When you have a lot of weight to lose and/or a lot of changes to make to create a healthy sustainable lifestyle, it can be daunting.  Oftentimes we focus so much on how far we have to go that we become overwhelmed, psyche ourselves out, quit and go back to our old unhealthy habits.

As someone who has lost 185 lbs naturally, here are my top tips so you can succeed with losing the weight and keeping it off no matter HOW MUCH you have to lose:

1. Don’t focus on how much you have to lose. Instead, take it in small increments.

   • Focus on breaking a number (i.e. getting into the next number bracket). For example, if you weigh 285 lbs, focus on getting to 279 to ‘break a number’. I learned this technique from my old Weight Watchers leader, Joe (RIP), when I was 12 years old.

   • Focus on losing 10% of your body weight. Once you hit that, focus on the next 10%, etc.

2. Commit to small attainable goals.

   • If your goals overwhelm you and/or you find it too difficult to succeed with them on a weekly basis, change your goal(s) and recommit. Refer to my previous blog post here about how to commit and set attainable goals.

3. Don’t deprive yourself!

   • Make sure to eat ENOUGH calories, healthy fats, healthy carbs, lean protein, and fiber as well as drink enough water so your body doesn’t feel deprived. Also, splurge in moderation! This will eliminate feeling deprived which can lead to emotional and/or binge eating. A healthy lifestyle is all about balance!

4. Give yourself credit and recognition for your accomplishments no matter how small!

   • I remember during my journey, after losing over 100 lbs, the scale slowed down drastically. At first I was upset but then I made myself write a list of all of the things I could NOW do as a result of my weight loss and healthy habit changes. Yes, I still had more weight to lose and more changes to make, but when I looked at everything I could now do and how far I had come, I was immediately grateful and proud of myself.

   • I put that list in my phone (which is still there to this day!) so that any time I started feeling unmotivated or that my progress wasn’t as fast as I would like, I could remind myself of all of my accomplishments up until this point.

   • Change your perspective! Creating this list helped me shift my perspective so I could continue succeeding with my health and wellness goals.

5. Don’t listen to your negative inner critic!

   • Our negative inner critic will tell us we aren’t worth it, it’s too hard, healthy food won’t satisfy us, we can’t do it, nothing else has worked so why will this be any different, we are just meant to be unhealthy/overweight, etc.

   • Basically the inner critic makes up any excuse it can to keep us stuck. Instead of giving your power to your inner critic, give your power to that positive voice inside of you that wants you to get healthy, that knows you deserve this, that knows you CAN do this, that knows you are worthy of living a healthy and happy life.

   • If you practice doing this and recognizing the lies of your inner critic, you will go far and be able to succeed with your goals!

6. Learn from your mistakes and keep moving forward!

   • You are human. We all make mistakes and always will! That’s perfectly ok! Don’t beat yourself up. Instead, learn from your mistakes and ALWAYS keep moving forward. Get back on track immediately. You got this!

Slow and steady wins the race!

What will you do this week to keep moving forward so you can reach your health and wellness goals?

Are you confused about what to eat?

Do you struggle to find time to take care of yourself and your health?

Do you feel controlled by your cravings, emotional eating, and/or negative inner critic so sabotage your weight loss efforts?

I get it. I used to be there too.

I was constantly sabotaging myself, felt completely controlled by my emotional/binge eating.

I felt that I would never reach my goals. But guess what?

I WAS WRONG!! 🙂

You can reach your goals and I would love to show you how!

You are invited to participate in my completely ONLINE do-it-yourself program!

My Unlock the Thinner & Healthier program is an online do-it-yourself program where I will guide you and help you decipher the world of health and wellness so you can figure out what works for you.

During this program, you will learn how to make smarter food choices, set yourself up for success, manage cravings and emotional/binge eating, how to stop self sabotage and not beat yourself up when you make a mistake, how to motivate yourself, and much more!

 This is an online do-it-yourself program so you can participate no matter where you live!

Learn more here!

Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to diagnose, treat, prevent or cure any illness or disease.

The information provided in this blog is for general educational purposes, has not been reviewed nor approved by the FDA and is not intended to take the place of advice from your medical professional, licensed dietitian or nutritionist.

You are solely responsible for your health care and activity choices. Participation in this blog does not constitute a client-coach relationship.