How to lose your extra kilos without crash dieting or jogging
Today, I have woken up 4kgs heavier than my top weight.
Yes! Really!
How the hell did that happen?! And to a Personal Trainer>>>?
Was it my trip to the UK in August and all of my Mum’s delicious cakes, was it me getting complacent and smashing pasta like it was going out of fashion, or was my love for champers creeping into the week that made me explode?
You wouldn’t know to look at me, so I can’t complain.
My tits are nice and full (can they stay that way please) but the extra splattering around my bottom and thighs means my tights are just that, tight.
Taking my sports bra off was always a mission at the best of times but at what point do you knock on your housemate’s bedroom door, hunched over, with a bra mid-flight trapping your shoulders like a strait jacket. I can’t imagine what that must look like, perhaps that’s why she is moving out soon.
So here I am, carrying the very same extra kilos you come to me for.
What to do…?!
I already train, my eating is back in some kind of control, (which by the way, my new clients tell me all the time that they eat fairly healthily), so it’s hard to see where I or you for that matter, can make the changes.
But you can.
And I will show you how.
Right here, right now.
Step One – Self-Reflection
Self-reflect and be honest with yourself. You KNOW where its falling down, be it portion sizes, too much pasta, wine or the fact you love to watch Netflix in your jarmies with a block of chocolate.
Step Two – Take Action
Download MyFitnessPal app so you can track your food and drink. Today. Stop the excuse that you don’t have scales, or you make your own food and it’s too hard to measure or that you don’t track calories etc. Go to the shop, buy scales for less than $5 (or 8 pounds) and commit to yourself that you can do this.
Tracking your food and drink is a great way to educate yourself on the calories you need for your body.
You get health & fitness tips, recipe ideas and by tracking your habits, you are taking ownership and the responsibility for your own health.
MyFitnessPal takes the guesswork out for you. But like anything in life, it’s down to you to take the action.
Step Three - Exercise
Review your exercise. If you are already exercising, you can do one or all of the following:
· Increase your frequency
· Increase your intensity
· Do something new
Your body, over time, will become more efficient at calorie burning when you keep doing the same training. So, you may have started out burning up 400kcals in your Bootcamp but now a year later, you may burn only 300kcals. It’s also very normal for you to hold back your effort, enjoying chatting to your friends rather than training as hard as you used to.
Step Four – Mindset
I would say this is the No1 game changer because with the wrong attitude or mindset, its nigh impossible to carry out the above steps.
When you are not happy with your appearance, some of the emotions or consequences you may experience are:
· Disappointed in yourself, so you comfort eat more
· De-motivated and then annoyed at yourself because you feel that way
· Frustrated that the weight isn’t shifting, despite being “good” for a whole 3 days
· Upset that your clothes aren’t fitting that well, so you turn down a few invitations because you’ve nothing to wear
I could go on and on but I think you get the gist of what I am saying here.
Your first step in overriding the nasty (I call it) monkey chatter in your head is to accept your situation and be OK with it.
I know that sounds like simple advice but this is probably the gold nugget that will make a difference to you.
Sitting there telling yourself that you are fat, you are ugly, you are a disgrace for letting yourself go in this way, is not changing a damn thing in that moment. What are you achieving by this poor self-talk?
You can play victim all day and tell me that I don’t understand, or you can tell yourself more rubbish (which by the way, just like food, if you feed yourself rubbish, you end up feeling more rubbish).
Override the monkey chatter and take action. When you make that first step to create change, this action, no matter how small, will quite simply shut the sceptic up. The sceptic being YOU and your monkey mind of mindless chatter.
I am sharing this with you because believe it or not, I am normal. Yes, I am a Personal Trainer and I help you with either one on one training or you can join my group training but it doesn’t mean that I train daily, eat clean and don’t touch alcohol.
I have my ups and downs in life, my excuses, times when I am driven, times when I am not. But the difference between me & you, is that I am OK with that. So now I have found myself over my limit, instead of panicking or going into meltdown, I simply follow the steps outlined above.
So if you find yourself carrying extra weight that you cannot shift, then go back up to the top of this blog and start to implement the changes today! But don’t worry, you are not alone and if I can help you in anyway, then please drop me a line.
Being a certain weight isn’t the be all and end all but it helps if you can actually get your zip up on your favourite dress, or in my case, be able to get out of your bra without it turning into a fight like a bee stuck in a jar with the lid on.
Good luck and reach out any time ok!
Donna xo