Get Your Head in the Game for Fat Loss!

One of the most underestimated parts of fat loss is the fact that it’s largely a mental game! Particularly if we are talking about approaching it in a sustainable way and losing a substantial amount of weight, then we know that we have a journey of months, possibly years ahead of us. That’s a looong time to keep your head in the game for.

For example, one of my clients John who has now surpassed the 30 KG mark (and we have our eyes on losing the next 6kg/stone ), has been on his journey coming up to 15 months now. Has there been hard times along the way…absolutely! But have we stopped or been unsuccessful…no! I put this largely down to the mental approach we have taken, working on building a positive growth mindset as well as reframing things along the way when needed.

When my clients first reach out to start working with me, some of the common things I see are;

- They have tried many diets before but given up

-They have a very negative view of dieting and the dieting process

-They have a very negative view of themselves for being overweight and then for feeling that they keep failing to do anything about it.

If this is you then firstly know that you are not alone, and secondly that there is a A LOT that an be done about this.

In fact, we are going to start right now. Here are 5 ways to start to build a positive mindset and a positive start to your weight loss journey, and keep you going, when the going gets tough.

1. Change the way you view body fat.

Body fat is just energy our bodies have cleverly stored for when we might need it (energy back up reserves if you like!) That’s it! It is not a reflection of you as a person and does not carry any deeper meaning than that. I know from my gymnastics days where I was referred to as the heavy and fat one, the emotion we often attach to this phrase. This can include feelings like lazy, useless, failure, worthless, invisible, unattractive, and not good enough, which if you’re reading this article, I’m sure you can relate to in some way. This is far from the truth and as I’ve just said, you simply need to start to separate the emotions you’ve attached to it from what it actually is…..STORED ENERGY! This automatically takes some of the negativity away from the task ahead and from the way you view yourself.

2. Failure is necessary to learn and progress.

We either win or we learn. I was told this throughout my Kickboxing career and its helped me overcome many of the tougher parts of life that haven’t quite gone to plan. Start viewing failure very simply as feedback that something needs to change, and something that is necessary for us to progress. So for example, a client of mine was struggling to lose weight as they kept overeating at the weekends due to feeling hungry and restricted in the week. If we simply took this as him failing he’d probably have continued the cycle for a while, decided he couldn’t do it, and given up. Instead, we took this as feedback that we needed to adjust the balance of food in the week, and as a result, reduced the overeating at the weekends,and helped his weight continue to come down.

3. Remember that it is ALWAYS possible to reduce the amount of fat that we have.

This is a HUGE positive fact to remember and focus on. You might currently feel so bogged down in negative feelings that you’ve forgotten this very important part. You can change and reduce the amount of fat you have! So if that’s your goal….get excited!Its very VERY achievable! All you need is a plan, a bit of structure and perhaps some guidance and accountability, and I promise you, you can do it!

4.Giving up is the only way to ensure you don’t hit your weight loss goal.

It will definitely be tempting along your journey to pack it all in and just give up, particularly on weeks where you haven’t seem as much weight loss as you were expecting or you feel frustrated you aren’t where you want to be just yet. However in reality, the only way to guarantee you never get there or to make it take a lot longer is by packing it all in. Just keep going, slow and steady, one day at a time. Also, reflect back on all the progress you’ve made so far, including progress outside of simply the weight on the scales.

5. You can start working on fat loss IMMEDIATELY!

This means that by tomorrow you could be one step closer to your target weight and how you want to feel. So not only is what you want very achievable, you can also start working on it today.

Here are a few things you can do straight away to take that first step towards fat loss;

• Drink 2-3 Litres of water a day
• Increase your average step count by 20 % for the next week
• Start keeping a food diary to begin keeping yourself accountable- this can be photo, written or using an app like My Fitness Pal
• Start resistance training 2-3- times a week
• Cut down your current alcohol and fast/processed food by half

I’m going to wrap it up there for toady, but I hope thats started to get you thinking about a more positive way to set yourself up for the journey of fat loss. It’s one of the key elements on anyones weight loss journeys and can be your secret weapon for success by helping you keep your head in the game.

If you have any questions for me on this please reach out or click here if you’d like to enquire about working with me on your own journey.

And remember…..anything is possible!

Lizzie x