Momentum can go either way

How many of you have been successful in weight loss, and everything has been great and all of a sudden one person comes up to you and says “you’re losing TOO much weight and you’re looking ill”! You don’t really take it on board because you’ve worked HARD for this, and nothing’s going to stop you now! Then a few people you know come up to you and tell you “you’ve really lost too much weight and put some back on”!

Then you look at your food intake and decide perhaps that you have really cut things back too far, and you have developed a negative association with food, all food is bad and only a little bit is good. This is a highly unhealthy situation to be in, and often is the start of the putting weight back on process. This is because you go under the healthy recommended amount of calories per day and immediately will go back to your former ways.

Fast forward a few months later and you’re out shopping or at work, and someone comes up to you and says those dreaded words “have you put on a few pounds”!! Those seven words can ruin your day, although you pretend to shrug it off at the time. The same process begins again after a couple of weeks with more and more people asking about your weight gain. At that point, you will usually promise to get rid of the weight again sometime soon! That point sometimes never comes, and it can take an almighty jolt to get you on the right track again!

What we are describing here is “yo-yo” dieting, constantly losing weight, putting it back on and more, losing weight, putting it back on and more etc etc.

The bad news is that the more you go through this process, the more resistant your body becomes to weight loss and to say its unhealthy would be an understatement.

When you started to lose weight and get fit, did you notice that the first few weeks were the hardest, maintaining a lighter weight was at times easier, but the way you may have done it was unsustainable and that was the problem, losing 5 pounds a week can be unhealthy, most doctors recommend 1-2 pounds a week for it to be sustainable, as well as a healthy a range of balanced, healthy foods.

The most sensible way to get in shape is to change for your food not drastically, down to a few measly morsels per day, but to eat high quality smaller meals and snacks. Eat every 3-4 hours so you don’t go hungry, drink plenty of water during the day and when you exercise. When you exercise, start off gradually and promise not to slip back and miss workouts, if you do then don’t beat yourself up, just pick yourself up again and have a go the next day. This is the true way to create the positive momentum you need and everyone needs in their lives.

Always remember it’s harder to create momentum than actually go along with it, and you CAN do it if you really believe you can. If you exercise a minimum of 3 times per week you have momentum, if you eat well 80% of the time, you have momentum, this will help you sleep better which is always vital.

The first and hardest step is always getting going, it’s a lot easier after that if you remember a few simple rules. Momentum gives you great power and the inspiration to achieve great things, it’s nothing magical to get, just do it!

Keri