Welcome to another episode of The Coffee Donuts Fitness podcast. We are going to be diving into the topic of weight loss. Now, I am not here to tell you what to eat or how much to eat. My goal here is to give you actionable tips to help you be successful on your journey.
So have you been trying to lose weight, or maybe thinking about it? Or even just thinking about trying to get in better shape? Well, this episode is totally for you then, because I am going to be giving you 3 tips to help you get started right now.
Doesn’t that sound fantastic? I think so too.
#01 Mindset
The first tip that I have for you is actually going to be a little bit surprising. Probably not one you’re going to see coming. The first tip is that you need to work on your mindset because your weight loss or your fitness journey is all going to rely on your mindset. I told you, you didn’t really see that coming, right?
Well, the reason I say that is because everywhere that we look, it could be on Instagram or TV commercials or magazines, you are going to be bombarded by ad after ad after ad of people trying to sell you these fantastic quick fix diets. I know they can be a little tempting, right?
I mean, I even see them with them and I’m like, wow, that sounds really good. I would love to lose 20 pounds in 10 days but friends, the problem with that is it’s not realistic and therefore our mindset is not in the right place.
I mean, it may happen really quick. Right, it’s a completely viable option. Like it very well could work and there could be quick weight loss. But most likely you’re not going to keep it off and that’s where the problem is going to come in. You’re going to be really excited about this journey, you’re going to do this quick fix diet, get the results that you want and you’re going to be super happy. Then, all of a sudden you’re going to notice that everything is going back to the way it was, right? You’re not going to live on that diet forever. And all your old eating habits and movement habits and life habits are all going to come back into play. Now it is not necessarily a bad thing, but it’s going to put you back to where you were before you did this quick fix diet.
So I always tell people when you’re starting out on this journey, you need to get your mindset right. You need to understand that this is a long journey, and it’s going to take a long time to get the results that you want. I’m not trying to be a Debbie downer or be negative because I’m not about that. But, I am about being truthful and if we’re being realistic, weight loss takes time.
You need to expect it to take time, because if you don’t, when you notice that it’s going slower than you expected, you’re more likely to quit. You’re going to throw in the towel and say you know what? Forget this, it’s not working, whatever, and go back to whatever you were doing before.
But if you go into it with the thought that, all right, parts of this are going to be hard and it’s going to take some time and I’m going to have ups and downs, and my weight is going to fluctuate you have a better chance of being successful because you’re ready for the setbacks that are going to happen. So again, not trying to be negative, but, you need to expect setbacks to happen, right? Normal weight fluctuations are so common, anything can make your weight kind of go up and down, especially day to day, so just having that understanding is going to be super helpful for you.
#02 Make Small Changes
OK, another tip I have for you. Whenever I see people starting a new weight loss plan they typically revamp every single part of their diet. I’ve seen people like throw out everything in their fridge and redo their pantries completely and throw everything in the garbage and OK I guess that’s one way that you can can go about it, right? I mean I guess that’s a viable option.
And they’ll change every single eating pattern that they have, so every meal will be different and yes, that’s I guess in the long term what we want to happen. But you’re doing it really fast and anytime you make a big change and a lot of change really, really quick it’s going to get overwhelming.
So you might start off like super, super strong and then two or three weeks in you’re like, man this is hard. It’s a lot harder than I thought. Your excitement is kind of down. Your motivation is kind of down. The realization that this is hard and it takes work, is kind of kicking in, which is usually what I find around week three of a plan. This is when I find people have this kind of thought.
Think about it.
Does that sound like you?
Have you done that before?
I mean, I can honestly say I have. I’ve totally done that before so many times so I can totally relate to that. I want you to think of it this way instead of doing that. I want you to choose one thing, one piece of your diet or lifestyle that you want to change.
I usually have people start with maybe drinking some water. Make sure you’re drinking enough.
That doesn’t mean go on Amazon and find the largest water bottle known to mankind because you need to drink every ounce of water. Just get a water bottle and drink more water. Replace your Diet Coke for lunch with a seltzer. Drink water instead of the soda you’re going to have at dinner or the orange juice you have with your breakfast. Just try to drink more water.
After that add more vegetables into your diet. Maybe you’ll have a vegetable with your breakfast and as a snack you could have carrots and hummus instead of something that you were eating before that. Small changes that will help you build a healthy lifestyle are going to be more beneficial than just doing this crazy intense diet where you completely change everything at once.
You can slowly add more and more in that way. You continue to get the results that you want, but you’re building lifelong habits that are going to be easier to maintain and stick with and a lot less overwhelming, which I know has to be a good thing for you, right because nobody wants to feel overwhelmed anymore than they probably already do.
#03 Keep Showing Up
My last tip is to keep showing up. And if you’ve been following me for a while, or if you haven’t, I guess just get used to me saying this because that’s your key right there. Everybody is always looking for the answer, right? What’s the key? What’s the trick or the magic pill for weight loss or getting in shape and honestly it’s consistency and being committed to continuing to show up even when you don’t want to, even when it’s hard. You need to tell yourself that even if I get on that scale and I gained 2 pounds this week, I’m going to show up anyway. Even if I’m mad, even if I’m having a bad day or I’m tired, I’m going to find some way to be consistent on this journey, because friends, that’s the key.
The key is to keep getting back up every time you have a set back and you’re going to have them. Setbacks happen. You’re going to go on vacation, you’re going to enjoy your life.
There’s going to be celebrations all of which you should enjoy. But then you have to continue back on that journey once that event is over. And if you can really grasp that thinking, you’re going to succeed no matter what diet you choose or whatever workout plan you decide to go with.
It’s not going to matter. What matters is that you are committed to this change and you are committed to showing up even when it gets hard. That is the key.
Alright friends, those were my 3 tips. I feel really strongly about them because I see so many people struggling day in and day out with diets. And there are so many good ones out there, so I am not here to just tell you traditional diets are garbage because I for sure do not agree with that. You need to find a way of eating and living that is going to work for you, so whatever your friends are doing might not work for you, and that’s OK.
I really feel like these three points are the key. Get your mindset right to know that this is going to be hard work and doing one or a few changes at a time so you can build healthy habits. And finally being committed to keep showing up. I really feel that you’ll be successful if you do that.
All right. I want to talk to you really quickly about snacks because I don’t know if you’ve discovered Thrive Market or not yet, but it has become an absolute obsession of mine.
I I love their food. All of their snacks are amazing. My kids even love them! So they’re great for school snacks or really just snacks to have around the house. They have great choices and I highly recommend them.
I am going to post a link below and if you go over and click it you can get 40% off your first order at Thrive Market!
I hope you have a fantastic rest of your day and I’ll see you next time.
** Some links in this post are affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with me!**