Video | Easy Meals | Enjoy the Journey | Effective Plan | Stay Motivated | Believe You Can Do It

No matter how much weight you want to lose, you need to be able to stick with your plan long enough to reach your goal. In this blog post, I share five things that will help you stay true to your plan and achieve weight loss success. 

5 Things You Need for Long-Term Weight Loss Success [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• Tips for successful, long-term weight loss.
• The easiest kind of diet to stick to!
• Strategies for believing in yourself and your ability to lose weight.

Easy Meals

The first thing you need is some easy meals that can go from storage to table in a few minutes. Life has a habit of getting busy, so your diet needs to be easy-to-follow, despite what is going on around you. 

One thing we always have in our home is a pre-cooked meat and bag of frozen vegetables. 

For instance, I often have pulled pork from Costco in my freezer. When I need a meal in minutes, I pull it out along with a bag of frozen vegetables. In 10 minutes, I have a very satisfying meal that is high in fat and micronutrients and low in carbs and chemical additives. 

This meal is also enjoyable, which is the second thing you need to achieve long-term weight loss success. 

Enjoy the Journey

If you are losing weight, but you’re eating foods that you hate, you will go right back to your old eating pattern after the weight comes off. 

It is undeniable that in the past few years, people have been finding long-term success with high-fat, low-carb diets. In fact, that is the diet I teach in my coaching program because it is an enjoyable diet, so it is easy to stay on long-term. 

When you increase the healthy fats in your daily diet and move away from sugary, high-carb foods, you feel satisfied throughout the day and you are not bothered by cravings. For many of you, that is significant because it is often times hunger and insatiable cravings that derail traditional diets.  

I will add that a high-fat, low-carb diet is effective, which is the third thing you need for long-term weight loss success. 

Follow a Plan that is Effective for You

Whenever you change your diet, it requires effort because you are going against your established habits. If you change your diet and do not see results on the scale, the wind will quickly go out of your sail and you will start entertaining thoughts like, “This is not worth it.” 

Many people that I work with are around my age, which is 50 or above. Some have been overweight for many years. Others had a fast metabolism when they were young that allowed them to eat anything they wanted, but something changed and now they are gaining weight. 

Years of being overweight or simply eats poorly causes your cells to become less sensitive to insulin. When your cells are insulin resistant, they cannot use the sugar from the carbs you eat efficiently. Therefore, the best diet strategy, in my opinion, for someone who has trouble losing weight is to eat low-carb.

A low-carb diet requires less insulin to be produced by your body, so even an insulin resistant body has a chance to burn fat for energy. When that fat starts to burn, the results show up on the scale, and you stay motivated.

Fuel Your Motivation

Motivation is something you need to constantly be fueling in order to stick with your diet long-term. Motivation falls under the umbrella of what I call your weight loss mindset. 

There are many strategies that you can use to keep motivation high, but one of the most effective is having a clearly defined target in mind. 

If you approach a diet with an attitude of, “Well, I have some free time right now, I think I’ll start eating better.” You will have a hard time reaching your goal. 

Instead, spend a day or two asking yourself what you truly want. What will losing the weight mean for you personally, professionally, or relationship wise? When you have that picture, focus on that desired outcome every day. This simple mental exercise will keep you on track in ways that you can’t explain yet will greatly increase your weight loss success. 

Believe You Can Reach Your Goal

Lastly, you have to believe you can reach your goal. In my opinion, our society has been misguided for years. Ever since the 70’s when we switched to a high carb, low fat diet, the obesity rate has been climbing. 

This way of eating made dieting frustrating and just about everyone was caught up in it, myself included. When we do things that require a lot of work but yield few results, we become doubtful. Many people felt like giving up because it seemed like no matter what they did or how much energy they poured into their diets their efforts were not effective. 

As we are learning more about how eating a higher fat diet and dropping carbs helps the body burn fat, there is a renewed sense of hope. Yet, doubt can be hard to shake. I get many comments that start with phrases like, “nothing works for me.” and “I cannot lose weight, no matter what I do.” The author of the comment goes on to list all of the reasons they cannot lose weight. If that is your belief, that will be your result. 

As I often say, successful weight loss has a physical and mental side, so you must get your brain on board with your body. When you do, you’ll reach your goal. Getting your brain on board starts with changing your beliefs by simply telling yourself a different story. Stop yourself when you hear that internal dialogue say, “I can’t lose weight,” and turn it into “I can lose weight.” 

At first, you will feel like you are lying to yourself, but as time goes on and results start to show, your new belief will take hold. You’ll notice yourself taking actions that support that new belief. 

Takeaway

To find long-term weight loss success, your plan must be easy-to-follow, enjoyable, and effective. These are my “3Es” and they are central to all of my teachings. If you’d like to learn more about how to get them working in your life, I invite you to watch my free video series and learn my 0,1,2,3 strategy. 

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful week!

About the Author:

Dr. Becky Gillaspy, DC graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.