I’m not going to lie to you…weight loss isn’t easy.
Especially when chocolate and cookies call your name in the middle of the night…
For years I dreamed of taking a magic pill, or inventing some kind of sucking device that would just suck that fat right off my body (FYI… if you’ve found one of these devices, I would still like to know about it!)
But it never happened.
Weight loss a minefield.
A minefield filled with delicious, crispy, crunchy, sweet and salty land mines at every turn.
Got weight to lose? Just go on another diet.
After all, those diets are working for somebody, aren’t they?
Why can’t it be you?
Don’t be fooled. The Diet Industry is so heavily disguised in sugar frosted coating, anyone could be forgiven for thinking that they actually CARE about you. I mean, it certainly looks that way, doesn’t it?
TV commercials on every station. Magazine ads with glossy air-brushed models frolicking on golden beaches wearing skimpy bikinis.
It’s all total BS. And yet you are drawn into their web and led to believe that they actually give a rat’s ass whether you lose weight, reduce your blood pressure or wipe out that type II diabetes that’s looming on the horizon.
The truth? They don’t care.
But YOU should.
It makes me furious when I look back at the years I wasted in self-hatred, self-loathing, judging my body for…heck, being HUMAN SHAPED!
I’m not going to say that I have it all together, because I don’t. Not even close. But I HAVE figured out a thing or two about dieting and weight loss over the past few years that I want to share with you.
You can either read this now or revisit it later, after you’ve been on the diet merry-go-round One. More. Time.
OR you could learn from someone who’s been there, done that.
So here it is, my personal weight loss system…
(Spoiler Alert: the last point is the most important)
My 7 Point Personal Weight Loss System
1. You WILL Need To Feel Some Pain
I know, I know… we’d all like weight loss to be filled with butterflies and rainbows, but that’s just not how it works.
Personally, I use the “crowding out” method. Crowding out means that you introduce so many delicious, new and healthy foods into your diet that the old stuff just falls away. But… there will still be times when you will need to say “no” to yourself when you’re taste buds are ready to bust a move on the dance floor of your tongue. It means eating what you KNOW will make you happy later on when you REEEALLY want that chocolate cake now.
You won’t get it perfect every time, that’s the truth.
Eating one cookie does NOT mean you’ve “ruined it”. Heck, eating a WHOLE BAG of cookies does not mean you’ve “ruined it”.
It’s a journey. Deal with it.
2. Make It Fun
Just because something has its moments of, err…discomfort, doesn’t mean it can’t be the MOST AWESOME EXPERIENCE EVER! Case in point, my Ditch the Diet Online Bootcamp.
I had no idea when I created it how amazing it would be, that women would be clambering to become part of the Empowerment Revolution.
Right from day one it was a place where women felt safe to connect with themselves in a way they had never connected before. To get to the root cause of why, after all these years, chocolate cake was STILL their kryptonite. And of course, it instantly created a tribe of women who were not only reshaping their bodies, but theirlives.
Sure, we push the boundaries, but THAT’S what successful weight loss is all about!
3. Chocolate Won’t Make It Better
This was a hard lesson to learn, and one that I’m still working on to this day.
In case we’ve never met before, chocolate was, is, and probably always will be my drug of choice.
Moderation? What’s that?!
When it comes to chocolate, there are no limits to the amount I can consume. So it took me a while to realise that, as delicious as chocolate may be, it was not actually making my problems disappear in a haze of chocolaty sweetness. It was, in reality, making them much, much worse.
Initially I had one problem (insert life event here), but now, after consuming enough chocolate to wipe out a small Cadbury’s factory, I had TWO problems. My initial problem, and NOW the added problem of five extra kilos stuck to my ass! Don’t turn to food to ease your pain.
4. The Only Way To Guarantee Weight Loss, Is To Stick With It
Yes, yes… we’d all like to lose fifteen kilos by tomorrow morning (God, how I wish it were possible), but it ain’t gonna happen.
Use journaling and affirmations to work through your emotions, keep trying again and again until you find the sweet spot of foods that work for YOUR body, shake your booty a little each day and STICK WITH IT until you see the result you want.
Here’s what counts as sticking with it: sticking with it. Period.
5. Love Yourself AND Your Body
This was seriously my hardest challenge.
Firstly, WHY should I love myself when I HATED what I say in the mirror each day and secondly, even if I wanted to, I didn’t know HOW to love myself?
It took a lot of Soul searching to find the path that was right for me but as per point number 4, I stuck with it until I did. I started by Googling the heck outta that shiz until I FINALLY came upon self-love techniques and teachings that felt right to me. Who was the wise dude who said “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”? Anyway, you get the gist…
6. Don’t Eat Salad
Unless you like it, in which case, go your hardest.
But if you’re like the majority of the human race, we associate eating salad with “being on a diet” and that ain’t fun.
Get yourself some delicious whole food recipes. Experiment. Try new things. Find out what you like and what you really, kinda, don’t. And if you need some healthy inspiration or just a gentle nudge in the right direction, then visit the recipes page on my website. I have loads of free recipes and free resources.
7. If You Seriously Feel Like, OMG! I Can’t Do This Anymore, Then GET SUPPORT
THERE IS NO OTHER WAY.
Trust me on this, I’ve been there a THOUSAND times.
Trying to white knuckle my way through ANOTHER weight loss program.
Vowing that THIS time will be different.
Searching the calendar for the perfect date to start a new diet (as if a number or a day of the week would make a difference) and OH, on those rare occasions when the first of the month fell on a Monday? Well, that was the pot of gold at the end of the weight loss rainbow! I was SURE to succeed THAT TIME! Right?
And yet…
If any of this sounds even REMOTELY familiar, then you owe it to yourself to check out Ditch the Diet Online Bootcamp.
As much as I wish I could solve this weight issue for you by waving a magic wand (and I do), and as much as I give everything I have to the women in the Ditch the Diet community, you will only experience true success, freedom and empowerment if YOU show up and put in the effort.
YOU still need to be the one to make that call and decide, is this really for you or are you just not ready to let this go yet?
Because how you show up in YOUR life is how you show up in the lives of OTHERS.
So ask yourself… what kind of example do you REALLY want to set for your children, your friends, YOURSELF?
Who do you REALLY want to be?
Someone who grabs life by the tail and rides it ALL THE WAY, or someone who faffs around with the same old issue for 20, 30 or 40 years?
If you want to have this chat again in another twelve months, fine.
But if you’re interested in being all that you CAN BE, all that you were BORN TO BE, then check out the Early Bird Specials at Ditch the Diet Online Bootcamp today.
Here’s to Ditching the Diet!
