With long-term weight loss, slow is the best way to go. Eating a little less than you normally would and moving more than you have been doing. Even as I write this, it sounds easy, but it’s not! Walking is an attractive form of exercise and starting at 10 minutes 3 days a week and building up to 45 minutes of intense walking 5-7 days a week, is great.
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But, in order to get sustained weight loss, that stays off, you need to change your behaviours and get some new habits. Ditch your dancing high heels and replace for some hiking boots. Does Dolce and Gabanna do hiking boots?
Here’s a couple of ways to do this:
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1- self monitoring: this involves recording the amount, type of food and times eaten each day. Fat secret and My Fitness Pal are great apps to do this.
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2- Stress management: stress triggers dysfunctional eating habits. Managing stress through meditation, relaxation techniques, and exercise, will help with overeating.
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3-Stimulus control: what you do here is essentially, take out all the bad food that’s in your kitchen such as chocolate truffle and Poptarts. Not being around people who constantly eat crap food and not going into ice cream parlours. Ye bring a man to the barbers enough times, he’s gonna get a haircut!
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4-Contingency management: this basically means, when you have a week of good eating and exercise, why not reward yourself with a nice massage, or buying a nice T-shirt. Maybe but one for someone else, although that’s a whole other level of niceness
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5-Cognitive Restructuring: change up your thoughts. You WILL fit into your jeans! You WILL be able to play with your kids outside without getting out of breath. You ARE NOT suffering from an inability to lose weight. YOU DO have time to exercise. YOU WILL LIVE to see your sons and daughter walk down the aisle.
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6- Social Support: over the course of your weight loss journey, your going to have days that are tough and you need to prepare for that. Having a good friend or partner who will listen to you and won’t simply turn around and say”eat a bit of this pizza, sure it’s grand”, are vital. Times get tough and we need true friends who want the best for us.
So, weight loss is not just about eating less and moving more. It’s about forming new habits, changing up your lifestyle, finding some motivating and encouraging friends and living an active life. Life is about living. Spend as much as you can outdoors with your kids. Take your partners hand and jump into the sea and swim every so often. Take your friends hiking in the Wicklow mountains, or play football with your son every now and again. Be happy, healthy and full of life!