It’s the 1st November today, only about 7 1/2 weeks until Christmas and New Year, I really can’t believe that, can you?
I decided that I’d like to lose another 10-11lbs/ 5kgs before another year ticks over. I want to go into the New Year feeling absolutely fabulous!
If you want to join me, I’ll be opening a small coaching group in a couple of weeks and sharing more of my methods and meal plans there. Make sure you join my newsletter for updates about that if you’re interested.
For now let’s talk about some weight loss planning.
I’ll share my process and maybe it will help you develop a plan too. In order to acheive my goal of losing 10-11lbs/ 5kgs in 7 weeks I can’t simply keep doing the same old things, I do have to do some planning and work out how I might get the best results within that time frame. Whenever we embark on something new we have to do the same or we’ll simply wake up the next morning and go into autopilot, wouldn’t you agree?
So I take a look at a few areas I might need to work on.
3 Steps To A Good Weight Loss Plan
Ask yourself these questions:
1. What dietary adjustments do I need to make?
2. What exercise adjustments do I need to make?
3. What lifestyle adjustments might I need to make?
I’ll give you a list of things to look at below but let’s just use me as an example because I’m working through this process right now.
1. Adjusting diet
When I talk about diet, I’m simply just talking about ALL of the things that we eat and drink. Anything that goes in our mouth is part of our diet. My diet is pretty good overall BUT there is always room for adjustment and improvement. I find that when I get into maintenance mode I can very easily slip into a hole at times or find myself getting out of control on the carbs or sugar, can you relate? Trust me, none of us are perfect all the time.
Excess carbs and sugar are my issue lately. I’ve been out for dinner a few times and indulged in rice, had a bit of gluten free pasta and a few too many potatoes, one of my downfalls. These things work okay for me occasionally but as a general rule they soon make me feel like sludge. The other thing is there has been a little too much food going down the pipehole in general! As soon as I start increasing my carbs, the overeating habits start slipping in. I haven’t put on any weight lately but I don’t feel as vibrant as I’d like to.
So looking at the overall picture the goal for me is to eliminate the carbs. So definitely no more potatoes, pastas, rice and so forth. It’s back to clean simple eating and a reduction in overall portions. I find that any time I want to ramp up my results or lose a few more pounds this method works well for me. For you it may be different. You need to start from where you are. So if sugar is a MAJOR issue, deal with that first before you move onto tackling other things.
I’m also reducing caffiene and sticking to one coffee a day, a couple of green tea and most importantly, drinking at least 2 liters of water per day.
2. Exercise
I’m going to keep it pretty simple when it comes to exercise. It will include 1 hour of exercise every single day. That doesn’t mean I’ll go hell for leather every day but the aim is 1 hour. I’ll do walking, swimming, and at least 3 workout sessions. I love my home workouts of course, so I’ll design some interval sessions, high intensity workouts, and a few general weight sessions too. These might only be 30 minutes so then I’ll also fit in a morning walk or a 30 minute interval on my stationary bike.
My usual commitment to exercise is 30 minutes a day so I’m including more to help boost the metabolism.
3. Lifestyle adjustments
Stress is under control in my life but it’s often an area we really need to look at when it comes to weight loss. Sleep also has to be high on the agenda because it helps with absolutely everything, including the weight loss results! So my plan is to get off to bed by 10pm. I’ll do 30 minutes or so of relaxation techniques to help me drift off into a deep sleep.
So that’s how I’ve worked through the 3 steps. Let’s break them down a bit further so you can assess what you might need to do.
3 Steps In Focus
1. What dietary adjustments do I need to make?
- Most of us need to cut down on sugar or carbs. Do you need to quit the sugar? Remove a particular junk food? Quit the diet sodas? Cut out pastas? Work from your own level and do what you can.
- Can you reduce caffiene intake? Do you drink enough water?
- Are you eating fresh foods such as good quality proteins, lots of veggies and some healthy fats like avocadoes?
- Are you overloading on dairy products?
- Are you overloading on grains and legumes?
If you can’t tackle everything, just choose a few things and start cutting those out first for the next 7 weeks.
2. What exercise adjustments do I need to make?
- Are you doing any kind of physical activity? If not, what can you start doing? How much time can you comfortably commit to it?
- If you’re already doing exercise, how could you include a bit more or pump up the volume to help boost up your metabolism?
- What type of exercise will you commit to doing?
3. What lifestyle adjustments might I need to make?
- Do you have loads of stress in your life? Take a look at ways to minimize work stress, relationship stress, family stress, financial stress, and any other stressful load. See if you can work on a stress management plan.
- Are you getting adequate sleep?
- Do you have health issues you need to take into consideration?
- Do I need to get more down time and relaxation?
SUCCESS IS IN THE DOING
So that’s the process I go through to develop a basic plan and it all sounds pretty straight forward but I don’t stop there. When and how will I make all of this happen?
I get out my diary and map out a weekly meal plan for myself. I write in an exercise schedule so I know roughly what I’m doing and when I’m doing it. And I plan my evenings so that I’m in bed by 10pm.
Then I get up, I know what I’m eating, I know what exercise I’m doing that day, and all I have to do is go through the routine of doing it.
The first few days of getting yourself motivated is the hardest part. Getting past food or sugar cravings, keeping in a positive mindset, and developing a routine takes a bit of concerted effort at first. But if you know that, you can work through the obstacles as they present themselves. Avoid any naughties, avoid any negatives, and focus on your plan, that’s the mission for the next 7 weeks 
Remember, if you need extra help, in 2 weeks I’ll be running a coaching group where we’ll be able to share the whole process in more detail. So if you’d like to stay informed, please join my mailing list here.
Your health is your wealth,
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