Commitment!

Commitment beyond anything you have ever wanted for yourself in the past is the first key to weight loss. Because of all the different ways you can find yourself sidetracked when it comes to weight loss, you have to place this commitment to yourself above all else in your life. There are no half measures that are going to get you to a healthy weight for your frame, the commitment required is akin to what it takes for soldiers to work and earn their way into special operations units. You have to want to be at a healthy weight as if your very life depends on it, your life very well does depend on it in the long run.

Are YOU worth this degree of COMMITMENT to YOURSELF?

YES!

You are worth it!

But, even with total commitment to yourself in the journey of weight loss, you are going to find many obstacles in your path that will sometimes seem insurmountable. It is when you encounter these obstacles that you must steel yourself to get around it. You can push climb over it, tunnel underneath it, go around it or blow it the hell up, and then push your way on through. No matter, you have to remain determined to meet your goals and objectives no matter who or what might get into your way.

Obstacle: Your willpower disappears in the face of temptation.

Solution: Plan your defense.

One of the first things you have to understand and commit to is you have to be willing to tell not only yourself NO, but also your family and friends as they will sabotage you every damn time. We all know the struggle it takes to pass on a slice of decadent chocolate cake, but this becomes a much larger turmoil when it is being offered up by your loving mother or grand mother. Your best friend might not understand why you no longer want to share a dessert when you are out and about the town. These well meaning folks will often compliment you on how much better you are looking since you have lost weight and then tell you that you should treat yourself on occasion since a little bit of sugar never hurt anyone. These temptations are the toughest to overcome, but you must. You have to understand that just as you would not give a recovering alcoholic a drink, you cannot have that sweet slice of heaven when you are addicted to carbohydrates! Very often, it is that one little indulgence that drives people clean off the rails. Family and friends  can and will do this to you every time. Some of these same people who will compliment you to your face while you are losing weight will be the same ones snickering behind your back when you regain it. And it will not even occur to them that they were at least partially responsible for your failure by not being supportive when you needed their support the most.

Obstacle: You’re embarrassed by your failed attempts.

Solution: Let it go, rethink, and reboot.

The difference between successful people and failures is successful people have tried and failed many times on their path to success while failures quit the first time they reach a tough obstacle. This is true no matter what the endeavor may be. You cannot let past failures stop you in your tracks. You may have failed every weight loss program you have ever tried, but have you ever tried our methodology at David’s Way to Health and Fitness? You have nothing to lose being as we do not charge a single penny to anyone, for any reason. We are entirely free, we do not want you to be a perpetual income stream as many of the other weight loss businesses do.

Never be ashamed or embarrassed by your past failures. The only thing you should ever find yourself embarrassed about is being a quitter.

Obstacle: You’re just not that motivated.

Solution: Set short and long-term goals.

You have to set as many short term goals as it takes in order to achieve your long term goals of weight loss and fitness. When you only concentrate on the end goal, it becomes easy to feel overwhelmed. You can alleviate this entirely by setting short term goals that are much easier to focus on. Losing ten pounds is easier than losing one hundred pounds although the methods in getting to that one hundred pound loss are not any different than the doing it in ten pound increments. By setting short term goals, you can celebrate more victories along your way. You will find this to be far more kinder to your self esteem and self confidence.

Obstacle: Your joints ache.

Solution: Go low-impact.

Go to your local swimming pool for your exercise. Take walks. There is no need to beat yourself up with high impact exercises to lose weight.

Obstacle: You rely on workouts to do it all.

Solution: Understand that exercise is just part of the puzzle.

Exercise is only about 40% of the equation when it comes to successfully taking off weight and then keeping it off. Have you ever heard the saying that abs are made in the kitchen and not in the gym? This is a universal truth, you cannot out exercise a bad diet unless you are some kind of outlier. A bad diet will always prevail in you retaining too much body fat.

Obstacle: You push yourself too hard, too often.

Solution: Make recovery a priority.

This is a tough one for many to grasp. People often assume the best thing they can do is to push themselves physically every day of the week when they first begin a weight loss regimen. This is a common mistake, you have to also give your body time to recover between exercise sessions or you will burn out, you can actually cause your central nervous system to become fatigued which will bring all your exercise to a screeching halt. As i have written about in my article Fitness Triad you have to treat your nutrition, rest and recovery with the same importance as you do your exercise of choice. Each of these elements carry equal importance when it comes to achieving a fit and trim body.

Obstacle: You don’t have time to exercise.

Solution: Find a workout that fits your schedule.

Commit yourself to making the time to exercise! Surely you can dedicate 30 to 60 minutes for at least four days of the week to work towards your fitness. Maybe you should pull yourself away from the television. If you are binge watching a program, you can always pick up where you left off if you are watching on Netflix, Hulu or any other streaming program.

The truth is, anyone who is committed will find a way to make the small amount of time they need in their lives for exercise. Odds are high that if you have excuses, you are really just not committed to achieving a health, fit and trim body.

Obstacle: You think exercise is boring.

Solution: Find something you love.

This excuse is about as lame as saying you do not like soup. Have you tried much exercise to truly know if you are going to like it or not?  As with soup, there is are endless types of exercise you can try until you find something you can become excited about. You cannot spend a boring half hour on a treadmill and assume that a nice nature walk would be equally as boring.

Obstacle: You think nutritious food is too expensive.

Solution: Make smart choices.

With this one you have to ask yourself if nutritious foods are more expensive than out of pocket expenses you incur with doctor visits and medications for ailments that can almost exclusively be tied to unhealthy nutritional habits and a sedentary lifestyle.

While it is true that healthy food choices might cost more than a box of macaroni and cheese and other sugar and fat laden processed foods, you are going to save money on your grocery bill because when you only consume whole, healthy foods choices, you eat less of it. Healthy food choices do not leave you with cravings soon after eating as junk foods will do to you. Healthy foods choices keep you full with less and for a longer duration than cheap unhealthy foods. With healthy food choices, your body is receiving all the nutrients it requires for optimal health instead of leaving you to cravings associated with poor nutrition.

Obstacle: You don’t like the taste of healthy food.

Solution: Be patient and keep trying new things.

Assuming you do not like the taste of all healthy foods is as absurd as saying “I do not like soup”. How much healthy food have you actually sampled?

Have you explored with spices when preparing new foods?

Do you know how to make good food choices?

Look, I full well get it if you tell me that you have tried many low fat or zero fat foods and told me they taste bad to you. These foods taste bad to me as well, especially  low fat or no fat yogurts. I do love plain full fat Greek yogurt that I flavor with sugar free flavorings, nuts, seeds and even powdered peanut butter for a delicious, daily treat.

Fats make foods taste better and will keep you satiated longer than non fat foods. We need healthy fats in our diets to aid in absorbing the nutrients provided to us in the foods we do consume. Healthy fats provide energy, support cell growth, protect organs, and keep your body warm. Essential fatty acids are necessary for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K and help with hormone production. If you eliminate fat altogether, meals and snacks will lack satiety, flavor, and texture. Just make sure you are eating healthy fats as I have laid out in my article “Quit Shunning the Fat”.

With whole foods, there is absolutely no reason for you to ever say you do not like the taste of healthy food. When you prepare the food yourself, you have the control over how it is going to taste. And best of all, you will never run out of options in how to prepare healthy meals.

Obstacle: You hate being hungry.

Solution: Load up on low-calorie, filling foods.

Well duh, who does not hate being hungry?

There is never a need to feel deprived of food when losing weight with healthy food choices.

I maintain my body fat a low percentage and I would be considered a volume eater. Yes, I can eat a lot of food, and I do so on a regular basis. However, what you need to know is this is possible when eating nothing but healthy food choices. Foods that provide all the nutrients your body requires for optimal health are naturally lower in calories than unhealthy foods and it is actually hard to eat enough when your diet does only consist of healthy foods. For my health needs, I consume 2,250 calories  a day to fuel my body for 60 hour work weeks while also dedicating 8 to ten hours a week for my physical fitness regimen. I consume dairy, lean meats, seafood, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds each day. I never feel hungry during the day as I ensure that every bite of any food that passes my lips has a nutritional value to it and I never eat foods that are high calorie and low nutritional choices for any reason.

Obstacle: You don’t have time to cook.

Solution: Do some prep work.

Let’s be real about this one. If you do not have time to cook, it is because you are not committed to making the time to cook.

If you have time to sit in a restaurant, you have time to cook.

If you have time to go through a fast food chain’s drive through to order food, only for them to mess up your order and thereby cost you even more time, you have time to cook.

You and I both know that if you do not have the time to cook, it is more than likely you really just do not feel like cooking. By doing a little preparation ahead of time, it should never take you much time to throw together a healthy meal for yourself and your family. For instance, this morning, I can guarantee it took me less time to cook a bowl of nutritious oatmeal loaded with chopped pecans, pepitas, a seed trilogy and cinnamon than it took for any one of the folks in the local drive through to drive there, place their order, and then wait in line for their sausage egg biscuit before driving back home or to work. Cooking and then cleaning up behind yourself is not an all day affair unless you make it so.

Never feel guilty about prioritizing your health needs!

Remember, maintaining a healthy weight is a process much like preparing for a marathon. The race to achieving and maintaining a healthy body fat percentage is not a sprint. In the same way that one day of healthy eating won’t undo a month of less healthy choices, the reverse is also true. Take advantage of opportunities in your day to day life to make nutritious choices. Balancing your lifestyle with healthy food choices, regular physical activity and rest coupled with stress management techniques can go a long way in making you feel and be your best.