How to start a weight loss journey

When I re-started my weight loss journey I was 148kgs (326lbs). That’s right, almost 150kgs on my 5’4″ frame. That made me Category 3 or “Morbidly Obese” and at a much higher likelihood to die of diabetes, heart disease or weight-related illnesses. I knew I was putting on weight, I was eating my emotions and coping with COVID and stress the way I always had - food. I stopped exercising and it became a vicious cycle of not wanting to exercise because I was stressed and sad, knowing the only way to pull myself out of it was to move more and make some changes.

I didn’t have an ‘aha’ moment, I didn’t wake up one day and change everything and stick to the new plan. I’ve picked myself up and fallen back down. I’ve had good days and great weeks. I’ve also struggled to get out of bed and skipped meals only to eat all the take out for dinner that day. It’s hills and valleys, changing your life isn’t a straight line to the finish. It’s work, day in and day out.

I’ve always been plus size but it wasn’t until I pulled out some photos of me at 21 that I realised how I’d let things get worse since starting an office job. I was never a natural at sports, I’d been told I wasn’t good and because I always carried extra weight, due to my love of food, sports felt really hard. So naturally I avoided it and worked on things I was naturally good at. Since getting full time work and having consistent income I’ve been a member at gyms and I’ve had some really good success followed by epic failures.

You’d think I’d just give up and accept the easy road. But no matter how hard I fall down I can’t shake the feeling that I was meant for more than this. Meant to be really fit and be able to go on some incredible adventures, relying on my fitness to help me pull through. So I stopped seeing weight loss as a short-term goal. Every day I work on understanding how my body works and moving it to improve myself day by day.

So where do you even start?

I read this amazing concept about ‘Zero days’ and it’s stuck with me ever since. The general idea is that you have things that you can do each day that serve you and your goals. Things like drinking 2L of water, getting 10k steps, and following a meal plan. You might want to do workouts and read up on ways to reduce stress. Basically you want to make sure you do at least some of these every day - all of them is the true goal but as long as you take action it’s not going to be a Zero day. A Zero day is when you don’t do anything towards bettering yourself, and we don’t want any more zero days. While there is more to it than that and I’ve been exploring it while writing my book Rise & Shine (a morning routine for Nurturing your career, your relationships, & your self), thats the main idea.

When you start out you are going to feel like you’re too far away from your goal - whatever your goal happens to be. Trust me I know, my goal is to reach 65kgs which has always seemed to unattainable when you’re 80kgs away from that goal. But when you look at it in days, each day all I need to do is my micro goals - drink my water, get my steps, stay in a caloric deficit - it’s no longer about hitting that end goal. With time that will happen on it’s own. All I need to focus on is today and making sure it’s not a zero day.

The key is mindset and lifestyle

Unless you’re willing to get uncomfortable and make some big changes in your life, noting will ever change. But isn’t the whole reason you’re reading this is that you have a deep need to change? As a rule we don’t like surprises unless they are surprises you want. Changing your lifestyle brings about all kinds if new things, but they are the kind of surprises you want!

You cannot lose weight if you hate your body and are punishing yourself. It’s not easy to love and accept yourself just as you are when you feel that you need to be skinnier, fitter, or more attractive to be able to love yourself, but that’s exactly what you need to do. Your brain will do as much as possible to prevent pain so punishment is not going to help you reach those long-term goals. Having the right thoughts and feelings in your mind is a big step forward in your journey.

When you think about exercising as a way to take care of yourself and love the skin you’re in you’re going to see better results. For years I’ve gone through phases of losing weight and gaining it back in a roller-coaster because as much as I wanted the end result, my head wasn’t in the right place. I wanted to keep my lifestyle and just add in some workouts and eating ‘better’. This wasn’t enough, not in the slightest. I realised my lifestyle had become sitting down for hours on end, getting stressed over work, feeling drained and too tired to look after myself. Just adding in some workouts and ‘trying to eat better’ couldn’t compete with my full time lifestyle.

I needed to shake things up and make some changes that could stick. For me this meant no electronics from 7pm - I’d charge my phone in another room, turn off the TV and spend my evenings away from tech that was keeping me up at night. I’d read, do some meditation, do some writing, or even a little yoga. I’d start my evening routine which would help me wind down and be ready for sleep.

Waking up early became so much easier