One of the first times I helped someone on their weight loss journey, things were a little rocky to say the least.
After we went through an assessment we jumped right into training, both of us excited as anything to get started. Right off the bat, I knew we had to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight right? So, we bumped her calories down. We also needed to lift weights and do some cardio. So, we began training 3 days per week and she walked or did the elliptical on her off days.
In my mind, we keep doing this and she will be down 20lbs in a month. After the first week she felt great, energized and excited that the scale was showing some small improvement. Going into the second week her energy began to slow down but the scale still showed things moving in the right direction.
By the end of the month she felt like shit and we couldn’t really “see” the change in her body we expected to see after losing some weight. 4 weeks, a lot of work, and not much to show for It.
I approached this in a terrible way, looking back I would have done just about everything differently. I want to lay out three thoughts that come to me about weight loss and how I may approach things differently.
Thought #1: Movement vs. Cutting Calories
The main thing about losing weight is that you need to be eating less calories than your body is using.
There are a two ways we can look at doing this—> Eating less or moving more
For most people on their weight loss track, especially at the beginning, moving more will be a great place to start.
What will that look like?
- 1-3 workouts per week
- 2-4 walks per week (30-60 min)
- 1-2 conditioning sessions per week (can be done during regular workouts)
By keeping your calories where they are, or even slightly increasing, you are going to be giving your body the added nutrients It needs. Those nutrients will help your body recover from workouts and build some muscle.
Most people are going to be starting a workout program after not training for “x” amount of time. You will be adding a good amount of stress on your body and asking It to work pretty damn hard.
If off the bat you begin reducing calories (another stress on the body). It is not going to be a long term weight loss strategy. Start with more movement, worry about cutting back on the food later on.
Thought #2: Ditch The Scale
Yes, weight loss is based on a number on the scale. But please just ditch the scale at least for the first few months.
Let’s put our focus on other areas at the beginning. Things like consistency, strength, and movement.
These are the things that will have a BIG impact on your weight loss over time but they need attention. Like the old cliché, build a strong foundation first then focus on the details.
Consistency is always going to be king, you will have better results doing a mediocre workout program consistently then you would doing a great plan inconsistently.
Strength is the basis of just about every pursuit in health and fitness. One of my favorite sayings, strength is never a weakness.
Movement will be the backbone to your consistency. If you are gaining strength and not moving well, an injury feels inevitable. Move well, reduce pain, get stronger, and do these things often!
Thought #3: Creating a Long Term Result
How many times have you seen someone lose a big chunk of weight FAST. Sometimes It will be for a trip or a wedding. Then when the event happens the old habits creep back in.
A few months later the weight is back on and then some.
The idea of weight loss should be focused on long term results and improving your overall health + wellbeing.
Having those specific dates in mind gives you an end date for your work. So when that day comes you can’t find any motivation or want to keep putting in that same work. You feel lost.
A long term approach geared toward bettering yourself makes the process enjoyable because you can’t “fail”. There will be ups and downs, but that is all part of the journey. No one is ON all the time. But we will aim to be doing what we can the majority of the time to better ourselves.
There are two ideas behind this idea of the long term mentality:
- Sustainability– something that you can sustain for the rest of your life will give you the best results for the long run
- Enjoying the process– if you don’t find some enjoyment in the entire process then things will be miserable (and most likely impact your consistency). Do things that will give you the best result but also the things that you get excited to do.
There is one last thing to be said about any weight loss journey, which ties in more closely to ditching the scale but has merit to tie this article together.
Your overall weight does not have direct correlation to your overall health, look of your body, or happiness.
Don’t let the number on the scale dictate how you perceive your progress. If you are feeling better, seeing change in your body, and happy with those things, then the number on the scale shouldn’t change that!
In good health,
Jeff
