As a personal trainer, I often get asked for my secret weight loss tips and if I have any rapid weight loss secrets.
It's no secret that eating fewer calories than your body burns will cause weight loss.
And, increasing your daily activity levels will increase your calorie burn.
Actually, when you strip it back to basics, the whole process is simple.
Eat less, move more.
Except for the 'rapid' part.
I'm sorry but if you're here for a secret rapid weight loss formula, you're in the wrong place.
Rapid weight loss (depending on your expectations) doesn't exist.
Rapid to me is around 2lbs a week - the upper limit of sustainable weight loss.
If you're expecting any more than that, every week - managing your expectations of healthy weight loss is the first thing we need to work on.
Now, why do so many people struggle to lose and maintain their weight?
Why do I meet numerous people that have achieved fantastic transformations only to pile the weight (and more) back on, after that initial honeymoon period?
It's because your thoughts and behaviour are stuck in the future or past when they need to be focussed on right now.
The whole 'secret' is to forget about losing weight.
That's right.
Forget about the thing that has likely consumed your entire adult years.
Instead, I want you to focus on the process.
You need to focus on making gradual changes to your small daily habits.
It might sound trivial but whilst those small changes appear to be non-important right now.
They are a lot like compound interest.
You don't see them much, you don't give them much attention nor even notice what you're putting in.
Yet over time and after implementing enough small changes, they will carry you forward to the threshold of success.
Look back and be honest with yourself.
How many times have you started a diet and gave up after a couple of weeks because you can't see any visible results?
Realistic and sustainable change does not happen overnight.
To lose weight for good and change your appearance, focussing on the process is the key to never having to worry about your weight again.
We get told to focus on the end effect whenever we set a new goal.
"Imagine how good your bum is going to look at the end of this?".
What you don't get told is that the end never comes because we're never satisfied.
And, how frustrating and de-motivating is it when every day you look in the mirror and you can't see any changes!?
This is why you need to set your target goal and park it somewhere to come back to later.
And shift your focus on the journey and not the finish line
because
Where your attention goes your energy flows.
Meaning, if your attention is on the finish line, you'll find your energy levels wane as the line. This is because that line doesn't get any closer and there's no obvious feeling of success and reward.
Whereas, if you focus your attention on the process and the new habits you need to put in place. You can experience those feel-good hormones kick in, each time you tick off a new habit. Thus, building discipline and reinforcing your motivation to keep going.
You must find habits that suit you, otherwise, you will not stick to them.
There's no point telling yourself that you're going to run 4 times a week when you hate running.
It's very unlikely that you will keep it up. Yet, you might enjoy walking and find that it's much more likely that you'll do 10,000 walking steps every day.
If you love chocolate but your diet tells you to cut it out, guess what, that diet won't last.
Find ways to fit it into your diet in moderation. There's no reason why you can't eat chocolate every day and still lose weight.
Find habits that suit you and you enjoy.
When you do that, weight management becomes a hell of a lot less miserable and actually, dare I say... fun!
Focus on the process.
Get that right and stress-free weight management becomes automatic.
Enjoying the process is the essence of life.
Ben Yates is a personal trainer based at Places Gym Hinckley and Hinckley Leisure Centre in Leicestershire.
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