Great ways to break through the weight loss barrier
Crossing the weight loss barrier isn’t easy – I know – I was obese for 30 years. I used these 8 simple steps to change my life – you can too!
The biggest barrier to losing weight isn’t your body, your general state of health or your level of fitness. It’s your mind.
Over the years you’ve become used to being overweight and strange as it may seem you are afraid to change. Every time you start you soon resign yourself to the fact that it’s not going to work. Why ? Because every other time you tried it didn’t work.
I know because I spent my life losing weight without success and finally after 57 years I am proud about my weight loss achievement. I lost 50 lbs in 9 months and I feel great.
In this short post I will explain the 8 steps I took to break through the weight loss barrier and to come much closer to achieving my goal…….
Ask yourself why
Ask yourself what you are afraid of
Accept that it will take time
Define a method to measure and track your progress
Define a way to make certain that you keep at it
Spend money on the right things
Surround yourself with the right people
Start saving money for all the new clothes you will need to buy
Ask yourself you want to break through the weight loss barrier and start losing weight
Are you doing it for someone else perhaps a thin person told you to or is it because you feel bad about yourself ? Or are you doing it because a doctor said you must ?
All of the above reasons are valid, but from my own experience all of the reasons above are demotivators. I wasn’t successful until I found the right motivation for me and that was – I wanted to look good in the wedding photographs for my son’s upcoming wedding. I wanted it for me…..not for anyone else. ME!
Ask yourself what you are afraid of
I was ashamed of my weight and size.
At that time I lived in the middle of the countryside miles away from anywhere so the fear was totally irrational.
Even though I knew it was crazy I initially decided to walk very early in the morning and very late at night so that I wouldn’t be seen.
Accept that it will take time
It took me 56 years to get to the weight of 258 lbs. Since I don’t have access to Harry Potter’s wand it was clear to me that it was going to take a year or two to get to where I wanted to be. Luckily for me, my son gave me almost 2 years of advance notification.
Another stroke of luck for me was that both of my sons decided that we would do it together (see Surround yourself with the right people below)
Define a method to measure and track your progress
There are high tech ways and low tech ways. At my time of life I find that low tech works best for me.
I bought a large whiteboard and placed it on a tripod behind my office chair
The method I decided on was –
- Weigh myself every morning – after completing my walk and just before showering.
- Write down the daily value in large text on the whiteboard – in public for all to see
- At the end of each week I would erase Monday-Saturday and leave Sunday’s weight on the whiteboard
- I also took the weekly values and tracked them in a spreadsheet.
It was simple and required almost no effort to maintain.
Define a way to make certain that you keep at it
This was the scary part. I came up with the idea that we meet up online every Sunday. My sons came up with the additional idea that we would broadcast live on YouTube. In the beginning I was really anxious but looking back this is a big part of what helped me and my sons keep on track.
Since we were already broadcasting live to the whole world I decided that throughout the Covid Pandemic my background for every work related video conference I participated in would be my weight loss whiteboard. In plain sight for anyone and everyone to ask questions.
I can honestly say that every single comment I received was positive and supportive – this truly helped break down a big barrier to losing weight.
Spend money on the right things
Losing weight need not cost a fortune. In fact it doesn’t really need to cost anything. In my case I bought…
Bathroom scales – $20 USD
Whiteboard and tripod (used) – $30 USD
Pair of reasonable walking shoes – $70 USD
Garmin GPS watch (nice to have but not necessary) – $200 USD
Live streaming to YouTube – free
My advice is to avoid spending money on a fitness centre until you have made a 4-6 month continuous commitment to losing weight. Spending money before that will almost certainly be money wasted.
Surround yourself with the right people
I was and am so privileged to be losing weight together with my two sons – they are both truly inspirational.
- My oldest son has set up his own website (lifebythomas.com) so that he can show others what he is doing in a hope that he can inspire them to change their lives too.
- My youngest son has lost weight and is now truly focused on building his six pack.
I am also privileged to have such supportive work colleagues.
That being said, there are always “voices of doom” – people who say things like “I bet you $5 that you will put the weight back on..” or “you’ll never lose weight and keep it off”. I have told those people clearly that if they don’t have something positive to say they should keep their thoughts to themselves.
Start saving money for all the new clothes you will need to buy
Buying new clothes is the most expensive and one of the most important barriers overcome when losing weight. It is also one of the biggest rewards of losing weight. As soon as something is too big for you – sell it, give it away or throw it away. Don’t hold on to it “just in case”
Buy nice clothes that fit snuggly – be proud of your new shape and show it off to the world.
Conclusion
The weight loss barrier is in your mind – just because you haven’t succeeded before that doesn’t mean that you cannot succeed – you can!
I am living proof. I went from 258 lbs to 208 lbs within 9 months AND I walked more than 3500 miles in that time period…and I feel great!
Thanks for taking the time to read this post. If something I’ve said in this post has resonated with you then please leave a comment
