It's the biggest question, the 'keeping it off' part.
Almost anyone who has ever been challenged by extra pounds has already found several ways to lose weight.
If there were a clear answer to the keeping it off part, we'd never need to know more than one way to lose weight.
Unfortunately, we view weight loss the same way people may view a nicotine patch for giving up smoking.
I always smile at the notion that a person stops taking their nicotine orally and replaces their fix through the dermis.
The psychology seems flawed.
I mean, would you fix the habit of drinking too much Scotch by reverting to drinking Gin? Sustained weight loss is really less about diet and more about mindset.
Now, I have lost a lot of weight over the years and put it all back on...
plus more.
I never 'yoyoed' between a low weight and a top weight.
Every time I went into an up cycle, I'd break new ground, getting heavier and heavier.
My problem was that I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off, buying diet books, taking tips from women's magazines all in an effort to not be a fat slob.
The conditions of dieting, ie, the restrictions were just so damned difficult.
It always required a level of willpower that was just beyond my capacity.
In short, I could last on any diet...
right up until the moment my willpower cracked.
I had to take a good look at my motivations for dieting.
Most were negative, as in, 'I don't want to be a fat guy' anymore.
Other motivations included tight clothing, not feeling well and what other people wanted.
Have you ever heard someone say, 'I have to lose weight and get serious about it.
My boyfriend / girlfriend wants me to lose weight'.
I think you are getting my point, so here are my top seven ways to address your weight.
1.
Every negative, 'I don't want to be' thought has a positive opposite.
I get that you don't want to be fat anymore, but if you are not being fat anymore...
What are you being? I chose thin, fit vital and healthy as my positive choice.
Use what works for you and keep it framed in the positive.
2.
Make certain you are doing it for you.
'I want my kids to have a dad / mom,' referencing the disputable fact that you are gonna die next week if you don't change is lame.
Plan to be your best weight for you and the other bits will take care of themselves.
If someone is giving you ultimatums, friend, partner or doctor...
find a new friend partner or doctor.
Family? We are kind of stuck with them.
Accept that they are wanting the best for you and tell them you're not planning on managing their life any time soon.
3.
I know it's hackneyed, but don't diet in the common sense of the word diet.
Weight does not often leave your body on its own, so be prepared for change.
Small change over a long period of time equals big change.
With our negative mind and our desire not to be fat anymore, it's easy to want to solve a long standing issue in the next few days by starving ourselves or eating food we don't like.
Have the mindset that this is long term and just make small sensible changes.
Come on! If you are reading this article, you know what causes you to add weight, so use the expertise you already have to help yourself.
4.
Reduce sugar intake.
My personal view is that sugar is the real issue.
Get educated and look at carbohydrate percentages on the food you consume.
High sugar diets of foods that include rice, pasta, wheat products and starchy vegetables have always added weight for me.
5.
Get to work on your mindset.
Affirmations, hypnosis, coaching and keeping the company of positive people all can help.
We all hold certain beliefs that hold us back.
The belief that you can not be a healthy weight, no matter how, where or when you picked up that gem, is likely going to stop you from being the best you.
So many of us feel so miserable about ourselves that we concede that we don't deserve to have the best for ourselves.
Find a way to get past this nonsense.
The net is full of places that will say things like, 'change must be unconscious'.
Don't fall for that.
Change can be unconscious and change can be conscious.
Either way is fine.
Maybe choose the method you are least comfortable with...
because maybe you have been too comfortable for too long.
6.
Visualize.
See yourself as you at a healthy weight.
Imagine you wearing the clothes you love, in the size you want and notice how you look and feel.
Notice what you hear others saying about the new you and notice what you say to yourself.
I did this and can't tell you how powerful this was.
It worked best for me when I went clothes window shopping.
I found some nice label clothing, several sizes too small for me and imagined me wearing that specific clothing.
Ultimately, I bought those clothes in those smaller sizes.
I still have them, but they are just too damn big to wear now! 7.
Stay flexible and stay tuned to your long term goal.
If confronted by a piece of your favourite pie, weigh up what you want long term versus the short term payoff.
If the short term pay off is just too big, then have some.
The thing is that if you have a real good positive long term goal to be the best you, the pie may not be calling so loudly, and when it does, you may be disappointed it does not taste as good as you thought it did.
So, it's all about you.
Be a healthy weight for you for all the right reasons and stop 'not wanting to be the negative'.
I like to think that when we lose the fat from our brain, it will fall from our body.
There is no hurry.
There are no hard and fast rules, only suggestions.
And remember, small change over time or distance equals big change.