What Will You Give Up For Weight Loss
Last week we were talking about what causes overeating and it was pretty obvious that there is no single cause. We know it has something to do with your genetic make up as well as your social environment, your psychology and many other factors.
It seems that the social situational eating is a factor that many of us cannot avoid and is the demise of many weight loss systems.
This is definitely on my "Can't do without" list
On a daily and weekly basis you will be faced with multiple social situations that don’t fit with many of the popular weight loss dieting programs.
Most of the common dieting dogma is incompatible with the social structure of modern society.
I challenge you to take any 3 common weight loss ‘rules’ like:
eat breakfast every day
eat every 3 hours
have protein at every meal
do cardio in the morning before you eat
avoid sugar and ‘simple’ carbs…
…blah blah, pick whatever you like.
Now try to apply just 3 of them for two weeks in a row…Odds are you’ll likely have to break all of them at some point, OR you’ll have to skip out on social situations in order to stick to these rules.
You’re basically put in a position of choosing between following the ‘rules’ of weight loss or living a normal life. This is what leads many people to believe that weight loss isn’t possible because they simply cannot follow the ‘rules’ they’ve been told are necessary.
The truth is there aren’t as many rules as you think, and weight loss is entirely possible while still living a normal feeling social life. As soon as you learn how to fit weight loss into your life it becomes a much easier path to follow.
The first step is realizing that most of the ‘rules’ of weight loss that you’ve heard about are nothing more than marketing tactics designed to get you to buy a product or service.
Effective and lasting weight loss is entirely within your reach, the key is finding a way to fit the weight loss into your lifestyle instead of overhauling your life to lose some weight.
Yes you have to make some changes, no you don’t have to retool everything and carry around a tupperware container full of steam veggies and plain chicken breast everywhere you go.
The key is eating less total calories but in a way that fits your lifestyle. The simpler the program the higher chance of success.
I suggest starting with the things you can’t do without and work back from there.
This list can include foods you like to eat and you don’t want to give up, social events you don’t want to give up and daily comfort items (like a morning coffee) that you don’t want to give up.
The items that don’t end up on this list are the things you can work on changing to get your weight loss on track.
For now the first step is the ‘can’t do without list’.
We’ll talk about the “can do without list next’.
John
8 Responses to “What Will You Give Up For Weight Loss”
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November 1st, 2010 at 9:44 am
I know I don’t want to give up invites to friends of ours that have amazing dinner parties every so often. We’re talking several courses! I also don’t want to give up the occasional ice cream.
November 1st, 2010 at 3:11 pm
It all looks good on paper, until you have to actually do it!
November 1st, 2010 at 3:56 pm
after following ESE for about a year or so….I have learned to go without a lot of things….there is not really anything that I can’t go without…of course there is the occasional pie, ice cream , or cream filled doughnut…but there is nothing really that I feel like I need to have on a daily basis….but I am happy, content and have never felt better….
November 1st, 2010 at 4:29 pm
I can give up almost everything when I’m serious about taking off a few lbs. It’s all about Priorities. The food will still be there at the end of my cutting phase. I don’t NEEEEEEEED to eat it NOW. I’m not missing out on anything except a leaner look if I can’t keep my priorities in order and keep the garbage out of my mouth.
That being said: Yup, that makes being social one helluva lot harder. Not impossible, but hard.
November 1st, 2010 at 5:18 pm
Great point, Jackie. What’s a little sacrifice for several weeks, or a few months, in order to accomplish a very significant goal? It’s not a big deal not to eat this or that, or not to enjoy this event or that event, on a *temporary* basis. Buckle down and get it done so you can get back to enjoying those things during maintenance mode. That’s perfectly rational.
Of course, it’s easier said than done for most of us.
But the opposite approach can be tricky, as well. It sounds easy to just enjoy a few over-indulgences here and there and simply compensate the rest of the time. But some of us find it extremely difficult to get back on the horse after big indulgences or breaks from a diet (for example, my 1-2 week diet break has turned into 3.5 months and counting! lol.) Perhaps forgoing those indulgences for the entirety of the weight loss phase would be a better approach for some (not all.) I dunno, just thinking out loud.
November 3rd, 2010 at 12:23 am
Jordan, I get ya. And Girlwithnoname, yup, I do find it very difficult to be the only one in a group on drinking or eating the snacks. It kills me how little food I need in a day to maintain, let alone how much less I would need for cutting down these last 10 lbs or so.
Sigh…I guess it’s all in the mind at times.
November 3rd, 2010 at 7:53 am
I was reading a facebook post from a trainer recently who was out and asking whether a certain beer was any good. He said that he hadn’t had a drink since last Thanksgiving. In other words, going almost 10 months without any alcohol. Granted, he looks great but, it made me think “Is it really that important to get that lean that I’d give up alcohol indefinitely until I got there?” My answer was absolutely not.:) I like my drink or two (or three…) over the weekends and even once a month I’ll admittedly get hammered. Sure, if I really had to, I could drop it for a period of time and I don’t drink 5-6 days out of the week so, there’s gotta be another way and I’m determined to find it.:)
November 6th, 2010 at 9:54 am
Great post.
It is a pity that so many people think that it is impossible to lose fat, that there are so many rules they would have to follow. Sure we can’t blame them thanks to the media and advertisement.
If they just knew how easy it is that in fact they don’t have to get rid of any food they like or social eating event, the world would be a better place.
VG