The Infinite Weight Loss Journey and 5 Tips to Success

Weight loss is something that varies from person to person. Some people find that there are a few little things that they would like to improve on and some find that there are huge changes they would like to see. Whatever the case may be the journey is a challenge and maintaining your success is just as hard. I have been on this journey myself over the last year to be honest and I want to share with those who are looking for some hope or encouragement my steps and tips to being successful.

1. Realistic Goals

   Like with any goal that you set, this one needs a long term and a short term expectation. Aiming to lose 50 pounds in 1 month is not very realistic. Aiming to lose 50 pounds overall and 5 pounds in 1 month is something that you may actually be able to achieve. Not only is this something that you can do you will not have to feel the let down and disappointment when the 31^st comes and you are nowhere near where you thought you could be.

   It is going to be tough and challenging, there will be days when you cheat and days where you are on fire. You will need to allow your body to adjust to going to the gym every day and by god you will be sore! But after time you will find going to the gym is great, a part of your new daily routine. You will figure out other ways to treat yourself instead of chocolate. By making sure that you realize what you are going to do to your body and setting goals that you can actually make you will see success!

2. Meal Planning

   I have been able to lose a healthy amount of weight everywhere expect my dreaded tummy. I am so proud of what I have been able to do but it still makes me a little sad that this is a problem area for me and for many men and women. Don’t worry you are not alone on this one! Your tummy is going to be one of the hardest areas for you to lose weight in and tone. The one thing that I have been able to pin down as beyond helpful is eating healthy! And of course what goes hand in hand with that but meal planning!

   Meal planning is going to help you on your journey in more ways than you can think. Not only will it allow you make some huge changes in your diet and see results you may want, it is going to education you beyond your wildest dreams. The amount of carbs in foods that I use to eat on a daily basis astounded me! It opened my eyes to everything toxic that I may have thought (and may had been) better for me but really wasn’t the greatest.

   Planning out one or two weeks of meals at a time will not only help your weight loss journey but will also help your pocket to J You can plan to have 3 or 4 very healthy, friendly meals and schedule a day where you splurge on something you would actually like. It another thing that is going to take time. Time to figure out how much you should be eating (see point number 3) and what foods you like. There will be days where you make something that is just horrible tasting but you will know what you do and don’t like. Don’t give up on this task but it can be hard some days but once you figure out what you like to eat that is good for you meal planning becomes much easier.

3. Get a macro counting app!

   I personally like the Under Armor MyFitness Pal app. It is beyond helpful when I want to know how I am eating. I do not count my calories daily but when I first started I sure did. Every day I would measure exactly what I am eating and made sure to keep track. The app is very user friendly and has a barcode scanner that links to the camera in your phone that makes finding out nutritional information easy and quick.

   The other fantastic thing about this and most nutritional counting apps is that you can adjust your intake on everything from vitamins, carbs, and protein to fat. If you are trying the keto diet you can have everything adjusted to reflect that when you are entering you food.

   At this point in my journey I know what I can eat in a day and most days I do not enter it all in. If I find myself at a plato or not seeing the results I want then I start again and continue on my way. It is great, free and would highly recommend it to everyone.

   The only absolutely one thing that I recommend with apps like these is entering your food before or as you are eating it. I enter everything for my lunch the night before as I am making it. If I don’t end up eating something it is more satisfying to take it off my list at the end of the day and splurge. Waiting until the evening after you have had all your meals you will run into trouble with going over your allotted intake, and by that time it is already too late. You want to keep track of what you eat as you eat.

4. Exercise

   I know that I have mentioned going to the gym but let’s be honest for a second here that is not always something that everyone can do. I get it; it is pricey to go to the gym. My husband buys himself a year membership and I do monthly payments (something to look into if your facility offers it). If that’s not an option for you I have a few places that you could go to for help:

• Bodybuilding.com. I know it sounds intense, like you don’t want to be a body builder just work out a bit, but trust me. This website has 1000’s of different exercises. You can select what area you are working on, what equipment you have to use and it will provide you with a list of exercise to do. And to top it off there are demonstration videos for each exercise!

• Youtube. I am an avid yoga and I learn 100% of what I know from following Yoga with Adrien and doing her videos. There are so many different videos all available for free and waiting to be used!

• Buy some equipment. Now you may not be able to spend the 100’s of dollars at once to get a gym membership but if you can purchase a few dumbbells it is going to help. Try searching on the buy and sell pages and I am sure that you will find something. This along with any of the above ideas will be the start to your success!

  5. You have to be ready

  When it comes down to it, if you are not ready to change you’re not going to and no one is going to make you. You will still find ways to sneak treats into your diet and you won’t put 100% into your workouts. Reality is that unless you are ready I would not start. Save yourself the disappointment. Sometimes it could be as easy as seeing a picture of yourself; that’s what did it for me. Seeing how horrible my arm looking in a bridesmaid dress dam near broke my heart, but the next day is when I started changing and researching. If you’re not ready it’s not going to happen.

  
  

  When it comes down to it, everyone is different. Everyone is going to have their own journey, struggles and success with weight loss. I hope that at least one part of the above is something you find useful as your start or continue your journey to success.