Lose Weight Without Mortgaging Your Health
When we want to lose weight we often overlook or we don't care about the ramifications it may have on us. We want to lose those extra 15lbs no matter the cost! But this comes at a price. Losing weight does NOT mean healthy. Let me repeat this, LOSING WEIGHT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS HEALTHY! I see people that mortgage their health in order to lose those extra 10lbs or people that finally get to their goal weight but still look awful. And by awful I mean that their skin is weathered, eyes are dark and sunken, slouched posture, anxious demeanor, or always feeling tired. Just to name a few.
Dropping weight may or may not be the best goal for you. But if it is, losing weight without risking your health is 100% possible. How? When we lose weight at the expense of feeling good, it begins to show. But sometimes we don’t even lose any weight! Sometimes we might gain weight. YES, I know I just said that you may increase your weight! Here’s why: we actually tend to gain weight when exercising due to an increase in muscle mass. The more muscle mass that you are able to pack on, the more efficient your body wants to become. because increasing the muscle mass requires your body to use more energy. Muscle is very expensive and requires more calories, therefore, you will begin to burn more calories over a longer period of time. Sounds like a win win to me!
A big mistake I see in people’s weight loss journeys is that they get way too focused on the scale and the hard work. Going to the gym, sweating their asses off, missing sleep, being way too hard on themselves for not losing an extra .2lbs that week, being afraid to eat in a caloric surplus or putting a restriction on what they allow themselves to eat. They are worrying too much about the ‘little things’. And these ‘little things’ build up and tell their bodies to fight and protect itself. Which then gives the signal to the brain that they are under stress. And as I have stated before in a previous blog, "The Brain Loves to Train,", our brain only knows one kind of stress no matter if it is physical or mental!
These mistakes are so common, and that is okay. Being aware and acknowledging it helps. Mortgaging your health to get to your ideal weight does not have to be your journey. Let go of finding the quickest route (thank you amazon) for you to obtain your goal. Be okay with gradual progress. Chase progress rather than perfection through small and consistent efforts to help build you to your goal. Aim to maintain a pleasurable mental and physical experience and let that be your gauge.