Don’t Quit!
Never say you can’t do it! Never say Never…
With all our New Year’s Resolutions out there, weight loss and finding our #healthhappiness has to be one of the most difficult resolutions to achieve. Having said that, it can be achieved with the right mindset, the right information, the right realistic goal set for yourself and the right attitude.
How do I know this? Because I am achieving just that in my life. Whatever your health happiness goals are in life, with the right steps, reaching your goals can be very attainable. To reach them is a life-time, long-term commitment. I know, I know once a year we all make New Year Resolutions with the hopes that this will be the year we all aim higher than ever before, to reach those goals but often fail once again. That’s because we are not setting the right goals for ourselves.
If we tell ourselves that we want to be at a certain weight at a certain time and that time frame comes and we aren’t where we wanted to be yet, it can be a huge setback for us. Setting realistic goals with an emphasis on taking one day at a time to reach “mini-goals” in between will be that success story for us.
Don’t tell yourself that you can’t do something before you even try! Setting mini-goals towards reaching the weight loss and #healthhappiness you desire can be as simple as you make them. Setting your intentions and understanding your motivation for wanting to lose weight and become a healthier person helps keep you focused on what you need and want out of your journey, so that you don’t lose sight of what matters most: your health and happiness.
There is a lot to consider in setting your weight loss goals, a lot of factors can contribute to your success. How much sleep you are getting each night, your stress levels and health issues such as medications you are taking and hormones all play important roles in losing and maintaining weight. There is no quick fix to losing and maintaining your weight loss to give you permanent changes.
Losing weight takes planning, commitment, and time. You didn’t gain it all in one day, it took a long-time to put on, it is going to take time to lose it and to keep it off. A lot of weight loss experts agree that losing more than 2 pounds a week (myself included – I am living this right along with all of you) is difficult to sustain and an unhealthy way to manage weight loss. Here are some tips on how to set realistic weight-loss goals for yourself that you can actually follow through with.
1. Figure out your ideal body weight. Calculate your Body Mass Index.
What is ideal body weight?
To determine how much you should weigh (your ideal body weight) several factors should be considered, including age, muscle-fat ratio, height, sex, and bone density. Some health professionals suggest that calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI) is the best way to decide whether your body weight is ideal.
To work out your BMI:
divide your weight in kilograms (kg) by your height in meters (m)
then divide the answer by your height again to get your BMI.
I believe, however, that it is not just about the numbers in calculations. For myself, I believe that whatever weight you feel comfortable with maintaining for a life-time is going to be the magic number! If you are healthy, happy, energetic and like the way you look at any given weight, then that should be the weight goal that you need to reach and maintain.
2. Understand what you need to do to get to your goal weight and your #healthhappiness.
If you are trying to lose weight, you need to count your calories each day. You need to burn more calories than you are consuming. To do this, focus on changing what your diet is each day and your exercise habits. Focusing on just one or the other isn’t going to give you the results you are looking for. If you don’t exercise at all, you need to find some type of movement that you can enjoy on a daily basis. Changing your diet and moving your body each day will help you burn more calories than you are consuming, and trust me you will lose the weight you want!
For example: to lose one pound per week, on average, you will need to cut 500 calories each day, by either eating less or moving more. A combination of both works the best for me! I record on a daily basis to “My Fitness Pal” what I eat each day (it keeps track of my calories and nutrients) and I log in my exercise each day (it keeps track of the calories I am burning each day). This way (and it is an easy way-trust me!) I can keep track of those 500 calories I am burning each day to reach my weekly goal of losing 1 to 2 pounds each week. One step closer, one day closer, one month closer towards reaching the goal I hope to achieve by the end of the year 😊!
3. Set small goals that you can hit up along the way to your path of becoming a happier, healthier you!
When it comes to reaching any goal, if it’s too big or overwhelming, it’s going to be harder to stick with. You have already set your long-term goal, (mine is 100 pounds) so setting realistic “short-term” goals will help you along the way, to that end goal, without making you feel too overwhelmed or feeling like you have a deadline. Your deadline is what you make it. One day at a time, one little goal at a time. For me, I have set 10-pound increments to reach. I aim to lose 10 pounds at a time, no deadlines, just honest good healthy eating and exercising every week towards getting those pounds off. Setting “mini-goals” for yourself does work, and it takes the stress out of looking down the year end.
4. Be realistic about how long it will take.
The time it takes to lose weight depends on so many factors – how much you weigh to begin with, how old you are, your gender and your lifestyle. They all play a role in how quickly you can shed those pounds. You may lose a ton of weight at the beginning, and then reach a plateau. You may lose 1 pound a week or more in the beginning, and then get close to your goal and it changes to every other week. It just depends on your body! Weight typically comes off faster when you’re heavier, and slows down as you lose weight.
We lose water weight quickly at first. Losing anywhere from 0.5 pounds to 2 pounds a week is healthy, and you will be able to maintain this for life. Any fewer or more, and you may need to reassess your methods. It’s important to remember though, that it’s OK if it takes longer for the weight to come off. It means that it will stay off. Remember it is a life-journey! We are all learning and discovering our new-selves along the way! In the end, healthy eating and exercise is what really works. It’s challenging work, but we can do it! If it was easy, no one would have weight problems. There is no magic pill. YOU are worth the challenge!
Never say you can’t do it! Never say Never …Once you start your life-changing journey,
YOU won’t want to Quit!
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