten: Cut out the booze!
It’s completely empty calories. Sure it’s fun. But give it up for a three months or so. When you start again, don’t go back into old habits of a carton every weekend, you’ll just put the weight back on. Drink less, less often. Do you really NEED to have that whole bottle of Vodka and get totally shit faced, eat that kebab and the recovery KFC for the hangover every weekend. You see it’s not just the booze, it’s the bad food and the lack of exercise while recovering. I’ve found being the designated driver helps, it means you don’t drink because you are driving and people don’t (well shouldn’t) encourage you to drink.
I don’t pretend to know everything there is to know about loosing weight and fitness, but those are the 10 things that have helped me lose 64 kg.
Peter Scherp
