Losing weight is easy for most people.
Diving into the complexity of weight loss and why you struggle so much
If you have made it this far, then I am willing to bet that you are struggling with your weight-loss goals. I imagine by now you have tried many different diets and forms of exercise that have all failed, and you feel like all hope is lost.
The truth
Weight loss is actually easy. The reason most of you struggle to lose weight is because you are misled. You are led to believe that in order to lose weight, you need to eat a ridiculously clean diet or buy guides to all kinds of ridiculous diets that are not sustainable in the long term. You are sold the idea of needing diet pills, shakes, and meal replacements.
The truth is, none of this is long-term, and it is just a sales pitch to get you to buy products you do not need, which, in some cases, can actually do more harm than good. Trust me when I say buying weight-loss pills. Well, the only thing you are burning is a hole in your bank account.
Losing weight for the average healthy person with no health conditions or medications that may affect your body's ability to lose weight is very simple.
But how?
Eat less and move more. Yes, it is that simple. This is step one: before you start switching out foods or completely changing your diet, start eating a little less at each meal every day and commit to going for a 30-minute walk daily. Do not try to rush this process; over time, you will build more healthy, long-term, sustainable habits. After about 3 months of these two changes, you will see a loss in weight, I can guarantee.
Once we have made these changes, we can begin to look at our calorie intake. There is no secret sauce when it comes to weight loss; it is a balance of calories in vs. calories out. Achieving a calorie deficit is the only way you will lose weight. For those of you who are not sure of what a calorie deficit is. It means you burn more calories in a day than you eat. This will force your body to use stored fat to supply it with the energy it needs to live.
At this stage, I do not want you to get confused or worried. I don't want you to start weighing out your food, tracking your calories, or tracking all your macros. At stage 2, we are going to cut out any calories we get from fluids. Some people drink nearly 1000 calories a day, and they do not even realise it. This can be through Costa, Starbucks, juices, Coke, Fanta, and more.
Ideally, I would encourage you all to try to drink water; aim for 2 litres throughout the day. This may be hard at first, but if you are someone who drinks a lot of coke, for example, say you drink 6 cans a day, do two things for me, cut down to half that amount for the first month, and then 1 can for the second month, finally cut down to 1-2 cans per week. I would not encourage you to cut them out completely, as that may not be possible long-term; however, even a 70–80% cutdown can make a huge difference. A can of Coke has approximately 139 calories. If we cut out 2 cans per day for 2 weeks, that would be 139x2 = 278 calories x 14 days (2 weeks) = 3892 calories, which is over 1 pound of fat!
Some of you might be wondering why I did not suggest going to a sugar-free drink if you like cocoa cola. Well, the truth is, you can, and you will also see a great deal of weight loss. However, I would rather try to encourage you to drink water, as it is much healthier for your body. It will help your body breakdown and use food, recover, stay hydrated, and much more. Of course, you can use a combination of the two to get better results by consuming fewer calories. So if you really are struggling with not having fizzy drinks or coffee, then please do try to use sweeteners, as this will reduce your calorie intake and will help you with your weight loss journey immensely.
Drinking more water plays a huge role in weight loss; it will make you feel much more healthy and will help curb hunger, making you feel more full throughout the day. Water will help you feel more energised and productive, which will help you gain more mental clarity to help you reach your goals.
By this point, you will all have seen significant weight loss, and these habits will be built into your routine for long-term success.
We are now 6 months into our weight loss journey, and we are feeling motivated, happy, and much healthier. By this point, we are aware of what we have been eating, and it is time to start implementing some changes.
Again, we do not want to be making super aggressive changes; we want to focus on making small changes over a period of time that we can achieve. Let's look at an example.
Tim (completely made-up character)
Tim is a factory worker. He gets up in the morning and buys himself a toffee latte from McDonalds every day, which is approximately 214 kcal. He also buys himself a pasty (approximately 400 kcal) off the food van that arrives at his workplace around 10 a.m. every day. Tim has his lunch around 13:00 and dinner when he gets home.
Tim has been reading Sam’s articles on Medium and realises that he does not need to follow any ridiculous diet fads or buy supplements that supposedly help him lose weight.
Tim takes on board Sam’s advice; he decides to make two small changes and only focus on them until they are embedded in his daily routine.
Tim decides that now that he has cut out all of the fizzy drinks and always does a 30-minute walk per day, it is time to step up his game. Tim is now going to change the first meal of his day.
When Tim comes to work in the morning, he decides that he will no longer get his latte from McDonald's, and he also decides to swap his pasty for a piece of fruit. Tim decides to drink water when he gets to work and also decides that he will now eat a banana or an apple at 10 a.m.
This may sound like a small change, but let's break down the math and see how these two small changes will affect Tim over a period of 30 days.
Removing the latte, 214 kcal x 30 days = 6420 kcal, meaning Tim now consumes 6420 kcal less per month than before, but this is not the only change Tim has made.
Swapping the pasty for a banana, the pasty is approx. 400 kcal, and a banana is approx. 90 kcal. 400–90 = 310 kcal less per day! 310 kcal x 30 days = 9300 kcal per month.
The two changes are: 6420 kcal + 9300 kcal = 15720 kcal.
That is insane, people! There is approximately 3500 kcal in 1 pound of fat; therefore, 15720/3500 = 4.5lb of fat in one month from these two tiny and achievable changes, which is just a little over 1lb of fat lost per week.
Tim then uses this logic and starts applying it to more meals throughout the day, so during his lunch and dinner he adds more clean sources of protein, such as fish, eggs, steak, and Greek yoghurt, to help keep him full. Tim adds more vegetables to his meals to reduce calorie intake while eating larger plates of food. He increases his walk time to 1 hour per day, split up into 2 x 30 minute sessions or 4 x 15 minute sessions.
By this point, Tim has hit his weight loss goal, is very enthusiastic about starting his fitness journey, and wants to learn how to build muscle and shape his physique.
Drop a comment if you guys would like to see how our character Tim would begin his journey to build and maintain muscle.
I hope you all enjoyed this article. Remember, it is about small, achievable changes that build confidence in your plan over time. A dozen baby steps will build up to a big step.
Good luck with your weight-loss journey. Remember to be patient and consistent to see results.
Until next time...