You have certainly had a great weekend, maybe with your family and friends, maybe indulging on some chocolates and sweets, thinking to yourself “just one more” every time you take one from the box but feeling guilty every time… And you are already stressing about the extreme diet you will have to go on next week to counterbalance those extra-calories...
Or maybe you have been struggling with your own body image for a while. Maybe you are constantly thinking of how to get rid of this extra fat that is driving you crazy. You are sure that you would feel so much better without it, you have tried many things but it just seems to stay stuck there and to hold on tight.
Or maybe you have already gone a long way, maybe you have lost some substantial weight already but can’t seem to lose those last pounds that are just still sitting there. And that makes you really upset.
Those are all-too-common situations. Many persons, when I ask them: “What is your goal? Your big dream? Your purpose?”, can’t seem to find any other answer than: losing weight. To them, their life will change and they will be much happier once they get rid of this extra fat. And yes, we can say that it somehow becomes an obsession. Whatever they are doing, they are thinking of the effect on their weight.
There are a lot of reasons why so many persons are making their weight their ultimate preoccupation in life. I decided to write this article in order to give you a few essential tips that to my opinion are crucial and can trigger the shift you need in you.
1. Change your focus: think HEALTHY rather than SKINNY
This is hugely important. When you nourish your body, mind and soul the way they need it, everything falls into place. Realize that when you are healthy, from the inside out, any extra fat loss is a side effect. Now be careful with the common misconceptions about what living a healthy lifestyle really means. It is not about counting calories (complete non-sense!), choosing low-fat or "light" versions of foods (how to make yourself sick and weak..) and doing hours of cardio training every day or week (this can increase your stress hormones too much and your body holds on to fat even more). The HOLISTIC APPROACH of a healthy lifestyle is what I am talking about here. Organic food, right amount of quality water, balanced workout program, happiness within… Ask me or any other Holistic Health coach about it and start educating yourself and make the right choices for yourself.
Also, I would like you to stop talking about “weight” loss, but rather use the word “fat loss". Because if you put on some muscles and lose a lot of volume of fat, you might still be heavier at the end, even if you lost some inches! Total weight variation doesn’t mean much. If you are losing muscles and keeping the same amount of fat, it is not healthy and is not a good way to go. So you’d better check your body fat variation, or muscle mass variation. Those numbers will give you a much better insight regarding whether you are on the right track – or not. For this reason, for the rest of this article, I am going to talk about fat loss rather than weight loss.
2. Be and act like the person you want to become, NOW
If you have been struggling with and thinking of your "excess" fat for a while, you are maybe preventing yourself of true happiness, on a daily basis, without even realizing it. You might be at a great event with people you love but you don’t feel good in your body and have those constant negative thoughts that hijack your mindfulness and your ability to enjoy the present moment. The key point to understand here is this: don’t think that you don’t deserve to be TRULY happy NOW, just because you think that you are not “perfect”…. If you have this illusion of the person you want to become: act like this person NOW. Think the way that person would do, NOW. Enjoy your life fully, NOW. Change your mindset. You have already done it by changing your focus from “skinny” to “healthy”. Now it is by enjoying the present moment of your life now, without thinking of the future, or the past. NOW is the only moment you will always live in. So live it fully. And find your happiness within NOW. This shift in your thoughts can have an enormous impact on your overall physiology. It will not only raise your energy levels, it will also free you from your negative thoughts. You are not your mind. Don’t let it play tricks on you. You have the right to be happy, now. So yes, be that person that you want to be, now, and don’t let any self-destructive thoughts put you down.
3. Decrease your overall stress levels
Stress can create many imbalances in your body: it can trigger digestive or hormonal issues, it can weaken your immune system, it can basically disrupt the essential vital functionalities of your whole body.
Stress is not only what you are thinking of. It can be:
- physical (chronic pain, excess or lack of movement…)
- mental (social pressure, negative self-talk…)
- emotional (anger, sadness…)
- chemical (wifi, laptop or smartphone screens, toxins, herbicides or pesticides in low-quality food…)
- spiritual (are you aligned with your inner core beliefs?)
Any stressor in those categories impact you directly. And when you don’t manage that daily stress correctly, it can start a cascade of bad health issues that can actually result in fat accumulation and/or fat stockage (READ THIS for more info about it).
So the question is: how to decrease and better manage all those stressors around us, every day? How to decrease physiologically those stress levels, especially stress hormones levels in our body? By taking care of yourself, again, from the inside out. By loving yourself so much that you will only take the better decisions for you. Whether it is about the way you move, the way you think, the way you breathe, the way you eat, the way you rest… Everything counts. Again, beware of common misconceptions. Educate yourself or ask for a holistic health coach to give you the right tools to make things better.
4. Reconnect to yourself
You are much more than just your body. You are a powerful soul in a beautiful body. Your body is made to help you thrive on this planet. By reconnecting to your own source, you will find this happy and peaceful place that is always there with you no matter where you are or what you are going through. The easiest way to do it is to MEDITATE every day. Take this time, for 10, 20 or 60 min, to be there, alone with yourself, to take some distance with your thoughts and to really feel the joyful and powerful you that is always there within. By reconnecting deeply with yourself, you will feel more aligned in whatever you are doing as you will start listening to your heart much more than to your mind (which is often too influenced by limiting beliefs and society-imposed ideas). By practicing every day, even if only for a little bit, you can trigger this shift in you that will help you feel much better in life. And this is an essential step to any goal you want to achieve.
With this article, you were maybe expecting some new dieting “rules” and strenuous workout programs to improve and/or accelerate your current fat loss journey. All those misconceptions about the “extra fat” you might be wearing are detrimental to everyone. By getting back to the real signification of what being alive means, by getting back to the real importance of life, by getting back to yourself and to who you truly are, your supposed “weight” problem won’t be one anymore as it will solve itself, naturally. Trust the journey, be confident. And above all, be happy. We are all supposed to thrive in life and live fully, rather than survive.
I could have gone more in details about specific nutrition tips or workout boosters, but this is something that can vary a lot depending on who I am talking to. The topics I have been mentioning here are truly crucial if you want to improve the quality of your life, now. Whether you are looking to lose fat or feel more energized, those holistic lifestyle principles are essential and can change your daily life in an instant. Open your mind and listen to your gut, and to your Holistic Health and Fitness Coach :-)
In Health and Happiness,
Stephanie