"How do I lose weight fast?"

I guess the best way to do that is...

... chopping off a limb? That's an instant 10+kg lost right there.

Ok no no bad joke please don't. But also please don't chase for fast weight loss. Any "fast" weight loss tactic usually involves something extreme and unsustainable. All you get from chasing fast results is a number on the scale if you're lucky. You don't learn anything from the process. The moment you reach your goal the panic starts.

Panic cos you stop doing that extreme thing, and your weight starts to rebound back day by day. I've seen that scenario so many times. In myself, in family and friends, in those I've coached.

Losing weight is a lifelong journey. It's so so much beyond a mere number on the scale. It's dabbling with your relationship with yourself. Getting yourself to do the things you gotta do even when you're feeling at your absolute low. Reward yourself when you start to genuinely see how hard you're working to get yourself closer to your goals.

It's working on your relationship with food. Being OK with enjoy food you love without the guilt and anxiety. And also remembering to pack in the nutrient rich whole foods you know your body needs to function on a day to day basis. It's knowing when it's OK to indulge, when it's needed be mindful to fuel your body with its needs.

It's a long long process of relationship building. Relationship with yourself, your relationship with food. These are the anchors of sustainable weight loss. It's not some secret formula, some secret recipe, or exercise.

It's building sustainable habits that you can carry with you 5 years from now.

Stop chasing for speed. Stop looking for fast. Focus on today. Give it your maximum effort. Then do it again tomorrow, and the next day. Again, and again, and again.

Before you know it, you're gonna be right next to your goals.

Stop worrying about how long it’ll take. Worry about how consistent you are with your plan.

So… how consistent are you so far?

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 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.