You Can Do Weight Loss Magic!
I always looked at people who were thinner than me and thought that they knew some kind of magic trick. I read fashion magazines and looked at the high fashion models in disbelief. How could they look like that!?! They had to be magical creatures with pixie dust flowing in their veins.
As I got older, I began reading health based magazines and books. As I perused those fitness models, I thought that they were the “lucky” ones. They simply had to have superior genetics and lots of money to afford special food and trainers and such. I even suspected that their good looks might involve a bit of surgery or trickery of some sort. While I was not far off in some cases, the critical factor that I overlooked was simply what they put into their mouths. They ate healthy amounts of healthy foods. All of the genetics, drugs, camera tricks and surgeries in the world could not produce those results if those models ate poorly. The “Magic” was what they ate.
Words Into Action
I well remember all those “diets” that I was going to start tomorrow. It was always “after” something. After a birthday party, after the vacation and after supper all seemed like better times than RIGHT NOW. The day that I decided to start NOW, was a turning point in my life. I still had a lot to learn but when I decided to stop procrastinating, I was ready to fix my life. I just had to discover the magic.
Accountability for Weight Loss
We tend to avoid being accountable for everything that we eat until we get serious about weight loss and health. We may “keep up with it in our heads”, avoiding logging each and every bite that we take. Bites of cupcakes at the school event, an extra dollop of sour cream on the baked potato and dessert “just one more time this week” all add up in a hurry. When we refuse to keep an accurate tally of the calories that we consume, we are stopping weight loss before it begins.
Many people have told me “I’ve cut back on my eating.” but when I ask them how many calories they are eating, they don’t know. If that is the case, how do you know that you are eating less? It’s easy to lie to ourselves about our intake if we don’t journal it in some way. You can write it down on paper or use an app, but it is a mandatory part of weight loss. Programs that limit you to specific foods but do not require accountability are reinforcing bad habits. Lack of accountability is what got you overweight in the first place.
This is the time to quit eating added sugars. Foods with added sugars make your calorie count skyrocket and leave you under nourished because you have wasted your calories. Added sugars create foods with empty calories that keep you hungry and miserable. Those sugars create an insulin dump which lowers your blood sugar and you get hungry again quickly.
The first bit of magic for weight loss is count your calories.
Explore
After learning to count your calories religiously, you may tend to eat the same things over and over. That will work for a while, but sooner or later you will need to explore different foods. You need to find ways to eat the foods that you love. That does not mean to eat sugar. It means finding foods that will give you a sweet taste that will satisfy your new taste for sweets. You will find that after you withdraw from added sugars, naturally sweet foods such as fruit will more than satisfy your sweet tooth.
It also means to find ways to cook other foods that conserve calories. I recently did a video on how to make low calorie french fries. These are not oven fries. They are french fries. You can fry a potato in 1-2 Tablespoon of oil and then still pour most of that oil back into a cup to measure just how much you are eating. Slice that potato into fries about the size of a pencil and put them in a seasoned, cast iron skillet in one layer and fry them on medium until brown on one side. Flip them and brown the other side and take them up, one at a time. Measure the oil left in the skillet and deduct that from the amount that you put in and track it. Salt them with your favorite popcorn seasoning or regular salt or both and enjoy! You don’t have to suffer to lose weight. You have to think and be willing to learn new habits. The old ones will only take you back to where you started.
The second bit of magic is be willing to learn.
Toughen Up for Weight Loss!
Think about what you are trying to do. There’s a phrase, “Body Recomp”. It means “body recomposition” which is losing excess fat and gaining muscle. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made with built-in survival systems. If we are trying to change the cellular make-up of our bodies, we are delving deeply into advanced physiology. Everything in us will rebel. When you first begin to avoid sugar, you will have a real feeling of withdrawal. Sugar is a quick source of energy and our bodies get accustomed to having that for quick access. When we remove that, we feel it! You have to be ready for a few days of discomfort, but let me ask you a question here. Which is better, a week or two of discomfort or years of sickness brought on by the complications of obesity? Suck it up, Buttercup, if you want to realize your dreams.
The third bit of magic is be strong!
Commit
People frequently fail at weight loss because they say, “I’ll TRY to lose weight.” That’s the problem because that means that they will do it if it’s comfortable.
We are creatures of habit. Change is never comfortable for us. Even if the changes are positive things that we really want and need to do, it is not comfortable. Unless you commit to stay on the path, when the craving for sugar gets intense, you will cave. Make up your mind that you will endure. Decide why you need to do this and don’t waver. The misery that you may feel in the beginning is short-lived but the rewards of enduring are for a lifetime.
The fourth and final bit of magic is endure.
Guaranteed Weight Loss
If you do these things, you will be successful at weight loss. The magic is all in your habits and mindset. I was both elated and terrified when I discovered that the answer that I had been looking for most of my life was within me. Elated because I had the key, but terrified because I had to use it. No one was going to wave a magic wand over me and make me lose weight. Working the magic was my job alone. I practice this magic daily and my life is good.
Now, get out your jar of pixie dust and get started!
ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAM.
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How To Lose Weight – David’s Way to Health and Fitness (davidsway.blog)