'I've tried everything.'
'Nothing works.'
'I can't lose weight.'
I understand this frustration so well.
Over the last twenty odd years I have heard it all.
And my heart breaks for the thousands of people who feel truly beaten.
Here are 5 reasons that might effect your ability to lose weight AND KEEP IT OFF!
Every weight loss diet revolves around the same principle 'eat less calories', and honestly, if you do that, you will lose weight (I have much more to say about this so hang onto your clutch bags of indignance before you start puffing your cheeks at how wrong I am...see points below). So why is it so difficult? Well the most obvious reason is that being hungry is fairly unpleasant! And we live in a world where fixing this unpleasant feeling is really easy. I recall a rather harsh saying form an Old CrossFit Coach: "If you are never hungry throughout your day, then you are probably a little fat". Ouch! I'll let you decide for yourself if that resonates or not... I will say, that it is not necessary on any level to be starving hungry - absolutely DO NOT do this. If you have a notion that you need to be walking about suffering from hunger for hours on end I encourage you to reassess this. 'A bit hungry' is completely different from 'So hungry you'd steal food from a homeless persons hands'. It is not the same thing...if you are lucky, a simple change in what you are choosing to eat might result in weigh loss without hunger, or calorie counting!! Wait, what now???... Read on....
If you are lucky enough to be someone who has a diet fit for a Netflix series on 'how to annihilate your health in a slow and insidious way that is entirely social acceptable' then simple changes to your food choices will certainly reap incredible results! ie. the trashier your current diet the bigger the impact will be if you change the foods you choose to eat.
Number 2 will not work for everyone. If your diet is already pretty healthy then annoyingly you likely have other factors effecting your waistline. So at number 3 we have; 'have you ever investigated the why behind your bodyweight?'. 1000s of clients have taught me that even the most sustainable diet will not last if the individual is using excess bodyweight as a defence and protection from something. I won't say too much on this as I would advise you to seek professional help if you feel that past (or current) trauma is behind your self sabotage. I will say that something like 80% of people I have worked with try to address the problem 'bodyweight' via diet, when their bodyweight is in fact a symptom of something from their past rather than the problem in and of itself. I honestly think this is one of the most misunderstood and overlooked parts of losing weight and being healthy.
Trauma and crappy diets aren't the only reasons we might struggle to lose weight though...Number 4 is: the world IS against you! ('Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not after you!'). It's not your fault. You are being manipulated and consumerised (new word) at every turn. See the comment I made above about Netflix worthy diets being socially acceptable. Our subconscious is being constantly assaulted by product placement, fake health solutions, ill-informed influencers, shiny wrappers and sales pitches so silent and stealthy that we think we really did WANT that thing... And do you know what the worse thing about this subversive manipulation is? Just because you are aware of it, does not mean you are immune!! Eek!!!!.... So what can I do Anne, are we all screwed? We sure are. But not totally!. You do have to have your wits about you though, that's for sure. Being aware is a start. And then Number 5 is your solution.
Habits. Yeah, I know, boring. If you are going into a diet for weight loss, and are not willing to change old habits, then you are just punching yourself in the face for no reason; you can't win that fight. Be willing to let go of things like 'but I can't live without a kilo of cheese a day' and 'but me and my partner ALWAYS do takeaway Friday'. If you cannot fight your own corner then maybe you're not ready to change? (See number 3). We can be seriously guilty of building our identity around things that we believe to be true about ourselves. Let's be honest, of course you can live without cheese, but if you want to talk to yourself like a baby and throw a tantrum and over dramatize with gusto over cheese...well...maybe I can't help you...
And here is the final bonus point and truth of it all.
I cannot help you.
Only you can do that.
Everything above is just there to prompt you into considering where you might be stumbling.
Only you know your truth.
Yup!