Losing weight is a difficult task. Many of set it as a goal each year for our New Year’s Resolutions, but very few will take the first steps to making the goal a reality. It’s just very difficult to motivate yourself to get started.
Recently, in an article by Sally Tamarkin written for BuzzFeed, 10 people who have lost over 50 pounds revealed their best tips for getting started. It’s easy to read about weight loss stories, but seeing real-life people (just like you and me!) lose weight and their before-and-after photos is inspiring.
For many of them, it was simply the power of choice that ultimately played the key role in helping them reach their goals. The first thing one needs in order to gain control over their own health is the desire to do so on a mental level. However, how they came to this desire happened in a variety of ways!
- Penny N., 31 (Lost 80 pounds over four years)
“I hid my scale and my full-body mirror for the first month, a trick I picked up from Henry Rollins’ essay “The Iron and the Soul.” …This helped me to focus more on what my body is telling me and how it feels and less on a number or how I looked.”
- Jason Nelson, 42 (lost 74 pounds in about a year)
“I was bored … so I threw on some old running shoes and decided to go for a run…As painful as it was, it felt invigorating, so I decided to start on the Couch-to-5K program…So, honestly, my mindset that very day was kind of like Forrest Gump — I just felt like running. So I ran. Nothing magical. I just wanted to finish something I had started. I completed the program in nine weeks and ran my first 5K on Sept. 1, 2014.”
- Asha Hussein, 30 (lost 70 pounds in about 14 months)
“On the first day of my lifestyle change (I don’t like to call it a diet, because it is really a lifestyle change for me), I signed up for the gym… At the beginning of my journey, I started small: I walked on the treadmill for 20 minutes and slowly started increasing the time. After four months, I used other machines like the elliptical and the Stairmaster.”
- Kelly Crosby, 33 (lost 58 pounds over eight months and ran her first marathon in April 2014)
“I cut out all processed carbs and sugar. That first week was brutal. Every week, I’d let myself have one ‘cheat’ meal, usually on the weekend. Then I’d be back to my normal routine. I made it through, and as the weeks went on, it got easier. I stopped eating junk and began every day with two eggs for protein.”
- Jazmine Fedora, 25 (lost 50 pounds over four years)
“I decided to take control by, first of all, logging all the calories I was putting in my body (food, drinks, and the handful or more of chips and candy I’d take from our snack cupboard at home). It quickly made me realize how much I was eating. I also became really interested in seeing how many calories there are in different food items. It really helped to understand what foods I was putting into my body and WHY things are so good for me.”
Other stories shared included a woman who wrote a letter to herself about why she wanted to lose weight in order to solidify her purpose in doing so. Another challenged himself to give up dessert for a month, and realized that it was doable for longer periods while another woman just challenged herself to walk everywhere! However, others even made it entertaining by working out with a Nintendo Wii, or learning how to cook instead of eating out!
If I had to sum up all these stories, I’d say to solidify your purpose, start small, and then have fun with it! Today is as good as any other day to make a choice that will benefit your health, no matter how small!
You can read the rest of the testimonials and stories by visiting BuzzFeed.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family!
