With about two thirds of adult Australians in the overweight or obese category, plus an estimated 28% of children and adolescents, weight loss is the number 1 reason people start a fitness programme.
However, the fact that these numbers seem to be on the increase suggest that whatever we are doing isn't working. While it is a somewhat complicated issue, it can often be over-complicated by individuals to the point of quitting.
So with that in mind I'm going to tell you how you can lose weight in 3 steps!
Track your food
If you're going to lose weight, you need to know what you're putting into your body. Memory is often hard to rely on, as is estimating how many calories are in your food.
Write down everything you eat (or use one of the many apps) and pay attention to total calories and macronutrients (protein, fats and carbs).
This is not a habit that you need to continue forever but is important so you can truly understand how to modify your eating habits for weight loss.
Just the act of tracking can make you adjust your intake for the better but having that knowledge can be very empowering for your food choices.
2. Train with weights
We need to be clear about what "weight loss" actually is vs what is actually desired. Losing weight is a number on the scale, if the number goes down you are successful. What people want is to lose body fat. Otherwise you could just chop your leg off and be down 15kg instantly!
You want to lose body fat, while keeping as much lean mass (muscle, bone, etc) as possible. This keeps your metabolism higher.
If you're losing "weight" and not lifting weights there's a good chance some of that weight loss is coming from muscle which means your metabolism may start slowing down, making it harder and harder to lose more weight.
If you're unfamiliar with lifting weights, hire a professional to show you.
3. Be consistent
Probably the most important step of all!
Results build up exponentially over time so the more you can string a run of any good habit together, the better results you'll get.
An average weights programme done consistently beats an incredible programme done sporadically every time.
Something that may help consistency is to make a game of your habits. Make a mark somewhere visible every time you complete the habit and keep the streak going as long as you can. Any time you miss, start the streak again.
For tracking your food, every time you write down what you eat, tick it off on your calendar. I would recommend 2 or 3 workouts per week and mark off each week you achieve that.
It can honestly be as simple as that and often keeping things simple can be the most effective way to get results. Of course, adapting to new habits can be challenging and there's a good chance you won't knock it out of the park the first, or even the second and third times, but if you keep coming back again and again, you will get the results you are after!
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