Struggling To Lose Weight? 3 Questions To Ask Yourself

Have you been trying to lose weight for years, but despite your efforts, you can’t seem to make any progress?

It saddens me to meet people who are so frustrated with trying to lose weight, that they arrive at the (wrong) conclusion that there’s something wrong with them. In my experience, these troubles are less often due to the person, and more often due to the approach to weight loss.
Here are the 3 biggest questions to ask yourself if you're having trouble losing weight: 
1. Are you doing too much too soon?
Of course you want quick results! In this day and age, we want everything NOW. This, combined with the philosophy of “no pain, no gain,” makes people do things that are too drastic and depriving.
Many people think that if they can tolerate some deprivation in the short-term that they can get the benefits in the long-term. But this is not the way it works with weight loss.
You might tolerate some short-term pain to lose weight, but then what? If you stop the deprivation, the weight will rebound. This is a recipe for yoyo dieting.
When changes are too drastic and unpleasant, they become much harder to stick to. Instead, think of making small changes gradually. Always be thinking how you can make changes that last for life.
2. Are you being unrealistic in your expectations?
What happens if you try and lose weight, but only lose two pounds in a week. Should you give up?
Some people would.
I mainly work with women in their 40s, 50s and 60s and realistically for most of my clients, losing two pounds in a week is VERY, VERY good. Most of my clients who have lost more than 30 pounds have done it so much slower than that.
If they had decided that they absolutely needed to lose more than two pounds a week, they might have given up long ago.
It can be easy to nod your head and agree that you shouldn’t have unrealistic expectations, but in the heat of the moment, when you stand on those scales and the weight hasn’t gone down as much as you expected, can you stay firm and keep going? That’s the difference between success and failure.
3. Are you letting the bad times derail you?
When trying to lose weight, things don’t always go smoothly. This applies when you're trying to achieve any goal. Think back to anything of worth that you achieved. Did you have some hiccups along the way?
Why is it, then, with weight loss, people tend to give up at the first hurdle?
I believe a lot of is due to the “diet mentality.” Diets give us strict rules to follow. If you’re not following them, you’re “cheating” or a “failure.”  You’re only doing well if you’re sticking with them perfectly. This puts people in a mindset of thinking that they're one wrong move away from failure.
Abandon this diet mentality! Take it easy. Expect a few hiccups and deal with them. Remember, you can only fail at this if you give up.
Most people sabotage themselves with their approach to weight loss. If you want to live a healthy life with the body you desire, then you need to take a completely different approach. You need to have a long-term focus and realistic expectations, and persist no matter what. 

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