You have made every effort to lose weight… You have religiously followed every piece of advice available, online and everywhere else. Yes, you have keenly observed and followed every single guide step by step. They said that if you follow the “fool-proof” steps, you would lose weight in 3, 7, 10 days or some few weeks. You did your best; even exceeded what was suggested in the guidelines, hoping that your commitment would be paid by a faster achievement of your goals. Then… With high expectations, you stepped on that machine. Only to realize, you had not lost a single pound!
What went wrong? What are these surprising reasons why you failed at your last weight loss attempt?
One of the most common complaints by individuals seeking to live a healthier life is weight loss resistance. Here’s the kicker…
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1. Lack of Proper Motivation
Not just motivation, but intrinsic motivation. Something that makes your weight loss project a do or die. Something you are deeply passionate about.
Many people get into a weight loss program for the sake of it. This works for a while, then the motivation dies off.
You must find a serious motivator, for instance, a desire to steer clear of lifestyle diseases and live a long, healthy life or attain a certain size for a function such as your wedding.
This is a mixture of long-term and short-term goals, but they work equally well for their particular purposes.
The bottom line here is, get an internal reason that pushes you to achieve that goal.
2. Setting Unachievable Goals
If you have tried setting goals and failed, the most possible reason is that you either set them too high or gave them a time that was too short for the activity you were involved in.
When setting your weight loss goals, make sure that they are not too wild. For example, don’t decide that you will walk briskly for 30 minutes every day and lose 30 pounds after 3 days.
Doing this will leave you discouraged and unable to try anything else because of the obvious conclusion; that these programs don’t work at all.
Set short, realistic goals first; ones that you are sure that you can achieve without straining much. After achieving one, reward yourself for it and then set a new one.
This will motivate you and boost your morale. They will also culminate in the achievement of the long-term goals that you set.
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3. Lack of a Step-by-Step Plan
Many people clearly write their goals. Some even write both long-term and short-term goals and have them all well-laid down.
However, most people forget to create a step-by-step plan for how they will achieve their goals.
Without a plan, the majority of the people end up not starting at all, in spite of having drafted beautiful, achievable goals. They do not know where to start.
Goals are a must for someone who seriously wants to lose weight, but failing to concretize them with a valid plan will make them all useless. Set your goals, then create a clear plan on how you will achieve them. By the way, if in your last attempt you did not have a clear plan, this should be your starting point as you venture into your next attempt.
4. Not Nourishing the Body
Many people seeking to lose weight believe that they must deny themselves delicious foods in order to achieve their goals.
You must start looking at food as medicine for your body. As long as you are eating healthy, just make sure that you eat your fill.
Denying your body food as punishment for gaining weight is a sign that you hate your body. This will not help. Instead, it will send the body to a starvation survival mode. This makes it a pro at storing fat. It will eventually give a very negative effect on your weight loss efforts. Just eat, and eat well.
5. Existing Medical and Psychological Issues
Some health issues could make you eat more or less. This will, in one way or another, affect your attempt at losing weight.
If you have tried to lose weight and failed, try checking if there are medical or health issues that are hidden or even those that are known.
Some people have conditions such as thyroid, hormonal, gut, and toxicity issues. Even the most dedicated of people can be prevented from losing weight by these problems.
If you have (or suspect to have) any issue that is hindering your project in any way, talk to your doctor or health provider before starting again.
Get everything sorted out so that you don’t keep doing this over and over with no tangible results, which will eventually make you get discouraged and give up.
6. Pursuing Quick Fixes
Did you know that when you think about something for a long time it begins to appear real?
Many people think they have attempted to lose weight but actually, they have never. They have read and watched so many weight loss programs that they think they already have it.
Others see the crazy results promised in the programs and feel like they are already there. A few try them out, with high expectations. When their expectations are not met instantly or as promised, they declare that they have failed in the attempt and give up. How to deal with this? Just plan your weight loss project well. Set realistic goals as discussed in 1 above, lay a step-by-step plan on how to achieve them and have realistic expectations.
Don’t allow yourself to get very excites about the whole issue. Take it one step at a time.
Final Thoughts After finally deciding to start your weight loss project, you deserve the best results that can ever be achieved. Failing to achieve the desired results can cause you to give up on the attempts.
Continuing to blindly pursue these goals without knowing exactly how to attain the best results will lead to a dead end. You will, in the end, even go back to your initial poor, unhealthy lifestyle, eventually gaining even more weight than you had before you started out.
Do not allow yourself to fail another time. Started off on the right foot by avoiding these reasons why you failed at your last weight loss attempt and you will be surprised at how easy things will be this time around.
