Written by: Fatimah Behagg
Weight loss is hard. It takes time, commitment, and consistency.
Many people start weight loss plans, only to quit after just a few weeks or months. They focus too much on weight loss being an immediate thing. This unrealistic expectation that weight loss should be ‘fast’ is often the reason people do not stick to a fitness plan.
Too many people obsess about the time it will take, instead of focusing their efforts on the work needed to achieve weight loss and doing it consistently. Building healthy habits should be a life-long commitment, not just to lose weight, but also to keep it off.
Over the years, I have seen a lot of people give up on their fitness journeys too quickly. They get impatient with the process. They think that one hour of personal training once a week will be the answer to their weight loss problems. They neglect to think about the choices they are making the rest of the week, and how those decisions may be un-doing any efforts being made in that one-hour session to lose weight.
To lose weight, you must be willing to do the work required for longer than just a few weeks. It can take months. Realistically anything between 3 and 5 months, depending on your goals, lifestyle, and the amount of weight you need to lose. Age and activity levels will also determine the time it will take, as will any pre-existing injuries and health conditions. The most underrated factor behind how long it will take to lose weight is consistency. Ask yourself, how consistent are you prepared to be to achieve your goals?
In a desperate bid to lose weight, many will jump onto every ‘fitness fad’ or ‘fad diet’ that pops up, believing it to be the answer they were looking for, to lose weight. They fall for tactical marketing headlines such as ‘lose fat fast’, ‘speed up your weight loss’, or ‘lose weight quickly’ and hope that they will see results, only to be disappointed a few weeks later when no weight loss happens.
I coach my clients on how to create healthy, long-lasting habits that will serve them for a lifetime. Not just for a short time. I teach them how to make fitness a lifestyle. For a long time. The key is to create a lifestyle that you can stick to over the long term, not just to get in shape, but to stay in shape. Short-term tactics cannot be sustained. These 4 and 6-week weight loss plans are not effective in the long term. They create a negative cycle of losing weight and then gaining it back because lifestyle habits have not been created to sustain the weight loss.
As a coach, I get asked (daily): “What exercises are good for fat loss?” and “Which diet is best for weight loss?”
My answer is always the same.
There is no magical movement, exercise, or diet that will magically make you lose weight. To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. This means increasing your energy expenditure or reducing your energy intake, also known as calories.
To sustain that weight loss, you must create healthy habits that form a lifestyle. These consistent daily behaviours will allow you to not only achieve your weight loss goal now but also allow you to maintain it, long-term.
If you are struggling to lose weight, consider these 3 points to help you achieve your goal:
Nutrition
Start tracking your food to see what you are eating. Quantity and quality matter when it comes to living a healthy and happy lifestyle. Note down what you eat, even just for 3-5 days to understand what might be getting in the way of your weight loss goals. There are lots of apps available for free to track calories, including ‘My FitnessPal’ which allows you to track your meals and view a breakdown of daily macronutrient intakes, such as protein and carbohydrates. I do not recommend calorie counting as a long-term activity, just as a short-term way to assess what you are eating and see if there are tweaks to be made. Some of my clients do not want to download an app or use online methods to track, instead opting to keep a written food diary instead. I review it for them on a weekly or monthly basis, giving them small pointers to stay on track.
It is not usually a diet overhaul that is needed. It is typically small tweaks here and there, which add up to make a difference. For example, if a client is struggling to lose weight, we might look at reducing portions slightly. Instead of two spoonfuls of peanut butter, I might suggest they have one. If they are currently eating two cookies with their morning coffee, I will get them to have one. If they take 2 sugars in their tea, we will reduce it by half. These small changes add up across the span of the day, week, and then a month.
Losing weight does not need to be a miserable process. You do not need to restrict food groups to achieve results. For example, carbohydrates get a bad reputation and are seen to be the ‘devil’ when it comes to losing weight. They are perceived to make you fat. People think that to lose weight, they must cut out this food group altogether. This is not true. Carbohydrates do not make you fat. Too many calories make you fat. Hence why it is important and helpful to start tracking your calories, to understand exactly what you are eating.
If you are struggling to lose weight, start noting down what you eat. It will prove helpful to understand what you are eating and help you to identify where tweaks can be made, to create a calorie deficit. This is necessary to lose weight.
Nutrition is a key factor behind why many people struggle to lose weight. Consider partnering with a certified nutritionist or coach if you need help. They will be able to guide you on what to eat and help to create personalised plans which you can follow, especially if you have an unhealthy or sensitive relationship with food.
Calorie Deficit
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit. This means burning off more food than you consume. If you eat more than your body requires to function and be active, you will gain weight. Weight loss requires the body to be in a deficit. It does not happen in one day, or even in one week. It needs to be a gradual thing, done consistently over time to achieve weight loss. For example, eating ‘clean’ during the weekdays, just to go all out at the weekend will not work. Often, people consume less during the week, then when the weekend comes, they consume more calories than needed, which closes the gap in the calorie deficit they created during the week, taking them out of it.
Sometimes people will say to me “I am not losing weight despite being in a calorie deficit.” This may be true, if a client has an underlying medical issue, such as an underactive thyroid for example, but in most cases, the individual is most likely not in a calorie deficit. I have come across many occasions when somebody believes to be in a deficit, however, when we delve a little deeper into their daily eating habits, it is clear liquid calories have not been taken into consideration. The two or three daily Starbucks are being overlooked, or sugars in tea are being overlooked. I had a female client share a food diary with me once, as she was frustrated with her lack of weight loss. She had listed lots of salads and vegetables in her diary yet failed to include the oils and dressings she was adding. These oils and dressings are often high in calories, which might not make much difference to somebody who is relatively healthy and active, but to someone who is struggling to lose weight, maybe a determining factor as to why they are not losing weight.
Weight loss requires a calorie deficit and consistency. It must be done gradually. I coach my clients on the importance of marginal changes. I am not an advocate for weekday healthy eating plans, and weekend “eat whatever you like”. It is an unhealthy mindset and can lead to overeating or binge eating. It is not necessary or healthy to cut out food groups to create a calorie deficit.
To create a calorie deficit, track your food, and see where portions can be tweaked. Try being more active each day to increase your calorie burn. Take the stairs where you can. Try walking the dog for 5 minutes more than normal. Get off the bus a stop earlier, so you can get in more steps. Exercise up to 3-4 times a week, for 30 to 45 minutes incorporating both strength and cardiovascular movements to build a strong, fit, and healthy body. You do not need to pound it out for hours on end on a treadmill every day. This is unnecessary, excessive, and frankly, a miserable existence.
Non-exercise activity thermogenesis
If you are struggling to lose weight, try increasing your non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). This is a fancy way of way saying all activity that is not technically ‘exercise.’ For example, general day-to-day movement, such as cleaning your house, walking to work, brushing your teeth, making your bed, or going for a walk. These daily activities burn more calories across the span of the day in comparison to the calories you burn in a typical one-hour workout.
Whether your goal is to lose weight or not, try to be more active throughout the day and less sedentary. Stand more at work, or when taking calls. Go for short walks on your lunch break, and just move more generally. Take the stairs at every opportunity. The calories burned from this type of ‘activity’ add up across the week and can make a big difference when it comes to weight loss goals.
Summary
You do not need to restrict food groups or exercise excessively to lose weight. These unnecessary and unrealistic approaches to weight loss are not healthy, or sustainable. If you have been struggling to lose weight or starting out on your weight-loss journey, focus on your day-to-day actions and how they may be playing a role in your weight-loss efforts.
Start creating small, healthy habits each day, which will then become a lifestyle. You are more likely to stick to something if it becomes part of your everyday life. Build a sustainable way to live, so that you can achieve your desired weight loss goals and maintain them. Skip the short-term unhealthy and unsustainable ways of losing weight and instead focus on long-term health.
Sustainable weight loss is about finding that balance so that you can live in a ‘healthy maintenance’ (being in shape, versus getting in and out of shape) long-term. Focus on marginal changes to your everyday life, and you will see results if you are consistent.
If you need help staying on track, and are looking for some support with motivation, consistency, and forming positive daily habits, please feel free to get in touch with me. I would love the opportunity to help you make health and fitness a lifestyle and to help you achieve your desired weight loss goals.
To learn more, connect with me on Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter and visit our website!
About the author:
Fatimah Behagg is a business owner, brand & growth marketer and certified fitness coach. She has over 14 years of experience as a marketing leader responsible for global advertising campaigns. She partners with start-ups as a consultant to build brands, and currently heads up customer experience for one client. Her mission when launching ‘Flex with Fatz’ was to combine her extensive professional experience and passion for fitness to improve the lives of others. She regularly hosts talks on the importance of mindset & motivation, and blogs frequently on all things health and wellbeing. Her long-term goal being to dedicate her marketing, leadership and fitness experience to inspire on a global scale.
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