When you decide you are overweight and decide you want to lose weight, it’s not as easy as it sounds. When you tell your friends you want to lose weight, you will get dozens of suggestions on how to do it, which diet works, what food works, what exercise works, and so on. All of that sounds great, but dieting and exercise are almost impossible to stick to, unless you have a reason!
Here is the number one thing that will help you on your mission to become more fit. You need a reason. I’m not talking about because you want to “get laid” or because you want to fit into that bathing suit or have a beach body. It has to be something close to your heart that you care a lot about. It could be for your spouse, for someone you love, for your kids and so on. This right here, I believe is the key to successfully losing weight.
Now which crazy diet plan works? Well I am sure that most of the diets can work, but you have to find the one that is right for you. The diet I went with was to cut out calories. I started by cutting down to about 1500 a day, and now I’m about at 800 a day. Some people say that I’m crazy, but once you start eating less, you start losing your appetite. I cut out soda except for diet occasionally. I drink mostly water. I cut out all sweets except for occasionally. If you love your sweets, then get the sugar free or 100 calorie pack cookies and wean yourself off of them slowly. Stopping cold turkey though I think is the best way to really jump into a diet if your reason you are doing it is that important. Also I try not to eat late anymore. Usually 8PM is the latest I will eat.
Sometimes you will want to cheat. Cheating is fine as long as its not every other day. Maybe once a week. If you are having dinner with that special someone, he or she isn’t going to want to see you eating a salad while they are eating a steak. You have to reward yourself for your accomplishments.
For exercise, you have to start off slow in my opinion and build up to being more active, other wise you will just become frustrated and quit. I started out by walking a few miles a day, and now I’m up to walking and jogging, as well as going to the gym now. If you are overweight and/or out of shape, and try to run the 1st day and it will feel like you’re dieing and you will want to give up. Unfortunately this is not an over night process. You need to decide on a schedule and a time that you can set aside to do this. If it is random, it is not going to be as effective, if at all. Make yourself commit to exercising before work, after work, or whenever you can set the time aside to do it.
Another motivator besides that special someone or reason is the first time you step on that scale and see that you have lost weight. At first, its easy to drop 10 pounds, but as you keep going, it gets harder, and the weight doesn’t seem to drop as fast. Also when your clothes don’t fit anymore (because they are to loose) or you can start fitting into clothes that you have not worn for years, thats a big motivator as well.
No matter what diet/exercise plan you decide to follow, find “your reason” and hold it really close to you, really tight. Every time you think about giving up or not caring, pull that reason out and imagine telling that person, “hey eating this junk food, stuffing my face, or not getting off my butt and exercising is more important than you.” Then if you still decide to sway away from your diet/fitness plan, maybe your reason wasn’t as important to you that you thought it was.
