Easy weight loss
Easy weight loss – does that actually exist??
Surely if weight loss was easy we wouldn’t spend so much time talking about it.
If you are struggling to kick start your so called ‘new year’ health kick (I know I am) then don’t give up! Only this week I restarted my exercise regime and it finally felt good.
Don’t give up - you will start, look for inspiration - those things that inspire you - and bin off the things you know make you feel demotivated and disempowered. Have a flick through your social media profile – are you following accounts that are helping or hindering? Have a cull – this is your space so try to keep it as YOUR space!
One of my top tips is not at all glamorous.
MyFitnessPal app is an app that allows you to keep a food diary amongst other things.
The reason I always promote the use of this, is that I do believe in tools that help you to focus your mind. Using the app itself will not help you to lose weight per se but it will help you to build an accurate picture of yourself and make you more mindful about what you are eating and drinking. Often we don’t make decisions on food and drink on anything other than – ‘do I fancy that?’
Sometimes we just don't even realise EVERYTHING we consume in a day – the quantity, the choices, OR we underegg the portion size OR we kid ourselves that we have been more active and therefore needed higher calorific intake. In fact the list of lies we tell ourselves goes on and on. Get started on the app by simply recording everything you eat and drink every day without making any changes to your habits. Record sauces, drinks, snacks, EVERYTHING! Now this can be a little work intensive initially but you will find over time you have lots of repetitions. MyFitnessPal app has an enormous database of nutritional content of different foods including restaurants and takeaways. It also allows you to enter recipes and will work out the nutrition for you.
Once you have kept a record for a week or 2, you can sit down and get a real idea of what you are eating each day. Are there triggers or patterns? Evidence of eating just for the sake of it? Most of us will have some easy wins - in other words -straight away you will likely identify a couple of things you can reduce or eliminate from your diet without even missing them. Once you have done this, you can use the app to help guide you to how much you should consume each day. If you need professional help you can get someone to look at your diary with you.
Importantly this is NOT a shaming exercise, and you must not use it that way - this is purely a tool to help you think about what you are eating - ‘do I really want this?’ Sometimes I even say to myself ‘what if I had already eaten this?’…find your own mind tricks, work out your weak points, your triggers. MyFitnessPal is a great free tool to help you focus your mind and mentally ready yourself – you totally got this!
