1 Simple Rule to Lose Weight

What are the best steps to lose weight?

What is your question from the list below?

• Can I lose 30 pounds in 2 months?
• What is the best way to lose 30 lbs.?
• Is losing 30 pounds in 60 days realistic?
• What is the best exercise for an overweight person?
• How can I lose weight without exercise?

We are asking the same questions for the same result, being thinner. I used to have the same questions.

I love food. I love to eat. I want to enjoy food to the fullest.

What is the consequence of enjoying food to the fullest without paying attention to the body? The answers are long and painful sometimes to some people.

“I hated myself.”

“I hated my life and everything in general.”

“I am overweight and don’t like my body.”

“I can’t sleep on my back because I am overweight.”

“No matter what diet I try, I would lose a few pounds but then end up back to square one.”

“It is genetic because my family members are all overweight and obese.”

We find reasons and blame on outside factors to convince ourselves that being overweight is not our problem but destiny we have to accept.

We are lying to ourselves that the weights we are carrying are normal and acceptable because of family history, gene, age, and lifestyle.

However, we never stop searching. We look around for the best diets, exercises, trainers, programs, and even the magic pills.

Someone suggests Keto diet, low fat diet, low carb diet, Paleo diet, vegan diet and whole30. No matter what diet we try, no matter how much we would starve ourselves, we would always end up back to where we start.

That was the stories of my life and people around me. Ten years ago, my husband and I did the low carb and low-fat diet for 6 months. We weighed every single ingredient we put in our cooking. We starved ourselves with 500 calories meals. We did it. My husband lost 60 pounds. I didn’t remember how much I lost because I wasn’t overweight; I did it to support my husband.

After 6 months and happy with our results, we were back to eating normal.

Over the years, with stress, eating habits, lifestyle and pregnancies, I gained 15 pounds, and my husband gained back all his weights. We were back to where we started. I got heavier than I had ever been. 

What are the causes of weight gain?

Before going to the whole process of losing weight, you need to understand the causes of weight gain. Weight gain is happening for a variety of reasons. It can be medications and genetics.

It can be menstruation for women who experience water retention and bloating around that of the month. Hormone changes like menopause can cause weight gain.

But the most dangerous ones are overeating and food addiction. Engineered junk foods are “heavily processed with little refined ingredients mixed with additives.” The author, Kris Gunnars, of 10 Leading Causes of Weight Gain and Obesity, mentions that “junk foods can cause addiction in susceptible individuals. People lose control over their eating behavior, similar to people struggling with alcohol addiction losing control over their drinking behavior.”

The list above is not to give you an excuse to give up on controlling your waistline. I hope it gives you a quick picture and an awareness of what the causes are even if some facts seem to appear more than individual responsibility.

Knowing the deep cause of your problem helps you to solve your problem safer and more effectively.

What is your problem(s)?

Mine was pregnancy and stress. I am eating when I am stressed. I am turning to sugar and sweet when I am down.

When I had my second child, I added 10 pounds on top of my first pregnancy’s weight.

During the first 2 years of my daughter’s life, every night at 11pm after everyone was in bed, I found myself sitting in my dark kitchen eating a hot bowl of rice with soy sauce.

It was not only about the taste of the rice and soy sauce that I loved, but also it was the feeling of safe childhood’s memories. Those feelings comforted and relaxed me. I didn’t remember about my exhaustion at the moment. I didn’t feel sleepy or tired. I felt loved, happy, and relaxed.

Those feelings also gave me another 5 pounds in a couple months. I hated myself after each bowl. However, I couldn’t stop myself.

I was craving for the taste and the feelings. I was helpless and desperate. It was always “a last bowl and no more tomorrow” conversations.

It was never a last bowl. The tomorrow was months later.

I think it is important to know and recognize the eating habits. If you have the best programs and support in the world but you don’t know the root cause of the problem, you can’t cure the problem. To me, finding out what your eating habits is critical.

I was an emotional eater.

Do you eat in front of TV every night? Why? How do you feel?

6 easy steps to lose weight

Through our weight loss journeys, my husband and I have learnt so many lessons like calories, benefits of carbs, fat, and nutrition.

Knowledge about nutrition helped us to make better choices on what we should eat and should not. But without the right mindset we weren’t successful. Without commitment we could cheat or give up in the middle of the journey.

Before giving you my number one simple rule of losing weight, I want to make sure that you are in and commit.

1.   Right mindset

To me, losing weight is a journey of learning about self and body.

Losing weight is a hard work. If you are not ready, you may give up or cheat. You may lose 20 pounds in 2 weeks, but you will gain them back slowly without noticing it.

You must ask yourself, “what do I want? Am I ready?” questions before setting how much weight you want to lose.

To be honest, losing weight is hard work, but maintaining that weight is even harder. Starting now with the right mindset would help you in the long term, especially afterward.  

2.   Commitment

• Who are you commit to?
• What commitment you make to yourself?
• How long would you commit to this journey?
• Are you commit to your health for life?

3.   Clean out your pantry

This step is testing to see if you are ready for the journey.

You should clean out your pantry.

You have to make the access to your favorite food like snacks harder to get as much as possible.

The last thing you want to do is find yourself on the couch watching TV and eating your favorite bowl of ice cream.

Rice was my weakness. But it was hard for me not to have rice in the house because I have toddlers to feed. I decided not to have rice available for me at night. I put rice away after dinner or cooked just enough for dinner. 

4.   Use post note everywhere around the house

Post your weight goals where your snacks are so you will see it when you are about to grab your snacks

You want to see your goal everyday to remind you that you are on the mission.

My husband posted his goal and numbers where he got his snacks. It was his reminder.

5.   Set a realistic weight loss expectation

You should set an ideal weight goal which is easy to do and hard to give up. You want to set up a goal that your brain agrees with you.

If the brain doesn’t agree with you on the weight you set, you will hear the chatty voice “you can’t do.” “It is too hard.” “How can I do it?”

These voices will shut you down, stop and paralyze you to take the real action.

“You never arrive!” I love this quote because it helps me keep moving forward when I reach a certain goal.

When my goals are accomplished, I am happy and confident.

It is important to see that you are successful in your journey. A little win is fuel keeping the engine going.

Start out small!

6.   90 Day challenge:

Go one month at the time or 90 days challenge.

I find using the 90 days calendar and tracking my journey helping me on track.

I visually see my progress by not breaking the chain.

The best step to lose weight: 1 simple rule

To be honest, there is no best way of losing weight because each person has different body and health conditions. Without knowing your health and lifestyle, no one can tell you which one is the best weight loss program for you. If you have health issues and are taking medicines, you have to talk to your doctor before going into any diet style. To make sure that you don’t put your health at risk.

However, if you are looking for 1 simple rule to lose weight is “Eat less!” There is no real alternative to this.

You do not need a special diet plan or a trainer. Listen to your body. You are what you eat, your body is your message. Listen to it! You will find your answer.