So you have decided to gird your loins and take your weight loss efforts seriously. Yes, you have been down this road before but this time, you are determined to succeed.
First of all, kudos! Change, though necessary, is not easy. Something as daunting as weight loss is bound to be unnerving to some, even insurmountable to a few. This is why many efforts fall by the wayside, why we hear of people gaining back all that they lost plus some.
That ought to hurt! The ignominy of it!
But fret not. At The Quad, we take great pleasure in supporting the efforts of our clients in the pursuit of their goals. Fat loss is the objective of many that walk through our doors and we pride ourselves in supporting them.
Let’s first see what the most common hurdles to weight loss are.
Lack of motivation
This is an often-citied one. For every person that started off on this journey determined to succeed, most lose momentum because they run out of motivation. How to get over this?
First of all, relying on motivation is a rubbish action plan. Motivation is fickle. It is reliant on external factors that too often change on a whim. What you need to focus on instead is action. Motivation will follow action.
Grit your teeth, get your ducks in a row, get your ball rolling on your weight loss journey and your motivation will soon find you. If you are reliant on being carried to the finish line on the wings of motivation, your efforts will be doomed to failure right out of starter’s gate.
Remember: action first. Motivation after.
Plethora of unhealthy habits
We didn’t wake up one fine day in a larger than comfortable body. We didn’t go to bed with perfect cardiovascular health, in a body that was fit as the proverbial fiddle and the following morning find ourselves with clogged arteries, extra 10 kilos around our waist, visceral fat snaking around our vital organs and legs that cry for mercy when you tried running 5k on a Sunday.
We took our time getting there. Late night bingeing on oily snacks, Swiggy on tap, beer flowing like a river and waving away indulgent eating with a “eh you live only once” as a licence to a lifetime of unhealthy habits is how we got here.
And it won’t be easy getting away from these entrenched habits of a lifetime. But if your waistline needs to go down for your health markers to go up, then walking along the same path ain’t going to help. Drastic situations need drastic changes.
Stuck in a plateau
We have all been there. We diligently listen to Coach, clock in our training sessions on the regular, stick to our meal plan and after a handful of weeks when things go swimmingly, we suddenly hit the dreaded plateau.
Try as we might, the weighing scale remains stubbornly in the same place. Damnation! How is one meant to get over this blessed plateau?
By remaining calm and committed, that’s how. Quite often, this is where the hardiest of us waver. “After all, where did all this healthy eating and training get me?” Is the pity party entry to the starting point. When it seems like you are stuck, that is the time to focus. You are in a holding pattern, as your body comes to grips with this new regimen. After a lifetime of abuse, it must be somewhat of a shock to the system! Trust the method and stick to the plan. Soon enough, your body will get over the jolt and get on with the program.
Getting bored
We have learnt by observing the habits of our successful clients that the ones that go the distance often get used to a “same old, same old” path. Not for them the latest shiny thing, the “in” method, the surefire way to guaranteed results, none of that. They trust the system, they put their heads down and get on with the job at hand.
They eat more or less the same few dishes, with little variation. Why? Because they know it is only when you tweak things too much, when you insert an excess of variety into the mix that things have a habit of coming off the rails.
Coach Kavya once memorably said she always had a big bowl of aviyal sitting in her fridge for her to tuck into, on any given day. She credited this vegetable medley with helping her win the Fat Loss Challenge, back when she was a client at the Quad.
Ask anyone that has lost weight and kept it off successfully for what contributed to their success and they will provide you with the most basic, garden-variety answer? Why? Because they are prepared to be bored. This is not the 3-ring circus to end in jazz hands.
Be okay with getting bored in the pursuit of weight loss. Leave excitement for the movies.
Quite often, we tend to get in our heads a little too much. This ends up being counter-productive, refusing to let us move forwards in a productive fashion. Weight loss challenges tend to fall in this category.
If you have ever pursued weight loss and left frustrated with the efforts, why not get in touch with us? Chances are, we will be able to lend you a guiding hand.
