How to lose weight and keep it off: Expectations vs reality
2 min
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Those who want to know how to lose weight and keep it off are often impatient and want to do it quickly. But the difference between imagination and reality is often greater than you think.
Exciting headlines promise to help you lose 10kg or more in just one week. And you read success stories again and again about people who seem to have successfully achieved their dream body overnight – and were able to keep the weight loss over the long term.
But it doesn’t matter, because you’ll only ever see part of what’s behind their success. Never compare their front stage to your backstage! Here’s how you too can successfully lose weight.
When do you hit weight loss success?
You’re successful when you achieve what you have set out to do. This doesn’t mean that it’s only those big goals that make you successful. You can celebrate successes both big and small almost every day.
If you want to lose weight, your objective is already clear. Or at least almost. You have to set a concrete goal. If you don’t, and you only lose 1 kilogram in 6 weeks, you’ve still reached your goal. But how satisfied will you be? Be as ambitious as you can with your goal while keeping it realistic.
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Losing 8 kilograms in 8 weeks would be a major success, while still being a healthy and realistic goal. Write down what your intermediate goals should look like and what you will do to reach them. 1 kilogram per week is quite feasible.
And even if you wind up dropping 6 instead of 8 kilos at the end of that 8 weeks, don’t get down on yourself! You’ve spent 8 weeks working towards improvement, and should absolutely be proud.
Success isn’t down to luck
Losing weight successfully has nothing to do with luck, just hard work, patience, and self-discipline. Regular exercise and a sustained calorie deficit will bring you to your goal in the long run.
Success can be planned
People who successfully lose weight in the long term don’t make compromises. Rather than simply exercising when they have the time, they make exercising on specific days their top priority.
You can choose to either follow a diet or just adjust your healthy eating to your calorie requirements. The important thing is to stick to your calorie plan and not make “an exception” for drinks. Beverages, especially juices, soft drinks, and alcohol can contain a lot of empty calories that have no positive benefit for you other than making it harder to budge the scales.
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Keep the weight off: imagination vs. reality
You may still think that by following the above tips, your success will just automatically happen. But that’s really only half the truth and a bit of wishful thinking. In reality, there will always be temptations and events that distract you from your goal.
This includes snacking, friends wanting to have a big dinner with you, an illness or injury that can throw you off track at any time. Some things you can control, but others you cannot.
Of course, you’re not responsible if you fall ill unexpectedly or break your leg, but you are responsible for what you do with the situation. If you’re sick, you cannot train, but you can continue to eat healthy food.
With a broken leg you can’t run, but that is no reason to neglect your fitness completely. You can continue to work your stomach, back, chest, shoulders and arms without any problems— and you don’t have to start from scratch again after the injury.
Summary
- Losing weight isn’t about luck, but hard work.
- You too will succeed if you remain patient and self-disciplined.
- The road to success will have obstacles that cannot be avoided.
- Even with an injury, you can still train other parts of your body.
Sources for this article
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