The ‘real talk’​ you need to hear regarding successful fatloss

The media often gives ‘quick fix’ messages when it comes to fatloss, & this can be massively disheartening when reality proves different than your expectations, often leading to demotivation, low self-worth, & giving up. What’s the solution? Understanding the reality & going forward with a plan that works.

I often say “you don’t need a diet you need a nutrition strategy for life”. So as society starts reopening & people start thinking about losing their lockdown pounds & increasing their fitness, here’s 7 key ‘real talk’ elements of SUCCESSFUL FATLOSS:

– CONSISTENCY of effort & behaviour: being inconsistent leads to wheel-spinning, which is massively demotivating. Consistency over weeks & weekends, built over time, is what delivers fatloss success.

– Having realistic expectations regarding the TIME & EFFORT required. A few weeks/months isn’t long enough to undo years of fat gain & only doing a few low-effort workouts won’t deliver you the results. If it was that easy you’d have already done it. Now put the work in.

– Taking a LONG-TERM LIFESTYLE view: being ‘on’ & ‘off’ means you’re not committing to behaviour change so as soon as you go back to your old ways the fat will creep back. Changing for the long-term means you’ll maintain your fatloss & continue to improve.

– Pursuing IMPROVEMENT not perfection. Perfectionism leads to all-or-nothing thinking & stress. Perfection is impossible & means you’re more likely to feel you’ve failed or fallen short & to give up. Focussing on improvement means focussing on achievements & recognising progress.

– PATTERN recognition & resolution: eg notice if you overeat when you’re tired, so take steps to get more sleep; notice if you overeat a particular food, so don’t keep it in the house; notice if you overeat at night, so structure lighter meals earlier in the day & don’t hang about the kitchen on evenings.

– Solving SELF-SABOTAGE: give/throw away binge foods, only have treat foods if you know it won’t lead to a binge, work on your self-sabotaging behaviours & mindset getting external help if necessary.

– Appropriate CALORIE DEFICIT & QUALITY NUTRITION. Consuming less than you use, but at an appropriate level so it delivers results on a deficit you can adhere to, ensuring the deficit is coming from both diet & movement. Focussing on quality nutrition keeps you fuller, improves digestion, gives high stable energy levels & good health.

Much of the ‘body transformation’ stuff you see online is outlier results, unsustainable plans, or downright false claims. I’ve lost count of the number of clients who’ve lost several kgs several inches & got massively fitter in just a few months, but told me they still feel like a failure because of the countless unrealistic expectations that are still knocking around in their subconscious. Instead of celebrating their improvements & achievements they’re beating themselves up because the media tells them they can lose 20kg & turn into a muscled goddess in mere weeks with minimal effort & without having to give up a single treat. I hope this has gone some way to counteract some of that. You can make amazing changes with the right actions, plan, guidance, support & accountability. So put in the work, (with appropriate support/guidance/accountability if you need) & don’t let unrealistic expectations derail your progress ❤