Hi [pmpro_member field=”first_name”] – welcome to ‘Symply with You’ mentoring
I’m so excited to be taking this journey together. I hope, with my advice, support and your determination, you can achieve your goals, whether they are to lose weight or to maintain your weightloss.
Everyone has their own reasons for deciding, once and for all, to lose excess weight and allow their healthy self to emerge. Perhaps it is a significant moment such as being diagnosed with a health condition, realising that you’re not able to move comfortably anymore, or being confronted with an unflattering photograph of yourself (as I was back in 1992).
Sometimes it’s anxiety about attending an upcoming event such as a wedding, birthday or reunion. Or maybe there are issues that have built up over time and an awareness of not looking or feeling your best.
I’m here to tell you that all of that can change. I did it and so can you.
Start Believing
The first thing that needs to change is your attitude. I’m sure you’ve tried to lose weight in the past and may have some limiting beliefs that are holding you back. It’s time to let go of the old beliefs, “dieting is hard” “I can’t stick to anything” “I’ve got big bones” “I’m too old” are just some of the stories I hear. Think about some of the things you say and decide right now that you’ll never say those words again. Start believing you can do this! Bring your good intentions along for this journey, focus less on the problem and more on the solution and you will be a winner.
Set a motivating goal
Before you get started, I want you to set a motivating goal. Notice I didn’t just say to set a goal? A goal needs to be motivating or you’ll never stick to it. You can find out how it’s done here.
Clean out your pantry and fridge
Next, I want you to clean out your pantry and fridge. I don’t just mean throwing out last week’s leftovers – no, I want you to take everything out, wipe the shelves and check dates before putting anything back. This serves two purposes – it gets rid of any foods that are likely to be a weakness on hard days and it’s a metaphor for cleaning up your eating habits. How great that clean fridge looks is how great your body will feel after a few weeks eating healthy food.
Check your menu plan and write a shopping list
Take a look at your menu plan for the week and write your shopping list. You will also find it helpful to read important information for menu plans.
Be mindful in the supermarket not to let any of your old food choices end up in the trolley. I have a saying “Saying NO once in the supermarket, means you don’t have to say NO 100 times at home.”
Organise your H2O
Make sure you have a water bottle at hand. If you like it cold, make sure there’s a bottle in the fridge. If you like it flavoured, buy some fresh lemon or lime to add to your water. I want you to aim at drinking eight glasses a day.
Record your starting weight and measurements
It’s important to record both your weight and measurements as the scales never tell the full story of your success. You can find out how to take accurate measurements here.
When it comes to weighing in, I want you to do this once a week at most. Forget weighing yourself daily or even more often! Our weight naturally fluctuates, and weighing yourself more often than once a week can set you up for failure. In my ‘diet queen’ days I would weigh myself daily and the number on the scales determined whether I had a good day or a bad day and was often the reason I would quit.
When I gave up dieting and became a healthy person, I would weigh myself weekly but only record the figure once a month. The weekly weigh-in was helpful to see if I was on track and there was never a month I didn’t lose weight. I rarely weigh myself these days as I can tell what my body is doing by how my clothes fit.
Schedule in your exercise
You knew I was going to mention the dreaded ‘E’ word; exercise. In the beginning, I want you to work on creating the ‘habit’ of exercise. So, don’t think you have to exercise five times a week for 45 minutes. If you haven’t exercised in a while start with 10 minutes four to five times a week and gradually build up from there. Once you make exercise a habit it becomes a normal part of life. So, take the time now to write exercise times into your diary or set alarms on your phone as a reminder. Have your exercise clothes ready so when that alarm goes off you can get changed and go.
Happy slimming
