I just wrapped up my big 6 week body transformation challenge this weekend and I feel like it went really well. Everyone who participated lost body fat! Even if they didn’t lose weight on the scale they did manage to lose fat around their waist (which is more important than a simple metric like your body weight).
Today I’m reflecting on the challenge and the habits of those who did really well vs those who changed only a little bit. Ive narrowed it down to the top 3 most important factors when trying to lose body fat.
1: Stick to the plan!
Most people switch back and forth between diet plans too often
This one seems fairly obvious but I feel that it needs to be stressed here. If you dont stick to the plan, guess what, it wont work! I’m not going to talk about what style of eating works best for fat loss in this post (since that would be a post in and of itself) but research has shown that people can be successful with many different styles of diet plan.
That is if the dieter actually sticks to said diet. I am constantly amazed at how quickly people get discouraged with their diet plan and just give up. I have two stories from my challenge to share.
I had one client who got angry and discouraged after one week of her diet plan because she gained 2 pounds after 5 days on the diet. I tried to explain that the weight gain could be because of many different factors (time of the month for ladies, hormones, stress/inflammation, or not actually adhering to the diet) and that it was very short sighted to simply quit after 5 days. I couldn’t talk her out of it and she joined weight watchers and subsequently stayed mostly the same through the rest of the challenge. She lost a small bit just due to exercise.
The client who lost the most body fat during the 6 weeks was on the other end of the diet adherence spectrum. He only had 2 cheats that I can remember during the challenge and stuck to the diet during the rest of the time. He lost more than the rest of the group by a large margin. Coincidence? I think not dear Watson.
And one final note on this point: You can undo all the good work you made on your diet by throwing it away with bad food and alcohol on the weekend! This is probably the #1 problem I see with half of my clients.
2: Get your family on board!
We have all been this cat once in our lives
Making any dietary change whether it be a short term diet or a total rework of what you eat for the long term is difficult. What can make this even more difficult (if not impossible) is if your own family sabotages you!
Lets say you are a mom of 2 kids and you want to start eating healthier. Your kids are both under 8 years old and your husband doesn’t know how to cook anything other than microwave popcorn. When you plate the family dinner for the night which consists of a nice salmon with steamed broccoli and a green salad, your family starts revolting like its LA during the Rodney King riots. The kids want the sugary junk that they always want and so does your husband albeit in a different carby sugar form. After a few days of this you throw in the towel and go back to eating junk again. You feel like a failure and the gleeful reaction of your family doesn’t help.
I’ve seen this happen time and time again over the years. Your waistline will rise or fall with that of your family. Your willpower to resist eating the mac n cheese that your spouse has made for dinner while you eat a salad will only last so long before its exhausted and you go back to your old ways. It is imperative that you at least get your spouse onboard with your new meal plan. Its even better if you can get (or force lol) your kids to do the same.
3: Don’t wing it! (meal Prep)
Seriously….don’t
Let’s say that you are at work and its lunch time. You haven’t brought a lunch and unfortunately the only 2 restaurants near your workplace are Taco Bell and McDonald’s. You resign yourself to one of the choices and tell yourself that your healthy eating will start tomorrow. The next day this happens again because you didn’t pack a lunch. The day after that goes the same way also. You see where I’m going with this…..
You know the saying right? Those that fail to plan plan to fail. This is never more true than when it comes to losing body fat. Your energy and will-power throughout the day are a finite resource. When you are beat after a long day and its dinner time and you have no idea what is on your menu that day (even if you have enough healthy ingredients) you are more than likely going to grab whatever is fast and easy. Once this happens enough times even if you have the best intentions you will find yourself disappointed, unmotivated, and defeated.
Best case scenario you use one of your days off to buy food, plan meals, and prepare meals (especially lunches) for the week. This is critical to success both long and short term.
Are there any other keys to successful fat loss dieting that you have found? What are some hangups that you have had to deal with? If you need help in this area reach out and I will be happy to help.