How do you lose a significant amount of weight? AND more importantly, how do you KEEP IT OFF????
That's the BILLION dollar question, isn't it? Entire industries (supplements, workouts, foods, diets, books, etc) have been created chasing that illusive one size fits all solution. So many promise "fast results" but how many promise LASTING results? Almost none of them.
Why is that? Why doesn't the industry focus on sustainability? Because how could they keep people buying products and new fads and books and website subscriptions if they actually taught people HOW NOT TO NEED THEM?
I'm not saying that there aren't some tools and programs and such that aren't beneficial and successful in their own right. I myself used (successfully) Weight Watchers for a year to lose 80 lbs. It was a completely life altering experience that changed and probably saved my life. I still use tools (a FitBit on my wrist and apps like MyFitnessPal, RunKeeper, and Fitbit on my phone) to be successful.
The key is defining your success. Is success only losing some weight? Great. Let's be honest.... We all know how to do it. And generally, baring medical issues, can manage to lose weight. However the glitz, glamour, and glory is on hitting that "final number" not STAYING THERE.
So let's redefine being a "weight loss success story." Am I at my goal? Nope. Not at all. I have a few more dress sizes I want to lose, and an undetermined amount of weight. But am I a success? YES. We are not only successful when we reach our goal. We become a success the moment we go from "diet mode" to REAL LIFE mode. The "I'm taking charge and I'm going to LIVE" mode.
REAL is Real Eating Active Lifestyle. I've been asked many times how I've lost and maintained my weight. Sadly, I don't have a magic bullet beyond this saying, which I've only recently come up with. I have spent nearly a decade educating myself on health, nutrition, but most importantly what it all means to me and what is actually feasible for MY LIFE. Who cares if this diet or that diet worked for Joe Blow? There is a ton of amazing information and success stories out there.... But how does it matter to YOU if they aren't feasible for your lifestyle?
So will I talk about what I personally did and the evolution of my health/fitness lifestyle? Of course. That's my story.
But the takeaway, to anyone that reads this, boils down to the REAL life. Educate yourself on nutrition.... but take it all with a grain of salt. No one is perfect and many "perfect" diets are very hard to sustain for life. Expose yourself to information. Subscribe to newsletters. Read about new studies. But look at what you can do FOR LIFE. Set not just fitness goals, but NUTRITION goals. Radically changing your diet can be hard on your body and make you feel ill, and therefore less likely to stick with it.
REAL life includes being active. But saying you are going to start going to the gym 5 times a week or working out for hours on end when you haven't done more than sit on the couch or at the desk...? Again, setting yourself up for failure.
Be REAL with yourself.... Living your life as waiting to reach a goal means you don't LIVE your life. There is a difference between working towards a goal and living only for that goal.
And who am I to be talking about this? Someone with a PASSION for being an example to my kids. Of creating a lifestyle that is sustainable to keep me healthy and to make all of this just normal life for my girls, so they never have to struggle like I did. I have a PASSION to help anyone that wants to do it too.
So as I write, take what I say with a grain of salt. Your salt. Your intuition. No..... Not your doubts. Your "hmmmm how can I make this work for me?" gut feeling that YOU KNOW YOU HAVE.
I'm not a doctor. I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not a personal trainer.
I'm just a woman that feels successful. A mom that lives to be an inspiration to my kids. A wife that wants to be around for a long time with her husband. And most importantly, I want to live each day HAPPY and HEALTHY, no matter my size or weight.
Isn't that a success?
