Hi guys.
So, as I was driving home from work today, I saw this really overweight girl walking along. She was probably a good 5 stone overweight. And I was thinking of how I would love to pull over the car and tell her that I could help her, that it actually wouldn't be so difficult to lose that weight, even though at the moment, it probably seems like an impossible task.
Which got me thinking about the lies that we have been told all our lives...
It's actually remarkably easy to lose weight. Have you ever watched Survivor or one of those island reality shows, and by episode 2 they're starting to look at bit gaunt, and maybe 4 or 5 episodes into it, all the fat has melted away and they are basically just muscle and skin? Anyway, that's probably only a few weeks of a very basic diet and they cannot hold onto the weight at all. And these are all pretty thin people to begin with.
I think what's challenging is losing weight fast if you have been living a certain lifestyle for long enough. And the diet industry loves to tell you that you can lose 10 pounds in two weeks or get a flat belly in 7 days or all this other shite to keep you coming back, because you will ultimately try to go from one extreme to the other, fail, binge, and then a few months later repeat the whole process. (There are people that go through a complete switch in their head and can follow these diets and the weight drops off, but I think of these people as the exception rather than the rule.)
I also think people think weight loss is hard is because they set themselves impossible goals; ''OMG, I have a wedding in two weeks, I HAVE to fit into this dress that hasn't fit me in 4 years!'' or 'I'm going on holidays to Tenerife in a month, I have to look like a model in my bikini, even though I haven't exercised in 2 years! Agh!!' And where do they turn to? They turn to the diet industry that makes them all these promises that the above is possible, which isn't a lie exactly, but they are basically snake oil salesmen disguised as people or products there to help.
So anyway, I have come to the conclusion that it's really not weight loss that's the problem. It's how we think about weight loss. Who wants to wait a year and a half to look their best? A year and a half seems so far away. But as you get older, you know how quickly a year and a half goes by, and it's really nothing.
If I was talking to that woman I saw walking earlier about what she could do to lose weight, I would say to her to start small. So small. If she doesn't do any exercise, start with 3 x 20 minute walks a week. If she drinks loads of fizzy drinks, I would say drink one less every day for a week. If she never makes breakfast, I would recommend that she has breakfast, even if it's not the 'best' breakfast, even a bowl of cornflakes is a start.
I remember years ago I went on this crazy fitness and diet regime, and I don't think the women that ran it actually got it. They were both super slim, had been into fitness for years, and they made out a completely unrealistic programme that I would find hard to follow even if I was as slim as them. I do really think it should be step by step, brick by brick, and you might reach a certain point before your 'goal', but it could be a point where you can wear nice clothes and feel healthy and good, but still have takeaways, night's out, doughnuts, whatever your thing is. Not everyone has to look like an Instagram model. It's all about feeling good within yourself.
Anyway, just felt like talking about that stuff today, obviously, loads of these points are recycled thoughts, but I think it's important to think and talk about this kind of stuff.
I am at a point where I can't say that my weight is a 'problem' anymore, I probably look fine, but I still am trying to get to optimum and rushing to get there and then basically never getting there. So I've decided to slow it down - if it takes another year and a half, then that's the time I need. At least I know that with little changes, it will be easy.
