Intangible but Powerful Fitness Goal keys

After a year and a half of struggling with maintaining my fitness levels and weight I have learnt a lot more as I continued to train clients.

I am just fresh out of my 2nd transformation and the results this time have been much more rapid than my previous one. I wanted to share with all of you some overlooked keys but most important keys to weight loss, losing fat and building muscle and strength.

1) Mindset and focus: You have probably heard it time and time again - set a goal when you want weight loss.
This locks in your focus. The goal set can also be to gain muscle and strength. However an important factor to look for when you are setting a goal is to be realistic and set a timeline.

2) Be honest: Take a long hard look at yourself and be honest. Tell the truth to yourself. 'I am fat and it's not healthy. I need to lose weight.'  It takes guts to stand in front of a mirror and tell yourself that. Many times we are scared to admit it aloud. Stop running. Embrace it. Locate yourself and only then can you move forward.

3) Responsible:- Responsibility is important. To lose weight you need a simple but effective plan. You have to find one which you know you can stick with for that particular period of time in both nutrition, exercise and rest. You already know you can't lose weight eating whatever you want or when 'cheat day' is every 48 hours. If it's your diet, take some time to find out what is an effective plan that you can stay consistent with till you lose weight. Don't just keep putting in everything into your mouth. If it's exercise, don't just jump into P90, Insanity, Zumba or the latest in thing -  find the one that's right for you. If you need to, get a trainer to design a program for you.

'Eat responsibly, Train Responsibly and Rest Responsibly'

4) Consistency - Once you find an appropriate plan of action to lose weight start it and stay consistent and committed to it. It is not in the 3 days of doing it but in the full journey. In my case in the 2nd transformation, my weight showed no changes in the first two weeks. However in the 3rd week it showed a weight loss of 4kgs! (no thats not a typo). By the time I entered the beginning of the 5th week I was down by 7kgs!  However, if  I had given up within the first two weeks I would have not seen anything except a fatter version of me or at the worst the same old fat version of me.

5) Stay calm: It's important to remember not to stress out on a weight loss plan (or anytime for that matter). Excessive stress will result in cortisol being released and make you gain weight. When I was in transformation I got more rest, went and had more fun, enjoyed more quiet time and introspection than the previous months. I not only got to know myself better but reached my goal in record time. 

    Don't stress out over the fact that you have to lose weight either. Yes you acknowledge it and embrace the fact that you need to lose weight but things will start getting better when you relax. This really happened with a client of mine over the last 3 months. She could not lose weight in 2 months and was always stressing out over it. So I had to keep telling her to relax. Then about a month ago she told me she lost 3kgs. Nothing changed in her diet pattern. Her exercise regime was far from effective  since she was just starting strength training, but she just took things calmly and she lost weigh almost immediately. (you can read my article on de-stress here.)

These are keys that will help you in your weight loss journey. These are hardly talked about or emphasized but they are just as important as nutrition, exercise and rest when it comes to losing weight.