The Mindset of Losing Weight & Getting Fit

Focus on the process, not the results.

It took me a long time to understand the concept. I've heard it a lot of times, but didn't really know what it meant. During my 123kg days, I was always focused on the results. I was concerned on what the scale said more than anything else during the process.

I ignored how I felt emotionally, I ignored my energy levels, I ignored how loose clothes started to feel. I was zoned in one the scale number, nothing else. I remember vividly a few instances where I wake up feeling great. Go to the mirror feel I look a tad smaller. Clothes I'm feeling felt looser, but the moment I stepped on the scale, there was no change...

... and I would just lose it.

Lose it not in the sense of go on a rampage of rage, but just completely roller coaster from feeling good to feeling like absolute crap. From being kinda happy with myself to hating myself, all cos of the number on the scale. Then I'd do a bunch of extreme stuff (starve myself, ungodly amounts of working out) which ultimately lead to binges and just a cycle of failure and unhappiness.

This weight loss journey I was one, this one that I lost over 50kg, is the first time I wasn’t as fixated on the scale like I was used to. I mean yes, the scale weight still bothered me tons, but I put so much more emphasis on my process this time. Thinking back, I believe I was inspired by something Will Smith once said:

“You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say ‘I’m going to build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built’. You don’t start there. You say, ‘I’m going to lay this brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid.’ You do that every single day. And soon you have a wall.”

I used to chase a number on the scale. This time I shifted my mindset, and focused on doing what I can do as perfectly as I can every single day for my diet. The mindset helped keep going forward, even on the lowest days.

Over 650 “perfect” days later, I was 50kg lighter, and I reached my goal.

Focus on the process. Focus on making every day as perfect as you can. And soon…

… you’ll be at your goal.

“How do I get past a weight loss plateau?”

Whenever I hear that question my first instinct is, “is it really a plateau?”

For some a plateau is when the scale weight isn’t moving at the speed it use to move at before. For others it’s staying at the same weight for 3 days, and for some it’s staying at the same weight for months.

I think the first step to getting past a plateau is to be honest and ask yourself whether it really is a plateau. Personally I define a plateau as my weight staying the same for over 3-4 weeks while I’m doing the exact same things.

Exact. Same. Things.

If there’s been ‘cheat days’ or events here and there I don’t consider it a plateau. I like think of it as breaking even. I worked hard, and went out the celebrate so the ‘damage’ and ‘hard work’ broke even.

But there certainly have been times where I was doing everything right, and my weight just wouldn’t budge.

By definition if you’re not losing weight, then you’re not in a caloric deficit.

So how do you get past it? You gotta create a caloric deficit by either:

1) Eating less. Audit your everyday foods and cut another 100kcal, maintain it for a week and adjust from there.
2) Moving more. Exercise, or more steps, or just simple being more active such as walking, taking the stairs etc.
3) Being mindful of bites, licks, and tastes. They seem harmless but can easily add up.

Plateaus happen naturally and not because you did something wrong, but it’s likely that you lost enough weight that your old caloric deficit is now your maintenance calories.

So the simple answer?

Gotta create that caloric deficit again.

“How do I stay motivated?”

You gotta do something you like.

I think that’s the ultimate answer. I know I know, In the past I’ve said motivation is fleeting, and that it comes and goes, but I’ve been giving this a lot of thought lately and I think it’s possible to get it stay longer.

All of my failed diets in the past during my morbidly obese days, they all had one common theme...

... I hated it.

I’d be lying if I said I was OK with it. The only reason I’d be ok with it is because I was expecting results from it. I sure wasn’t expecting to be on the diet for the rest of my life. I wanted to get what I came for, and get outta there as soon as possible.

So what happened with my latest diet? The one that got me out of morbidly obese territory and into a normal weight within 2 years?

I didn’t hate it.

Yep, I’m being careful with my words. I didn’t hate it. I don’t love it, but I really don’t mind it at all. Many have told me, “oh you have to weigh all your food? And put it into an app? What kind of life is that? I could never live like that...” and they’re right.

Perhaps they can’t, but I can. I really don’t mind weighing food, inputting it into myfitnesspal, reviewing my food on a daily basis and cross checking that with my daily scale weight. I don’t mind it at all. If anything I feel comfortable.

I feel comfortable knowing I’m in full control of my weight. Will this suit you? I have no clue, but if it doesn’t I highly recommend you to not force yourself to like it. I’ve been there before. Trying to force myself to love a particular method because there’s so many testimonies about it, but in the end it was just prolonged misery for me.

So my current take on motivation?

You gotta do something you actually like. Or at the very least something that you don’t hate. That along with being realistic about the journey. Acknowledging that the journey doesn’t end when you hit your weight goal, and understanding that maintaining weight is as much work as losing weight.

I think that helps you to stay motivated.