A healthy proportion of my current clients and an interesting number of people I hang out with, want to lose weight. And I know in earlier articles, I have talked around the topic of beauty not being a number of a scale and this topic, perhaps, opposes that.
Or does it?
When I ask for the reasons behind the desire to lose weight, to drop the digits on the scale, the label on the dress size, it all goes back to feelings. They want to feel good. They want to feel feel like themselves, that they belong in their body, that their clothes fit. They feel that the weight is dragging them down, holding them back. One of my clients was even brave enough to say that she thought she was holding on to the weight to sabotage herself and how good she could really be. Feeling lighter could, in fact, give her the confidence to fly. And she wasn’t sure what or where that would take her, so it was fear of her own greatness that held her back.
We all know what to do lose weight. Or at least, everyone who wants to lose weight, or who has lost weight in the past, knows what to do. It is a simple 5 step process:
- Drink lots of water: to hydrate, satiate and detox.
- Eat the right foods 80-90% (more whole foods, less processed or refined) of the time: choose any diet that works for you – Keto, Paleo, Sugar Detox, Beach Body… you know your body.
- Get enough sleep: at least 7-8 hours of good sleep a night.
- Reduce stress and anxiety: cortisol raging around your body is not supportive of weightloss.
- Get more exercise: 150 minutes a week of raising your heart rate is absolutely manageable – 20 minutes a day or 3 hours a week.
And yet, if it is this simple, why doesn’t everyone live by these guidelines?
I believe there are 2 reasons. The secret ingredient. And the missing ingredient.
The ‘secret’ ingredient is understanding one thing that is holding you back from not changing your lifestyle and your eating habits. Becoming aware of what is holding you back, is the very thing that will set you free and able to to release it’s hold on you. For my brave friend, it was fear holding her back from making the first step to making a positive change for her health. By understanding this, by being aware, she was able to manage the fear, put plans in place to ensure what she was afraid of, wouldn’t happen.
You may be able to work this out all on your own, in a quiet room, a quiet space to listen to your inner voice. But many people can’t do this alone, and this is where a good Health Coach can help you. They will find the key to unlocking this secret ingredient.
The missing ingredient is a strong enough desire to make the change. Weightloss, a dress size, a number on a scale as a goal isn’t enough. You need to understand why this is important to you. We are emotional beings and it is our emotions that drive us, motivate us, not a number. The missing ingredients are your desired feelings.
Yes, you may want to be a size 10, but what would being a size 10 mean to you, how would you feel? What would you be doing if you were several pounds lighter, where would you go, what would you do, how would that feel? What would you be doing that you aren’t already doing, how would you feel that you don’t already feel?
I have found that by making this missing ingredient tangible through pictures and words, it is a very useful tool towards a achieving your goal. Spell out the feelings that you would attribute to your weightloss goal and find photographs and images of the clothes that you want to wear, how you want to look, doing the things you want to do; if you have photos of yourself in that dress or doing that thing, use those. Pin these visual aids around your home, on your desk and in your phone. These are your motivators, your reminders of your intentions and how good you are going to feel when you accomplish your goals.
So if you are reading this with a weightloss goal that you just can’t seem to achieve, try adding in these 2 ingredients. And if you are still stuck, confused, not motivated, then find a good Health Coach. (PS. my contact details are at the top!)
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