I want you to take a good hard look at yourself next time you say the words ‘I can’t…….’
You know…..
I can’t lose weight!
I have tried everything.
Really? Have you truly done absolutely everything to work towards your goal?
Have you exercised with consistency? Anything less than two good quality workouts a week won’t allow you to make progress, and that is an absolute minimum. I tell my clients that three is the magic number below which only minimal results will be seen, and in case your maths is bad that means every other day.
Have you been exercising at the optimal intensity? (For healthy people a low intensity 60 minute walk will have less fat-loss effect than 20-30 minutes of high-intensity intervals).
Have you cut out all the junk and unhealthy snacks which you eat? ………Honestly?
Have you invested the necessary time in learning about what really constitutes a healthy diet, and then put it into practice?
Have you been messing up your body and hormones by long-term cutting of calories, crash diets or following the latest faddy eating plan?
Have you been wasting your hard-earned money looking for a quick fix or an easy way to shed those pounds? (The truth is that there isn’t one).
Have you been conned into counting calories or ‘points’ by an organisation which doesn’t care about your long-term health, but wants you to buy their expensive branded products full of additives, sugar and salt? (Have they ever told you the percentage of people who fail to achieve sustainable results on their ‘diet’).
Have you cut your daily calories so much that you are now permanently hungry, tired, irritable, miserable and ill, with a metabolism so messed up that it will take months of correct eating to recover?
Have you been getting 7 to 8+ hours of sleep every night?
Have you cut down as much as possible on the stress in your life? (Stress and lack of sleep raise cortisol levels and keep you fat).
Have you been brain-washed into eating sugar-laden low-fat products, toxic margarine or nutritionally devoid skimmed milk?
Have you spent time writing down your ‘why’? It’s simply not enough just to say that you want to lose weight. You need to attach some deep emotion to your reasons. What is your current weight preventing you from doing / how does it make you feel / what is the downside to staying as you are or worse still getting fatter? It is said that when we do anything in life we are all either moving away from pain or towards pleasure. Avoidance of physical or emotional pain is a strong motivator which you can use to your advantage!
Have you committed 100% to reaching your goal? If you are going to be successful there is no room for anything less, or I can promise you that when the going gets tough (which it will), you will be back to your old habits before you know it.
Have you told anyone and everyone what you are doing? (Accountability is another really strong motivator – tell your family, friends and work colleagues so they can support you).
Have you given yourself a bunch of BS excuses about the size of your bones, your slow metabolism, your hormones, your other health problems? Get over it and STOP LYING TO YOURSELF. Everyone, and I repeat everyone, can lose weight.
That list may seem harsh, but it is honest, and that is what is needed here.
I will give you some cold hard facts.
If you were to stop eating for the next ten days, I GUARANTEE you would lose considerable amount of weight. You might not think that you would be all that healthy afterwards, but you would definitely be lighter! Note: Some people claim to feel amazing after extended periods of fasting, and it is practiced a great deal in some religions for the physical and psychological benefits which it gives.
During a long fast, your brain function might well get a little foggy and you would cannibalise some hard-earned muscle tissue (less if you weight trained appropriately during the fast), but strangely enough you wouldn’t die or likely feel half as bad as you expected.
Now of course I don’t suggest for one minute that you stop eating for multiple days, but it does prove my point.
The truth is that if you are trying to lose weight and aren’t getting the results you want, then you either aren’t trying hard enough, you aren’t being honest with yourself about your efforts, or you haven’t been doing the right thing.
I can show you how to lose considerable amounts of weight I managed to lose 14.6lbs in 25 days last year, without permanently damaging my metabolism or suffering a host of unwanted side-effects.
Was it easy – absolutely not.
Did it challenge my perceptions of what I was prepared to do to get results – yes.
Would I recommend it to the average person – maybe, but only if they have the necessary willpower and discipline to follow a plan 100%.
I have spent the last two or three years learning about hormonal manipulation, from those far more knowledgeable than me, and I still have a way to go before I feel confident enough to widely share that knowledge.
First of all you have to sort out your mindset. What are you prepared to do to get the results which you want?
It’s no use if your version of ‘doing your best’ actually amounts to having sneaky little snacks every day, or going home each evening rather than going to the gym because you are tired.
The reality is that the only person who really cares if you lose the excess pounds which you have been claiming that you have been trying to lose for the last 5 years is you!
You are the only one who can make it happen.
If you are only making a 70% or even 80% effort, you are very unlikely to get there. It’s going to take at least a 90% effort, and most likely 100%, for you to see sustainable results.
The same goes for any other goal which you want to reach. The chances are that if it is worth having, then it’s going to take consistent hard work.
There will undoubtedly be setbacks, obstacles, sacrifice and pain (physical, spiritual or emotional). But there will also be joy and excitement when you finally succeed. The more we are tested on the journey, the more the outcome is appreciated.
We all have the power to change ourselves, physically, emotionally, financially and in every other way. In reality, most of us are not prepared to put in the necessary work or make the required sacrifices to get where we want to go.
That is what we are really saying when we utter those ‘I can’t lose weight’ words. We are actually just admitting that we are not prepared to do whatever is necessary to reach our goal. It’s like a get out of jail free card which we use to help us feel better about ourselves in the face of failure.
So what can you do if this is you?
- Write down your goals – not the superficial ‘I want to weight 9 stone and look like Elle MacPherson’. The real why, detailing what your current weight is preventing you from doing, and what doors are going to open when you have lost the excess pounds. The more emotion you can connect, the easier you will find it to stick to your goal when the going gets tough.
- Get your mindset sorted out. If you go into this only 50% sure that you will be successful, then I will tell you right now that you will fail. Even 90% won’t cut it. It’s going to take 100% commitment for you to win. If you have any doubts, then you had better figure out right now why. If you doubt the power of your own mind then you won’t have the ability to keep your eyes on the prize when deviations occur. Decide up front what you are prepared to sacrifice in order to reach your goal. Perhaps just as importantly, acknowledge what you aren’t prepared to change, and adjust your expectations of yourself accordingly.
- Start today! Don’t be one of those people who waits until next Monday, the 1st of the month, or after a dinner date to get started. Assuming that whatever dietary changes you make are ones which you can sustain for the rest of your life, the best moment to begin is now. It doesn’t mean you will never eat another chocolate cake, packet of crisps or Chinese takeaway. There is perhaps a misconception that we have to be perfect or it is not worth starting. Remember that every little positive change is a step in the right direction to improved health and wellbeing.
- Make a decision to be kinder to yourself. I don’t mean let yourself off the hook every time you make a dietary slip up, but perhaps concede that you are only human. It often takes failure to teach us something and to remind us of how important the goal actually is. Don’t view a binge or late night craving as a complete failure, but just a blip. Take control, dust yourself off and get back with the programme – reconnect with the values in point one if you are struggling. If something really is important to you, then you will find a way. Remember the Chinese proverb, ‘Failure is not falling down, but refusing to get up’.
- Don’t get sucked in to any wacky diets or calorie-counting which you cannot sustain, particularly if you don’t have the basics of a healthy diet pretty well dialled in before you start. This is your long-term health you are playing with. Screw up your metabolism by living on cabbage soup for days on end, popping pills full of stimulants falsely sold to burn off those excess calories whilst you sleep, or convince yourself that 1200 calories per day for the rest of your life is a good idea, and I will guarantee that before long you will be sick, unhealthy, miserable and likely fatter than before you started.
- Find a coach. I spent many years shunning the idea of hiring a coach to help me with the things I wanted to get out of life. I thought that I could do everything on my own. Yet these days I have my own business coach who keeps me on track and accountable, and my life has changed immeasurably because of it. On more than one occasion I have even hired a fellow personal trainer to write me a programme and coach me through the workouts. It is much easier to have an expert guide you, than it is to try and figure it out alone. Most people fail in their diet and fitness goals because they don’t have the necessary knowledge, a workable plan which integrates everything necessary for success, or a support system. This is one of the reasons I have developed my business – I see far too many people investing their efforts in things which can never bring them results. To learn more about Merlin Fitness and how its Metabolic Magic system can help you to reach your weight loss and fitness goals, and to schedule a free telephone consultation, simply follow this link.
- Cut off all other options. Don’t try to maintain a healthy diet if your kitchen cupboards are full of junk food and snacks. I heard from a potential client the other day that she HAD to keep that stuff in the house for her kids….grrrrr! Similarly I know there is a train of thought which says that to keep motivated you should promise to buy yourself a pair of skinny jeans or little black dress when you reach your goal. My advice is that you buy them now and display them somewhere prominent in your house. Not only will it serve as a reminder of why you are making the sacrifices you are, but fail and you will have wasted the money. Again, moving away from pain and towards pleasure. Just think of how great you will feel when you finally put them on and look amazing.
- Be strong, and don’t allow yourself too many excuses. So we come full circle, back to that original ‘I can’t lose weight’ comment. Hopefully you can see that these things are always under your control. We all have the tools within to become the person we want to be. Even if your goal has nothing to do with weight loss, the same rules apply. Clearly define your goal, work out how you are realistically going to get there, build a team of supporters, start the journey and never, ever give up.
Let me know if I can be of any help.
Your Merlin Fitness coach,
Beth
