Why ‘I need to lose weight’ NEEDS to go

It’s a change of only 1 word. But my god does it make all the difference.

Over the years, working with new clients has always been an exciting time. But the “I want to lose weight” goal keeps cropping up over and over again and it is time for it to go.

When pressed a bit deeper, the client usually reveals that they’ve lost weight before. Sometimes several times. But the hardest thing is making a lifestyle out of it and turning it into a long-term result.

Which brings me to my point. If you’ve lost weight before, but haven’t been able to keep it off, should your goal be to ‘lose weight’ again?

Or, should it actually be to work on improving your weight management skills for once?

Some would call it semantics; I call it an absolutely paramount perspective shift.

Across the nation (heck, even across the world) there are lots and lots of people who have excess weight, but likely do not have a weight loss problem…

Many of them are usually really good at losing weight…

By using conventional diets like the low carb diet, the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting and even calorie counting – tons and tons of kilos have been lost in the past.

So it’s not that diets don’t work. They do.

But they only work for as long as you’re willing to do them for.

So what do I mean by improving weight management skills?

Well, it becomes quite obvious after a while that it’s the same culprits that ends up being the demise of somebody’s weight loss efforts.

The classic example?

Drinking too much on a Saturday night out and ending up at a McDonald’s drive-thru at 3 in the morning.

Which isn’t actually where it went wrong for them believe it or not. It was the fact that on Sunday they couldn’t keep it together and ordered a Chinese takeaway with a tub of Ben n’ Jerry’s ice cream. Self-sabotage at its finest.

If we can’t be ‘perfect’ then why bother right?

Or another classic example is going away for a long weekend only to find out that you’ve regained the 1-2kg that you’ve worked hard for – momentum completely zapped.

And there are plenty of other examples like getting an injury which meant you had to limit your exercise which derails your nutrition or not allowing yourself enough flexibility with your nutrition and therefore feeling too restricted which ended up with a good old fashioned binge session.

Starting to sound familiar…?

Trust me, you’re not alone.

But on the other hand, there are many people who have lost the weight that they wanted to lose and have successfully kept it off. I’ve seen it first hand.

What are they doing differently?

Welcome to weight management.

The actual concepts are pretty straight-forward and easy to understand but can be quite difficult to implement as it requires patience in a world where now, now, now is what we’re used to.

Here are my top 3 weight management tips for you to implement right now.

Concept #1 – If you dropped your phone on the floor and cracked the corner of your screen, would you finish it off by throwing it against a brick wall?

Obviously not (I hope).  But that’s exactly what people do when they veer even slightly off-piste with their nutrition plan.

I’ve been coaching clients for over 10 years in this domain and I’ve not met one client yet who chose to follow their nutrition plan 100% from point A to point B.

And I never will. Because that’s not how a normal lifestyle works.

A mature and level-headed weight management approach would accept that we are bound to ‘crack our phone screens’ from time to time, but they are usually non-visible and completely saveable. Only if we don’t go and crack the rest of it.

Concept #2 – Biding your time with maintenance weeks

Maintenance weeks are new to everyone I introduce them to but again, the concept makes complete sense.

Some weeks, weight loss just isn’t going to be on the cards for you. I’m talking about weeks where you have multiple social engagements planned, your birthday week, easter week (and any other holidays for that matter).

Maintenance weeks essentially allow you to take the pressure off yourself by embracing the fact that not all weeks needs to result in weight loss.

This means you can give yourself more calories to enjoy at whatever social event you have planned, guilt free. Just to be clear, we’re talking about slightly more calories. Not a free pass to do whatever you please.

Yes, it’ll take you slightly longer to lose the weight you want but I’d argue that this approach is so much more sustainable than fighting with yourself, deliberating whether to order a starter or not, whether to have a drink or not, causing unnecessary mental exhaustion. This does not bode well for a ‘pleasant’ dieting experience.

Again, patience is required, and importantly, clarity with regards to when a planned maintenance week makes sense.

Concept #3 – Utilising the power of weekly averages to nullify fluctuations

Our weight is going to bounce up and down throughout the day, throughout the week and throughout the month for dozens of reasons which we won’t get into here. It’s inevitable. Like the stock market.

But how do we assess if a particular stock is performing well? We look at how it’s trending.

The same must be applied to tracking weight loss progress.

Taking several readings across the week and working out a weekly average is all that needs to be done to nullify all the fluctuations that will be happening – whether you like it or not.

When you compare week to week numbers as opposed to day to day numbers – you’re far more likely to get a better representation of what’s going on. It paints a more accurate picture.

Weight management is about zooming out and looking at the bigger picture as opposed to being hyper-focussed on the minutiae. 

As you can see, 3 relatively simple concepts as I mentioned previously, but it requires patience, logical thinking, commitment and an awareness of your intrinsic motivations to live a healthier lifestyle.

Not things that one would usually assume to be of highest priority when it comes to making a seismic lifestyle shift.

The name of the game is to ‘ride the waves’ or ‘roll with the punches’ when it comes to ‘life events’ that would typically knock you off kilt. Taking a sideways step after 2 steps forward is infinitely better than 2 steps forward and 5 steps back.

Learn to take the sideways step.