Many things in life require a number of actions or outcomes to happen at the same time to get the desired end result. This is true in many ways, but for my example let’s look at getting a new job.
Getting a new job is a process that you have to go through step by step and all of these steps have to be in place before you can come away with a job that pays you for your time.
To begin with you need to search for a job, find one that you like and then apply for it. Once you’ve applied for it, you need to convince someone that you’re of the right quality that they need. Only then will you be awarded the job.
The reason I give this example is that it illustrates that there isn’t simply one aspect that you have to get right to be successful at gaining employment. You might find the perfect job, but you’re under qualified to do it. You might get an interview but flunk it badly giving yourself little chance of impressing enough to get the job. Everything has to be just right to be successful.
Well, funnily enough losing weight is exactly like that. If you only do thing, but ignore everything else, your success is going to be limited at best.
Let me explain. Let’s say you have a weakness for chocolate and feel it’s probably why you can’t lose weight so you decide to give it up. You don’t do anything else, just give up chocolate!
How successful do you think you’ll be if that was the only change you made?
It’s a great start but if the rest of your diet is poor then you won’t get the results you hope for.
On top of this, a very common situation is for a chocaholic to stop eating chocolate only to replace it with something else and in my experience it’s rarely anything better for you!
So the best approach is to restrict some things that are high in calories that you consume often, something that you won’t miss a great deal and that will help you to reduce your overall calorie intake.
Here are some examples…
latte’s
cappuccino’s
chocolate bars
potato chips
cheese
crackers
wine
beer
soda and candy are all common things that probably feature in most peoples diet on a regular basis.
It’s this regularity that is the key.
Because if you can cut out something that you eat or drink on a regular basis that’s high in calories (all of the above are by the way) then you’re taking the first steps on reducing your overall calorie consumption.
But it doesn’t stop there.
That’s a very good start, but what about portion sizes?
How much you eat at each meal can make a big difference to your success.
Simply cutting down slightly on the amount of food that you serve yourself at meal times is another good way of bringing down your calorie intake.
Did I mention alcohol yet!
Yes cutting down on the amount of alcoholic drinks you have can significantly improve the results you get and also make you healthier.
So that’s a few points about calories in, what about calories out – the amount of energy you burn off.
With most desk bound jobs making it nearly impossible to rack up any amount of steps a day, it’s vital that you get some more movement in to your life and the more the better.
Walking is just about the easiest and cheapest thing to do that will help you to become slimmer.
All other forms of exercise will almost certainly help to burn off calories faster, but can you do them often enough or for long enough to get any real benefit.
Doing these things together is the real key to your success.
If you can be consistent as well then you’re almost certain to succeed. There’s no point in making positive changes one day for the next to be a total disaster.
I know you can’t be perfect all the time, but you don’t need to be!
Just do most of the right things, most of the time and you’ll crack the secret code of your weight loss battle forever.