How to Lose Weight in 4 Steps
Getting fit is a motherfucker.
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In May of last year I decided prioritize my health. It’s something I’ve never taken seriously — a typical day for me consists of meetings and delicious meals at restaurants. It’s a fantastic way to live life but very quickly I started to realize that burgers and fried chicken every day without doing any kind of exercise was starting to really mess with my swag.
As someone that has always struggled with weight loss and body image issues, I know how hard it can be to embrace healthy habits. Let’s face it, there’s nothing tempting about a baked chicken breast with a side of scrumptious kale. But the reality for many of us is that without balance the Big Mac diet will murder you.
Weight Loss is Mental
The most important principle of weight loss is to be real fucking stubborn about it. This challenge has always kept me from seriously being able to lose weight (well, that and brownies. I fucking love brownies). The reality is that throughout my life I’ve always taken the easy way out of things. It took a massive panic attack where I thought I was literally dying to scare me enough to try the hard way and I’m glad I did. This is the first time I’ve taken on something I wasn’t good at and persevering at it has completely changed my perspective on life.
Look, nobody is comfortable sucking at something all the time but I’ve learned that shying away from things that you aren’t good at basically excludes 90% of life from you. Embracing the uncomfortable challenge of sucking was what finally kept me engaged to embrace this as a lifestyle. If it isn’t the fear of dying in the toilet from a heart attack, find the one thing that will keep you engaged.
Don’t Eat Like a Garbage Monster
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You’ll be surprised as to how big of a difference eating healthier will make — start here first. Get comfortable with eating vegetables and non-fried proteins. Cut off the sweets, even “small” treats like a cookie in the break room. You’ll be surprised how quickly small cheats will derail you, particularly if you haven’t formed healthy habits yet.
There’s not much else to add to this one; quit eating like shit. You’ll find that eating healthier makes those indulgent meals even more special (fuck, I sound like my mother).
Consistency Is Underrated
So you’ve found something you give a shit about and you no longer eat like a stray dog in New Orleans. Congrats! Now you’ve got to start working out.
Start small, especially if you’ve never been active in your life. I started by taking walks, first a mile and slowly progressed to 7+ miles of walking every day. It seems like a big leap, but it took months for me to get comfortable being this active. It took me several more months before I actually started working out at the gym and running.
I stayed engaged by finding interesting things about my walks. I discovered new places in a city I’ve lived in for the better part of the decade. I started listening to podcasts and worked on my photography “skills”. For me, consistency was about staying entertained and realizing that there was a greater purpose to a seemingly boring activity.
Be Patient
So you’ve been been eating salads and taking walks for a month but after stepping on the scale you’ve somehow gained a pound. I don’t fully understand how this whole weight loss thing works and there’s a ton of things I’m doing absolutely wrong (don’t only eat salads, proteins are important).
What I do know is that it isn’t an easy process and you won’t get healthy overnight. It won’t happen over a month or even a year in some cases. It’s a frustrating reality you need to accept. This shit is hard work and you’ll want to quit… often.
You will always run into a mental block — I experience one on a daily basis. I beat the mental blocks by giving myself crazy goals like training for an Ironman as motivation.
I eat like a garbage monster at least once a week. It happens but I’ve also gotten to the point in my health regimen where I can get super drunk and still resist junk food (I’ve actually woken up with uneaten chicken fingers next to my bed before).
Even when I do eat like a garbage monster, I consistently run 4 miles every day as a warm-up to weight-lifting. I am also consistently sore but, again, pizza is bae.
The point here is that true weight loss is a permanent lifestyle change. It’s a frustrating process but also incredibly rewarding if you stick to it. Don’t look at that number on the scale. I’ve only lost about 10lbs since the start of 2018 and yet I’ve gone down 4 sizes in the same timeframe (I’m smaller than when I was 12, for perspective).
I’m patient because I know that if I trust in the process, I will see results. Be healthy, at whatever weight that is for you and make the change for yourself. Do it because it makes you happy.
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