Let’s set our goal first.
The whole point of this is to lose weight. Nothing more, nothing less.
We want to do this in the most painless, and long term sustainable way possible.
Our goal is normal weight. But what is normal? I use two metrics: BMI + body fat percentage. There are a ton of resources online for finding out the normal ranges for both. To save you time, go here and here. Sure there are more ways to measure yourself, such as blood tests, etc. If you want to dig further, go knock yourself out. What I found is that as your weight & fat level come down, all other metrics improve as well. So let’s keep it simple.
Your goal is to get nice and comfy in the middle of the normal BMI & body fat ranges for your age & sex. Everyone is different of course, so do take that into consideration as well. Don’t go too far though, the fact of matter is, unless you are some genetic freak or elite athlete, you are not as “unique” as you think you are when it comes to biometrics. Oh, and if you are asian, your normal BMI is going to be 1 to 2 points lower than the suggested range (sorry, but you know there has be a price to pay for all that natural math ability).
Once you calculate your normal weight & body fat range, you now have your goal. Write it down, or burn it into your memory (It’s two numbers, you can do it, for me it was <23 BMI & 15% body fat). That’s where you are going, in black and white, no ifs and buts. You gonna do this!
Next up, a few truths, or my personal truths that I learned the hard way, if you will:
When it comes to weight loss, your dietary routine is far more important than everything else, including exercise. Forget the treadmill if your main goal is to shed pounds (do it for building muscle).
Denying yourself what your body is naturally craving, be it healthy or not, is not sustainable. In other words, don’t fight your body, it will win eventually no matter what.
It’s our instinct to eat until we’re satisfied. Anything less doesn’t feel good, which makes the practice of eating in moderation, as touted by pretty much every health authority out there, not sustainable nor realistic.
As you can see, the conventional diets create a lot of conflict between the mind and the body. We’re trying to will ourselves to do something we instinctively do not want to do. No wonder most fail, as I did in the past.
Yet one other truth remains: if we consistently consume more calories than we use up, we will gain weight. There’s simply no way around this. The good news is that the reverse is also true, as in if we consistently consume less calories than we use up, we will lose weight.
Some people go to great lengths to force themselves to eat less, such as gastric bypass. Sure they work, but are you willing to go that far?
So how do we balance the two sides? In other words, how do we consume less while still feeling satisfied? If we can somehow align our body and mind in the same direction, then the weight will come off, effortlessly.
I’m not a magician, nor a hypnotist, but I found a way to do this, and it worked, big time!
Next up: The Plan
