There are literally endless options when choosing a weight loss plan. By the time I reached my highest weight of 250 pounds, I had tried them all. Weight loss plans based on your body shape, counting points, counting calories, counting carbs, counting macros, cabbage, the military….the list goes on and on and on.
How do you decide which weight loss plan is best for you?
Choose from love, not impatience.
So many of my clients get to a point of desperation about the way their body looks and frustration with their inability to “make the right choices” that they choose a plan based on what will get them the results fastest. While it may seem like a great idea to really buckle down and tough it out, this results in extreme discomfort (with a side of weight loss) for the near future and long term misery (regaining the weight and then some) thereafter.
Yep, you can generally follow any plan for a short period of time but those results will be just as short if the plan is not something you can enjoy doing. As humans, we like to feel good. So if it not a plan that you will enjoy following, then it’s not the plan for you.
Choose a plan that includes your favorite foods.
Nothing will set you up for weight loss failure as much as trying to avoid your favorite foods. It’s just not realistic. Yeah, some people just plan for cheat days but does that really feel any better? Who are your cheating on? Yourself and your goals?
Plus when you avoid the foods you really enjoy it creates a feeling of restriction and deprivation that make those foods seem even more delicious and crave worthy. It basically guarantees that when you do finally give into those cravings, you’ll gorge yourself on them and feel immense shame and guilt afterwards. I don’t know about you but shame and guilt are not great motivators for making good choices but rather key ingredients for giving up on weight loss…..once again.
Choose a plan that you can do FOREVER.
Uh huh, you’ve heard this one before. It’s not about the perfect weight loss plan. It’s about a lifestyle change. If you go on a diet expecting to lose your weight and then go back to your normal ways of eating once you get to goal weight, then you can definitely expect to go back to your original starting weight.
That’s why it’s even more important to follow the previous criteria of choosing a plan that includes your favorite foods. If you have no intention of leaving pizza behind as a thing of your past, then you should definitely choose a weight loss plan that includes pizza.
Choose a plan that goes beyond exercise and food.
It’s really easy to choose a plan that promises to tell us what to eat, how often to exercise and what exact exercises to do. Many of us just want to be told what to do. We don’t want to figure it out for ourselves or don’t TRUST that we can figure it out on our own.
But what happens when stress is piling on every day and we are following the plan perfectly and the scale remains the same. What happens when you start telling yourself you “just don’t feel like it anymore.” So many things affect our ability to lose weight and stick to a weight loss plan. To be effective, the weight loss plan that you choose should encompass thought work.
In my coaching with clients, I teach that our thoughts create our feelings. So if you are short on motivation, there’s a thought for that! (Try: I am figuring this out! This will result in weight loss! I’m a freaking weight loss machine!) Feeling stressed out and don’t wanna? Take a look at your inner thoughts and see where your thoughts are depleting your desire to make great choices. It may seem surprising but taking responsibility for your emotional life can help you conquer the scale.
Choose a plan that doesn’t exist.
What does that even mean? Create a plan that is specific and customized to you. Start with where you are and make small, incremental changes to a healthier lifestyle. Start by documenting what you are normally eating and drinking throughout the day and then get curious. What would I be willing to do tomorrow to be 1% healthier?
Yes, just 1%. Something so small and seemingly insignificant. Something that you probably dismiss right away as too small to make a difference. But if you commit to changing 1% each day for a year that will result in 365% of change towards and healthier you and a very easy, manageable change each day. (OK, maybe the math doesn’t exactly work out that way but you get what I mean)
Remember, the best weight loss plan for you is the one you stick to.
Your Coach,
Andrea