The Keys to Weight Loss Success - Part 1 - Plus.. - Week 070 - 70.1 kilos (154.5 lbs) lighter over 70 weeks!



The Keys to Weight Loss Success! - Part 1

This is the first on my new series of blog posts on The Keys to Weight Loss Success!

With the 'Silly Season' and holidays coming soon, I have thought a lot about how I need to prepare myself so I can still celebrate with family and friends, but not blow away all the progress I have made so far with all my hard work.

October is busy with me as my birthday is coming soon, plus our family has several get-togethers, the street Christmas party also comes soon, and then the Christmas festivities arrive. You get the idea.

And with all this celebration comes the challenges.
  • How do I celebrate my birthday without feeling guilty about 'going off track'?
  • How do I enjoy a night out a restaurant without worrying about food choices?
  • How do I entertain family and friends and still meet my ultimate goals of health and fitness?
As part of my preparation, I got thinking about all the strategies I use to keep on track, which have actually become the keys to my weight loss success so far.

So without further ado, here is my first and most important tip.

Consistency is critical...

Being consistent has been the most important key to my weight loss success.
  • I have been consistent in eating healthy.
  • I have been consistent in my exercise.
  • I have been consistent in my meal prep as well.
Sure, I still celebrate special occasions, but the important factor is that my diet and exercise have been on-point for the other times.

And importantly,
  • I don't have a scheduled cheat day.
  • I don't have a scheduled cheat meal.
To put this in perspective, with meals and snacks, on most days I eat five times per day.
Over seven days that means I eat thirty-five meals.
And if I over eat or eat unhealthy once, that means I have eaten perfectly 97% of the time.

Yep...
One meal out of thirty five is only 2.85%.

And if one bad meal only happens once every couple of weeks, of course the percentage is even better.

The key really is consistency.
If I eat well the vast majority of time, I will continue to improve my health and fitness.

Of course the opposite is also true.
If I eat poorly the vast majority of time, my health and fitness will suffer.
And that is how I ballooned to 185.5 kg previously.

I constantly strive to ensure my diet is on point and that I do my walk six days a week.
I know that if I am consistent the vast majority of the time, my health and fitness will improve, and it has.

And a lot of that gets down to making the best choice under the circumstances.

For example,
Tonight, my son and I are off to a comedy night at a burger joint.
I could, if I choose to, indulge in a burger with my son after this show.

However, I know that a burger from this place would push my progress backwards, and push me too far away from my goals. And that would be without chips or a soft drink.

I still want to enjoy my time with my son, so I have decided that after the show, we will stop at Subway, and I will have a much healthier alternative.
It will still push me away from my goals a bit, but I know that I will have my bread units saved for this meal.
It will be higher in calories, but probably around half of what would be in a burger.

I know this is the making the best choice under the circumstances, and keep on track to meet my goals.

I used the same strategy a few weeks ago at a friend's 50th birthday party.
I knew it was going to be a BBQ dinner, and I knew I could fit that into my diet, including the bread units.
Sure, I still had one of her world famous cup cakes, but I savoured every last bit of it.
It was divine.
I enjoyed it, but I didn't blow out, and I still kept on track and lost weight.

I also ate WAY too much camembert.
But I wasn't too worried, as I knew that the rest of the time, I have been perfect.

Once again, consistency got me through.
If I am consistent for the vast majority of time, I will still keep progressing to my goals.

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Bonus tip -
Read and understand everything in the plan

When I joined the CSIRO Total Wellbeing Diet seventy weeks ago, I joined to turn around my life.
The cost was not important.
Changing my life was !

I was investing in my health and fitness.

On that day, I literally spent 3 - 4 hours combing through the website.
I needed to fully understand what to do, to give myself the best chance of turning my life around.

As I decided not to follow the meal plans, I needed to understand how to create my own meal plans that met the recommendations of the plan. I sat down for hours and thought about healthy alternatives to my favourite foods. It took a long time, but the education I gained from that was invaluable.

I have now turned my life around and I am getting closer to my goals every day.

Spend the time, understand everything.
Ask questions.

Knowledge is power.

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I'd love to hear about your health journey, so come on and join my private Facebook Group (only members can see what you post). 
There are over 300 members in this group and we would love to hear from you!

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