There are lots of reasons why we are here at Friends On A Journey, but behind those reasons is our weight, either loss, gain or maintain.
Our reasons could be, Doctors warnings, physical health, mental health, confidence, increase energy, improve social life, respect for yourself, fertility, sex life, improved sleep, appearence, looking good in our clothes, reduced stress, reduced joint pain, reduction of medication, mood... the list can go on.
When people look at choosing their weight goals, often they are looking/wanting a quick fix, but thats not the case for long lasting weight goals, to loose weight, gain weight or maintain weight, it is more alike a Marathon than a Sprint. We shoud look at preparing ourselves for our weight goals as marathon runners do for training to compete in a Marathon.
Educate our mind to accept new ways of eating.
Develop an open attitude to the pace its going to take, remembering 'it was the tortoise that won the race and not the hare.'
Make changes to our lifestyles.
Address current habits
Plan rewards along the way.
All weight journey's hit stumbling blocks, but recognising those stumbles are just that a stumble, and we can get back up and continue successfully and should never give up, however slow the progress is, progress is progress, and half a pound a week is two pound shy of two stone a year.
Acknowledging the food we consume fuels our body, so eating whole foods is much better for us than UPF's/Junk Foods.
We need to remember the scales are just one form of measurement, there is body shape and health that can also measure our success of our journeys, by setting achievable, realistic and maintainable goals, these will motivate us to success, we will also recognise the changes in our energy levels, sleep and digestive health,
Great tips to support your journeys.
Never cut out food categories as this can lead to a feeling of deprivity which will make your journey challenging and unsustainable remember food is healthy within protion control.
Meals don't need to be leaving you hungry reduce the starchy carbohydrates and add low density nutritious foods such as fruits and vegetables to bulk out the meal.
Always enjoy your treat foods, adjusting your meals to have them within a balanced healthy day.
Planning will always support your journey as the famous saying quotes 'Fail to prepare and prepare to fail.'
When your journey doesn't reward you with the results you expect don't be disheartened remember fluctuations are normal, and to keep on going, tracking to your success.
Being active is about enriching your whole life and its important to laugh and be happy embracing the activity within a healthy life.
The ultimate key behind our success is accountability, by keeping a diary/tracker of the foods we eat our feelings and our measurements will support us to our over all achievement of success.
Resources: