How many times have you tried so many different ways to lose weight fast? I have a lot of people that come to me looking for a new miracle diet that could make them lose 5 kg in one week! Quick miracle diets, though might be effective sometimes, are nonetheless bad for your health and won’t help you maintain your new weight for a long time.
I communicate to my clients and patients that before they attempt to start any diet, they need to have the will to do it; otherwise they will stop even before the first week of diet ends! Has this ever happened to you?
Everyone knows the formula for weight loss: a balanced diet combined with calorie burning through exercise. But did you also know that emotional aspects contribute to the success or failure of a diet –like in every situation, emotions affect anxiety and other feelings that lead us often to take refuge in food. Therefore, in order to obtain positive results in weight loss process, we must also find the emotional balance. there isn't a worldwide healthy long-lasting and guaranteed method to lose weight, without starting by changing the way you think and behave being a person who wants to achieve, and primarily maintain ideal weight.
Let me help you out with some tips on how to build a good will so then you can finally start a diet and most importantly do it until you lose every kilo you need to and keep the weight off after the diet (The maintenance part is even more important than the dieting part). For both dieting and maintenance you need to set your minds on mode: I love myself!!! If you start by loving yourself you are most likely to reach your goal!
1. You need to set a goal and keep it in mind for if you don’t know where you’re headed you probably won’t reach there. Every time you are in a tempting environment full of delicious foods you should not give up! Even if you feel you are not losing weight quickly. Just forget about the scale and keep your goal in mind, Trust me you will reach it.
2. You need do have a succession of “NO”! No to quick radical diets, no to giving up, no to frustration, no to cheating on diet, no to impatience, no to sweets, no to dough, no to fried items...and a beautiful YES to beauty and health!
3. Imagine that those irresistible sweets or chips or whatever you love and make you gain weight simply don’t exist. When you see them in front of you or on TV or billboards, just train your brain and eyes that you are not seeing anything interesting and think of your goal immediately and repeat many times: I am not interested in this cookie I prefer to be healthy and wear my new jeans or dress. You should imagine these cookies are your enemies and want to destroy you!
4. Find a reason to motivate yourself to lose weight. Motivation has to start from within. Some people are motivated by a love relationship, some to fit in a dress, some to improve his/her bad blood tests but most importantly is to know that after losing the weight a constant weight should be maintained, this will become your new goal to reach. Write a reminder of the reason you want to lose weight and place it in a place you can read it several times per day!
5. Don’t focus on food. Forget about it. It shouldn’t be the center of your attention. We have other things to do than just think of eating. Keeping yourself busy in shopping, movies, reading, Praying, dancing, sports, helping, entertaining family, etc… Choose distractions that won't encourage eating.
6. Pray. What seems impossible to you is possible to God. It’s the same as when you ask Him to help you find a husband or wife, to have healthy kids, to make more money, to live a healthy life, to get a better job or position etc... You can also be creative with your unlimited free requests to God by asking Him to give you the will to start a diet and to maintain it till the end.
7. Avoid the “all or nothing” mindset. Many people think that they either don t eat anything at all or they eat till they drop. We need to find a balance and learn to eat a variety of foods in right quantities, otherwise the yo-yo effect will be inevitable
8. Have positive thoughts and say out loud every day that you will succeed in your diet! Don’t be negative, don’t think you “can’t make it” or “it’s too slow it will take you forever”. Repeat many times per day: I am beautiful, I have a fit body, and you will end up by believing its true, this will help you continue your dieting and later on maintaining your ideal weight. Be positive and you will see how things will move faster and easier!
9. Find the reason that made you gain weight and solve it. Sometimes just by solving the primary cause that made you gain weight will help you solve reach your goal.
10. Try your jeans every week to motivate you to continue your effort and reward yourself
11. Delay! Every time you feel the craving for a snack, just say to yourself: “I can make it just 5 more minutes” that’s the time you need to get rid of the snack!! J
12. Keep a role model in mind. Put the photo of your favorite shape on your fridge I bet it will help you think twice before opening the fridge and ruining all your efforts to keep your weight off
13. Walking 30 minutes everyday releases anxiety and helps you think things over — try it for a few weeks.
To succeed at weight loss, it's not our diets we need to change -- it's our minds. That's why only permanent weight loss solution is to correct the self-sabotaging thinking that caused it in the first place and shift the focus from a new diet to a renewed mind.
Anything achieved quickly won’t last, if we want to succeed in anything we need to have a goal combined with hard work, patience and faith.
Always remember: The battle to lose weight begins in the mind where will power and the discipline necessary to succeed originate. Win the battle of the mind first and you'll have a greater chance of winning the battle to lose weight!
Samia Khoury Dietitian
