Yes, I know what you are thinking. I have been there. My weight loss journey was a disaster at one point. I thought, “There is now way I am ever going to reach my goal, so I might as well quit right now.” I also know that you have had that conversation with yourself at one point or another.
When I began my journey I would lose between 2-5 pounds a week. That was fantastic! Then, there came a time when I would almost lose 1 pound a week. I was still losing, which was great! Right? WRONG!!! I was devastated. I was doing everything right, or so I thought, which meant that if I was unable to lose like I was it was just not meant to be. After going through, what many call a plateau (I don’t, I’ll share another day), I decided to take some time to regain my focus. I went through several weeks where I just did not want to continue my journey because I thought it was pointless, that I would never reach my goal, that I was stupid for even trying.
The day came when I went shopping again. Shopping always seems to trigger my want to lose weight. I have a love/hate relationship with shopping…or I used to. Anyway, I decided to begin my journey again. I had to figure out how to make it work because I was tired of trying and failing. I sat down and reflected upon my journey that I had been on. There were 5 things that I did that made me successful when I was losing weight.
I want to tell you right now, that these thoughts do not have to become true. You can reach your weight loss goals and be as successful as you want. I found this out through a tough journey or many rocky paths. That is why I am sharing the 5 overlying keys to a successful weight loss journey with you.
With these five keys in place, the rest of the pieces will fall into place. With these five keys you will overcome your challenges.
- Be Organized. When you begin your weight loss journey, you want to create a system. This is scary and tough for many, as it means that you may have to change some of the routine that you are used to doing on a daily basis. Part of creating the perfect system for weight loss, is setting yourself a challenge. You want to have a challenge that pushes you above and beyond what you think you can accomplish. Once you have that challenge created, begin to set yourself some goals that you can achieve along the way. These goals can be daily, weekly, or even monthly goals but they do need to be something that you can see yourself accomplishing.
- Remain Consistent. Along your weight loss journey you will run into obstacles of all sorts. You may be too tired, not feel well, bored with your eating or your exercise. Through all of this the most important thing you can do is remain consistent. Does this mean that you have to do the exact same thing every day? Of course not, it means that you include a plan for these occurrences in your weight loss system. . It means that if you do find yourself in one of those days where, for some reason or another, you cannot or do not want to do your normal work out you should still do something. If you are ill, it may mean writing down what you are able to eat, even though you are not eating like you normally do. Maybe you its just a day where you are really tired, so you do a 10 minute workout instead of your normal 40 minute workout. You may have even missed yesterday’s workout, that is okay, in this case just pick up and continue doing your regularly scheduled workouts today. Life happens, which makes our weight loss journey tough, but by doing small things that help you remain consistent you will not be derailed from your journey.
- Stay Focused. Your focus once you begin the weight loss journey is losing the weight that you intend. Live life to the fullest, do what you enjoy while making small adjustments on the way. You can have fun during your weight loss journey, I do not care what anyone else tells you, this should be a fun adventure that you enjoy and want to do daily. One way to keep your focus is by beginning to make decisions that help you become successful. When you are out with friends, keep your focus by ordering food and drinks that will help you achieve your goal. While you are planning a vacation with your family, plan for some active time together; not only will you be able to get some exercise as a family, but you will also strengthen the family bond.
- Recommit to Yourself Daily. Motivating yourself takes continuous conscious effort. The best way I have found to do this, is by reading motivational quotes in the morning. I have written 3 of my favorite quotes on the bathroom mirror so that I see them every time I go into the bathroom. Another way to continually recommit to yourself is to take a few minutes each day to just sit with yourself. During this time you can look through some photos of yourself, write a letter to your future self about what you have accomplished and where you want to go, have a self pep talk. These are just a few of the ideas, there are many others that you could include in your re-commitment.
- Reach Out to Others. This will become a great benefit to them as well as to you. Share your journey with a friend by asking them to go to the gym with you. Ask those close to you to give you a weekly call where you can discuss all your successes and even some areas that you may need to readjust or do better with next week (this is an accountability buddy). Find someone going through the same journey you are and offer to provide them motivation. I have found that it is extremely tough to go through the journey alone; there are so many times when having that person to lean on allowed me to continue on and keep my motivation. The vice versa was also true. Going the journey with a friend gave me the strength to help myself by helping them through their times when they needed a shoulder to lean on as well. Having an accountability buddy, whether it’s a one way road or two way road will, quite possibly, be one of the biggest things that helps you reach your goals.
Everyday Extraordinary Mompreneur 