5 Strategies for Permanent Weight Loss
Weight loss seems so simple.
Eat less, exercise more. Right? When you’re trying to lose weight permanently, all you have to do is eat less an exercise more, right? WRONG!
Ask any of the 50 million individuals who are attempting to lose weight each year and they will tell you it is not that easy.
It’s not just changing what you eat and exercising. Sure, those play a role with permanent weight loss, but they’re just 2 pieces to the weight loss puzzle.
In reality, it feels like battle.
After all, you are tackling the 10 year daily visit to the vending machine, the 20 year snacking while watching TV habit and the real doozy, the "dinner is not complete unless I eat something sweet" conviction.
To kick those bad habits that "prevent" you from eating fewer calories and making permanent change, than you need to be prepared to understand and change your behaviors.
These 5 Tips for Permanent Weight Loss will help you get to on (or stay on) track!
Know yourself
First, understand your motivation. Why do you want to lose weight permanently? If you do not have a reason that is truly meaningful to you, than you will have an impossible road to climb. People who attempt weight loss because they feel they should, but aren’t invested, won’t be able to make the necessary permanent change in behavior. If you can’t identify a reason, brainstorm. Write down every possible reason why you want to lose weight, set it aside for a day or so. When you return to the list, write down why that reason is important to you (what will it do for you specifically). When you’ve identified your top 3 and you feel strongly about them, it’s time to get started. If you still struggle, put the list away and return every couple of days, adding answers and revisiting old ones until you have identified your reason WHY.
Motivate yourself
Once you have identified the very specific reason as to why, hang onto it. Make visible reminders. The reminders could be pictures of yourself, your kids, a swimsuit model hung in the kitchen, bathroom, etc., or the reminder may be a pair of pants you would like to fit into. When you are feeling like giving up, try on the pants. Notice how they fit, where they are still tight, where they have gotten bigger. Now imagine what it will be like to fit into them again. Take an index card and write one sentence summarizing your motivation. Carry the card with you. When you don’t want to go to the gym, read the card several times. Tell yourself tomorrow if you feel like not exercising, you’ll give in – but for today you will stick with it. The next time the scenario comes up, play the same game with yourself. Identify your motivation for giving up. Is going home and sitting on the couch, watching TV, or going to the mall really worth it?
Is THAT going to help you achieve permanent weight loss?
Coach yourself
We are our own worst enemy. Despite working hard at changing our behaviors and making efforts to make it happen, we subtly tell ourselves things like "I hope I can do this", "I’ve been good, I deserve to take a day off", or "I blew it today, I might as well write today off and start fresh tomorrow."
The problem with these thoughts is they are all negative. Scratch the word "hope" from your vocabularly … indicates uncertainty and that some element is not within your control. Remember permanent weight loss is possible. Direct your thoughts positively and keep your motivation in sight.
Reframe your mind
Put exercise and eating well in the same perspective as the rest of your life.
A lot of people think of exercise as something extra in their lives; something that happens when they have the time.
If exercise is never a priority, you will always identify things that bump it off the to-do list. Instead, make exercise part of your life.
We all have things we have to do each day — go to work, pay the pills, do the laundry, etc. We do these tasks because if we don’t there is a price to pay. Treat exercise as though it’s obligatory. Plan your exercise as just something else that needs to happen — daily.
Celebrate you!
Do you give your best to your job, your family, and your friends but never devote anything worthwhile to yourself?
Use these behavior changes as an opportunity to put yourself first. Remind yourself you are taking steps toward a healthier, leaner you. If you do not see changes in your body or on the scale immediately, be patient. Weight loss will happen when you are committed to your goal … and permanent weight loss will happen when you remain committed to your goal.
August 26th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Thanks for these very helpful reminders! After a very stressful week, I have been off track with my eating, exercising, and sleeping, and this week, reaching my goal weight really feels like a battle. I am reminding myself of all of the extraordinary things my body has done and continues to do for me every day, and I definitely am more than a number on a scale. I just need to practice what I preach and stop beating myself up and start building myself up!
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August 26th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Great post Chris & Kara…thanks for reminding all of us why we go to the gym, count calories, make IT important & stay focused! I appreciate the reminder of my why!
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Good post. As someone who has lost a good deal of weight and kept it off over a long period of time, here are some things I have learned that I’d like to add. I hope they help readers.
Prioritize yourself
Many people have trouble losing weight and keeping it off because they view eating as very low on the hierarchy of their priorities. When you eat whatever is available without any regard for quality or portion, or eat to fill an emotional need or void, you eat more. If you make it a point to focus on eating to fuel your body and mind, you generally eat less and are satisfied with fewer calories.
Listen to yourself
Are you hungry? Or are you eating because it’s “time to eat?” Eat when you’re hungry, not at socially-prescribed meal times and you’ll eat less. Are you eating because you might not know when you’ll have another chance to eat? Don’t leave the house without some snacks. Keep nuts and dried fruit in your car. Carry fresh fruit and veggies in your bag. Stock the office fridge with snacks like hard-boiled eggs, greek yogurt, nut butters, sprouted grain wraps, fruit, and veggies. Always have water on hand. Follow these strategies and you won’t find yourself eating to avoid the possibility that there might not be something to eat later when you actually ARE hungry.
Don’t fool yourself
Eat for weight loss and exercise for strength, speed, power, or conditioning. People don’t lose weight from exercise – in fact, it stimulates the appetite. Yes, this is painting in quite broad strokes and certainly exercise of any kind burns more calories than sitting still, but if you look at the big picture, weight loss is a function of caloric deficit – use more than take in. Since most people won’t burn more than 1,000 calories per day from incredibly intense exercise, the easiest way to lose weight is eating less. For faster results, eat less and move more, but make the mental connection between quantity consumed and bodyweight. The more you eat, the more you weigh; the less you eat, the less you weigh. Break the connection between exercise and bodyweight.
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Thank you for the tips. I found a lot of truth in the motivation for permanent weight loss. In these economic times, I am not in the position to afford the gym, but I am trying to ‘move’ 5 hours a day (which breaks down to about 20 mins every hour I’m awake…which brought it into focus for me…made more sense). I count grocery shopping, mowing the lawn, doing gardening, dancing in my kitchen, among the ways in which I exercise. It doesn’t have to be 30 mins of cardio to be exercise.
What I would like to know is…do you have to give up your sweet cravings for the rest of your life? When I was 32 and in great shape, I still had cravings for chocolate and sweets. It was just easier then because I had a four year old to keep up with to keep me thin. I didn’t eat as healthy as I do now, not by a long shot but I did move a lot more. Then I ate bread, cake, pasta, potatoes, beans, and corn…which now put on the pounds overnight. I will get to my goal weight again, for my mental, emotional, and physical health. Thank you for all your tips and encouragement.
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
August 29th, 2009 at 5:41 am
Hi Lark — we always suggest following a 90/10 rule, meaning 90% of the time eat clean, allowing for a little more “flexibility” the other 10% of the time. So let’s say you eat 5 times each day. That means you eat 35 times each week. If you follow the 90/10 rule, that “allows” 3.5 of those meals to be a little less “clean.” Hope that helps!
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August 28th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Love the conversation from Central Park!!! How did you bite your tongue?
I just had a client tell me yesterday that she was swearing off watermelon because her coworkers told her that it is full of sugar. I told her to eat watermelon to her heart’s content and tell her coworkers to ditch the peanut M&M dishes on their desks =)
Thanks for the great reminders!
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August 28th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
amen to that!! yes, it is all about attitude and change the way you think….yup!!!!!
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darlene Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
My experience with weght loss was I had to replace my bad habits with good habits that I love. People associate diet and exercise as negative and unenjoyable. I worked with personal trainer who is a great motivator, stays educated on nutritiion and creates exciting physical challenges. The one thing he taught me was that food and exercise are supposed to be fun and enjoyed or you won’t do it. I worked with him for two and a half years and in first fourteen months I lost 153 pounds. I did this
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August 28th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Lark, yes, you can eat sweets. Yes, you can eat bread. Yes, you can eat chocolate. Don’t worry so much about _what_ you eat. Focus more on _how much_ you eat. Remember the root of weight loss or gain is energy in vs. energy out. Eat for weight loss and exercise for strength, speed, power, or conditioning. Keep pushing!
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Chris and Kara Mohr Reply:
August 29th, 2009 at 5:43 am
Thanks for the insight, Dan — one thing I would say, though, is that it is more than just energy in and energy out. It is about quality too. Sure, you can lose weight eating 2 Twinkies each day, but of course that’s not the best approach to losing weight. Focus on quality AND quantity.
Chris
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Dan Radin Reply:
August 29th, 2009 at 7:46 am
Morning Chris,
While I agree that qualitative food choices are important to health, the point I’m trying to make here is that the fitness and nutrition industry has made such a point to push people to eat the “right stuff.” That campaign (for lack of a better term) has clouded the take-away message. Do I eat more vegetables to lose weight? Do I need more unsaturated fats to lose? Should I eat more fiber? More antioxidants? More calcium?
In the end, of course, all of those support a healthy body, but the most important message to people trying to lose weight permanently needs to be that you cannot lose weight unless you eat less than you burn. There is no way around it with the latest nutritional research, supplements, or exercise… if you’re overweight, you have to eat less – forever – to lose weight and keep it off.
Respectfully,
Dan
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August 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
My experience to experience permanent weight loss was I had to replace my bad habits with good habits that I loved. Weight loss seems makes people think of deprivation of food and hard work through exercise. I worked with a personal trainer who is a great motivator, stays educated on nutrition, and creates exciting challenging physical activity. I worked with him for two and half years and in the first fourteen months I lost 153 pounds. I had no surgery, supplements, or extreme dieting. He taught me about living healthy and loving it. He said often food and physical activity are supposed to be fun and enjoyable or you won’t do it. I love bananas and eat them all the time, they are great for you. Achieving a healthy body, feeling great physically and mentally, loving life were rewards I never thought of in the beginning of my permanent weight loss journey.
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August 29th, 2009 at 5:50 am
Great article about permanent weight loss, Chris and Kara! Thanks for giving me the push to go to the gym today; sometimes you need a reminder as to why this is so important and why we should never give up and always give a 110%.
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August 29th, 2009 at 8:02 am
So many people tell me “you can have this, is low fat (or no fat)” I say sure, but you know what? I’d rather take some good fats than any sugar or chemical sweetener!
You can imagine the looks on their faces when I say that
what am I, a heretic!? I’d eat fats over aspartame?
I will periodically “ditch” the banana over blueberries to break a plateau, but that’s about it.
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August 31st, 2009 at 3:17 am
WOW! Thanks so much. The encouragement really helps!!!!
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September 2nd, 2009 at 7:47 am
I couldn’t agree more with your statement “Weight loss will happen when you are committed to your goal … and permanent weight loss will happen when you remain committed to your goal”.
It has taken me a long time to understand that weight loss will come in time if I make the changes today and stick to those life style changes. It’s okay if I’m not perfect. There will be slip ups and days where I don’t make the best choices. However if I remind myself of my goals and get right back to it, it really is okay. So I live by the mantra make the changes today that result in a healthier lifestyle and overtime a lower BMI.
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