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Want to lose weight? Tired of trying? I understand how it feels. It is rightly said that it is always better to learn from experiences, whether they be yours or be others. If you want to accomplish your weight loss dreams then you have landed at the right place where I’m going to share my personal weight loss experience and journey. This is not a weight loss guide, but it will guide you on how you can achieve your weight loss goals.

Having the best workout and diet plan is not enough until we follow them wisely. Staying positive and motivated always is the most difficult thing. I can tell you, I failed 5 times before seeing the success and doing wonders. This is because I figured out what I was doing wrong. Despite having the membership to a great gym and an excellent diet plan, I could never even cross the mark of 3 months. I used to lose interest, get over motivated, get satisfied with what I had achieved (shredding 5 kgs or less), feel done, start the blame games and even start finding out the reasons to not continue (either it be blaming the timings or circumstances, pointing out the place, shaming the food, bitching about the trainer, and whatnot. Sorry, I’m just being brutally frank. But isn’t it true? Don’t we do this? We do, we certainly do. I did, for all the 5 times. But it is better late than never. I realized that I was making a mistake.

I’m going to walk you through what happened when I joined the gym for the last time, yes the last time, because after that I never joined, I just went daily till today. It all started in February, 2017 and it took me 18 months to lose 30 kilos and since then I’m maintaining it and improving each day. These numbers are not generic and can vary from person to person and body to body.

This post is not about how you can lose weight, or how you can lose this much weight (hang on for the upcoming posts), but this is about how to keep going through that journey and stay motivated throughout. It’s about what changes you can make to finally achieve your fitness goals.

1. Doing it for yourself
2. One day at a time
3. Modify your goals with time
4. Cheat meal, but don’t cheat yourself
5. Take it slow and sleep well

It’s never too late to mend. So, let’s talk about each one by one.

1. Doing it for yourself

It is rightly said, more than discipline it is the desire. Ask yourself, why you are doing it. Why do you want to lose weight? Why do you want to choose the fit path? Let me tell you, it is not easy. But the reasons matter. Reasons matter the most.

This is the first change you need to make, to get your reasons right. Because at times, we have a variety of reasons, either it is because someone told us to because our friends tease us, our parents scold on being a couch potato, or the sister fights with if we ask her for another glass of water to bring, and the list goes on. But we never realize that losing those extra kilos or getting fitter is for our own body. We ourselves are the very first person or say the only person to get the benefit from that. It is our life which is going to get better and active.

You cannot do it just because someone else told you to do it. That interest would fade with time, maybe a few days, weeks, months, or years. But this is a change of lifestyle we are talking about. This self-realization is the key to your fitness goals. Our mind and heart need to be in sync with the crystal clear reasons.

So, half of the battle is won and you are already done with two steps (first being, having a thought to lose those additional kilos or even just staying fit). I hope I’m not sounding philosophical, but realization is critical to achieving any goal, whether it be scoring good marks, getting a high paid job, starting a business, or shredding that extra weight.

2. One day at a time

One day at a time, yes this is one of the most often used phrases. You need to follow just the dictionary meaning.

I promise it will take you to the moon in helping you to build habits. Of course, we are building a habit here, a healthy habit. There is no need to think about a week, a month or a year. Just focus on today. It’s just today when you need all the zeal and desire to convert the plan into actually doing. It’s not tomorrow, not the day after, not Mondays, but yeah, just today. Each morning you need to prepare yourself as if it is your last day and you need to conquer what you planned for today.

Every morning tell yourself, do it daily, but first, do it today!

The hardest lift of all is lifting your butt off the couch! Believe me, I have been through this. What I did to overcome this, was to just get up and stand when my morning alarm rings. Simple. Isn’t it? It will just give you all the positive vibes you need. It takes each day’s small brick steps to build a wall of habit. Let’s do it and do it for ourselves!

3. Modify your goals with time

Modifying your goals with time is one key thing to remember always. We start getting satisfied and content with what we have achieved. Of course, it is very important to analyse yourself and be proud of what you have accomplished. But don’t settle with that. Keep improving, setting new goals, targeting new PRs (personal records), learning new variations or categories of exercises, challenging yourself. Do not let your body get relaxed and comforted. Then, it will never let you reach new heights and you will be stuck.

We always keep changing our other life goals, uplifting from a bike to a motorbike, or buying a better car, having a more luxurious house, aiming for fatter cheques, buying better clothes, and whatnot. But why don’t we follow the same mindset when it comes to getting fitter, building lean muscles, losing extra kilos, or getting in shape. Why do we tend to always forget that? Isn’t it unfair on our part? Invest your time in analysing this too. Setting new goals is all you need to do.

4. Cheat meal, but don’t cheat yourself

We often tend to take our cheat meals wrongly and end up munching the whole day which ends up overeating mostly. The strategy of including cheat meals or cheat days in the diet plan is very effective if the calorie count still remains intact.

You need to enjoy what you are doing. So, to reward yourself 1-2 times/week with your favourite snack or meal is a productive way to stay motivated.

Not all bodies are the same, and it is complicated to stick to any diet plan all the time. Food cravings are natural, so, without forcing yourself, you should go for a meal or two in a week of your choice and liking. The best diet plan is the one that you can stick to. Forcing yourself with something isn’t going to be any good as you wouldn’t be able to sustain it.

Not to forget, we live in a world where we have to socialize, attend parties, be part of celebrations, gatherings or have a fun vacation, so, stay mindful of what you fill your plate with.

The crucial point is these pampering meals need to be within the set goals so that it does not land you binge eating and take you to a guilt trip. So, stay happy, lively, and enjoy the journey.

5. Take it slow and sleep well

As it is rightly said, Rome was not built in a day, so nothing is going to happen overnight. Often we jump to the results imagining the perfect ideal self which mostly worries us with the efforts or the process we still need to put in. I suggest you cross the bridge when you come to it and for now, as mentioned above, just live One day at a time.

I remember, it was mentioned outside one of the gyms that take steps, there is no elevator to fitness. It is true, both literally and metaphorically. You need to take it at your own pace, taking small steps towards your set goals.

You might also have been a victim of criticism, well I was. You might experience a phase where people started judging you on what you eat, how you manage your time, how you start cutting off those extra snacks, how your beverages switch, how you start looking more active and lively. There are both positive and negative criticisms. Make sure you stay positive and ignore the naysayers. But don’t get tense about it and overdo anything. You tend to get bullied for your looks, but please don’t injure yourself by overdoing anything. Well, I did once and the outcomes were pretty bad. So, not to lose the focus and stay stress-free in one’s sanity.

Staying away from stress and getting sound sleep plays a vital role in this slow process of weight loss. It is a well-known fact that rest is one big factor after food and workout. So, concentrating on the goal, keep moving, and relishing this self-chosen tour of being fit. You can never jump the ladder and rather only climb it.

Conclusion

It is always easy to start but difficult to finish and finishing is better than starting. Weight loss and fitness journey requires an utter desire and tons of hard work with sheer dedication, determination and consistency.

It did not happen overnight for me. It took everything in me. Being from Amritsar, Punjab (famous for aloo wala kulchas, lassi, bhature, chane and the list goes on), you can imagine the kind of sacrifices I had to do, to modify and cut down on my eating habits.

So, get your reasons right, start living a day at a time, keep modifying your goals, pamper yourself with your favourite meal 1-2 times a week and take it easy, and nothing can stop you from conquering what you have dreamt the whole time.

Losing 66 lbs has taught me lessons the hard way, but let’s say, the sky’s the limit. Don’t lose hope and start fresh and start it now.

I thank you for reading this post and I hope it will help you in accomplishing your weight loss and fitness goals. As I said earlier, it’s not about a few days, weeks, months or years, rather, it is more of a lifestyle change. Just do it!

Lastly, make sure you leave your feedback, comments, suggestions and criticism in the comments. If you liked this article please share it with your friends and sign up for my email newsletter (so you don’t miss any of the new posts).