Weight Loss Series: What Kind of Weight Loss Plan Really Works - Day 45

What are the ingredients of a successful weight loss plan? If you’re serious about long-term weight loss, no fads or gimmicks but serious weight loss, here’s what you need to know:

Do you hope for a proven pill to come to market? A piece of exercise equipment that’ll do it all? Something that’s effortless? Most people want the easiest way out. But, is weight loss easier than people think? Yes, it is. All of the things most people try which don’t work, actually add to the confusion and complicate things. What those type of things do, is throw you more out of balance. When the body and mind aren’t connecting in a certain way, weight loss becomes impossible. There’s just too much information, wrong information, confusing information, everyone thinks they know it all, and there are those companies creating products to entice you. Between false claims and advice overload, how can you really lose weight?

The answer lies in “puzzle pieces.” What exactly are “your puzzle pieces?” They’re all the “weight loss tools you’d need to be permanently successful with your weight loss.” Plans that guide you, support you, both during and after you reach your goal, are your best chances of permanent weight loss. They provide you with ongoing care, as well as after care. Why is this so important? Because being weight conscious, health conscious and fit conscious, must never end. You’ve got to build and continue on living a conscious, aware lifestyle, if you want to keep the weight off. Isn’t that quite simple? Why would you want to continue going through the ups and downs of losing and gaining? Why continue on a track where nothing works? Why fail anymore?

Why pay for anything?

Some people are fortunate, and they can afford to hire a personal trainer everyday. Some people even get to have their meals delivered. They get to have their micronutrients broken down into the right ratios, along with the proper amount of calories. Some people are quite lucky and can go away to spas for a month. But, what can everyone else do? You can create your own plan! All you need to do, is take bits and pieces from here and there, see if it works and if you like whatever it is, you now have another puzzle piece. Continue on adding new things, whether it’s nutrition, exercise, an activity, a habit, and you’re accumulating puzzle pieces. All of the positive things you add, changes you make, better habits, etc., you’re building your own steps to a better weight, health, and fitness. You don’t need to spend money on fancy programs, when you can do better in most cases on your own. The truth is, most people never get what they really need from a personal trainer or "paid for" weight loss program.

How do you start?

Comb through health websites, fitness websites, blogs, newspapers and magazines. Take notes each time you come across something new that you think is beneficial, sounds interesting, and you may want to further investigate. You should always use your best judgment, and consult a medical professional if you have any health questions. Once you’re finding things that seem simple enough and worth a try, add them to your program. Keep what works, dump what doesn’t, and keep combing through material. You’re best plan possible, will include as many healthy puzzle pieces you can get your hands on. It even includes things like, how are you going to manage your stress levels. You may want to add puzzle pieces, such as journal writing when your stressed, watch a comedy show on TV or a funny movie, how about try yoga? So, there are puzzle pieces you can find and create, for every situation in your life.

How do you measure success?

Here’s something important that you need to do: Let go of your unachievable image. What do you want to look like? What size do you want to be? Are six-pack abs all you’ll accept? What if you can’t achieve that? What happens each time you can’t reach the image you have set in your mind of how you should look? You set yourself up for failure, right? You get discourage, and in most cases, you gain all your weight back. You wanted to lose fifty pounds, but only lost forty. Those ten pounds stand between you and success. Wasn’t forty pounds good enough? Is your body even capable of losing another ten? People throw weight loss numbers out there, but they’re not always realistic for their body. People always want to lose more than they’re capable of. Most people have a distorted body image. They see themselves as bigger than they are, and they want to look like a certain image they’re fascinated with. We want to look like a model. We want the perfect body. Those thoughts, will only keep you struggling with your weight forever. You need to learn a certain level of acceptance. Your body is what it is. You can’t change your muscle structure. You can improve on what you have, but you may not be able to turn into the model that you admire. You can be a better, leaner, healthier, fitter you. You need to let go of the measure of success being that image. You’ve got to work with what you have, gain successes over time, and keep moving forward changing in positive and healthy ways. A forty pound loss, are you kidding me? It’s forty pounds! Why would you get so discouraged that you’d let yourself put it all back on? It’s because you’re not working with your puzzle pieces. We lose what weight we can, not pay to much mind to the numbers, and we keep improving, no matter the number. The measure of success, is going forward, and never going back.

Ongoing progression.

I build plans based on “progression.” I’ve created a system of puzzle pieces, and they’re geared towards your making continual progress. I’ve learned it’s the secret to weight loss success. So many things that people try and “think” help to lose weight don’t. But, there are real things that absolutely work. One thing that makes a progressive plan so successful, is because you won’t stagnate. People get bored, they stop seeing results, and they don’t have fun. I believe in challenging people, getting them involved in new and exciting, fun activities. Weight loss doesn’t need to be monotonous. There’s a balance you achieve and begin to tap into, and as you continue to find new ways to progress, you get closer to your goals.

While so many plans don’t have your best interest in mind, you can simply build a successful weight loss plan all on your own. Who needs all the gimmicks? All you need, are the right weight loss tools, your individual puzzle pieces. Find what you believe are reliable sources, and create your own puzzle pieces, and you’ll be steps closer to success. One important tip: Don’t go backwards! When you hit a rough patch, think it through. Giving up is not an option in success. We all have times we mess up, want more, and things don’t go as we wish. By finding new pieces and ways to progress, we remain on the weight loss track. The important thing, is staying on it. Believe in this type of plan, and the weight will come off, and it won’t come back on.

See also:

- Weight Loss Series: Emotional Eating - Day 32

- 30 Day Extreme Weight Loss Program Client One - Part 10

- Weight Loss Series: I Burst Out I Don’t Eat Like a Fat Person Anymore - Day 5