Whether you’re trying to lose weight because you just had a child, your birthday is coming up or your wedding is in a few months, you want your weight loss to be sustainable. The reason is that you want to be able to maintain that weight and not get it all back. Sustainable weight loss means that you’re practicing safe, healthy, and realistic weight loss.

So what counts as sustainable weight loss and what doesn’t? 

Let’s start with what doesn’t. Diets, slimming teas, tummy belts, waist trainers don’t fit into this category. Do they work? Yes, they do sometimes. The problem is that more often than not, you lose only water weight, and put all the weight back once you stop them. Once that happens you’re back to where you started. Think about it, it’s not sustainable for you to live your whole life drinking a certain tea, or wearing waist trainers, or even dieting.

Since it’s impossible to live that way, you pile on all the weight back once you stop what you were doing. In addition, you don’t know what to do to maintain that weight. You didn’t follow any systems to lose weight, so you don’t have a roadmap or new healthy habit. So of course once you have stopped the gimmicks, the weight comes back.

That my friend is the reason you need to lose weight sustainably and build healthy habits while at it.

What is sustainable weight loss?

Sustainable weight loss is when you practice healthy habits and learn how to lose weight in a way that allows you to continue to maintain your weight loss. It involves unlearning the wrong practices, building new habits, and learning the long term principles of weight loss.

When you practice sustainable weight loss, you learn how to lose weight the right way, keep it off, and stay healthy. So how do you lose weight sustainably? Let’s get into it.

1. Start with reflection: Most times, weight loss efforts are unsuccessful because people don’t know what caused the problem. To set yourself up for success, it’s important that you are able to identify what the issues are, so you can make a plan. So reflect on your triggers, and your struggles are. Then make a plan to tackle them.
2. Know your why: I will be honest with you, weight loss is a marathon, and like all good runners, you should aim for endurance not speed. You will have some challenging days and you need to be able to keep going even then. It may be to fit into a dress after five years, to run around without losing your breath or set a good example for your family. Knowing why you’re losing weight will keep you going on the days it gets difficult.
3. Set SMART Goals: It probably took years for you to get to where you are now, so you can’t lose it all in a week. Using the SMART framework, set realistic goals, and break them down. If you want to lose 30 KG in 6 months that’s 5 KG per month, and 1.2 KG per week.

    

   

4. Make a plan: Now it’s time to get into the actual steps to lose weight sustainably. Prepare a meal plan that suits you and tastes. Buy the equipment and accessories you need. Look through your typical day and week, assigning times for working out, meal prepping, and making a plan for your triggers.
5. Put in the work: Once all the groundwork has been done, it’s time for you to actually put your plan into action. Set your alarms, work hard, stay consistent and you will lose the weight and keep it off.

Cheers to your success, I am rooting for you, and if you need additional support, I am here for you