Do you want to lose weight? I think this is a very valid question that you need to ask yourself. Truth be told, on any given day, you might have a different answer. For most of us, I think the first reaction we have is, “Of course I do!” When you start to dig into what it is that you want around weight loss, the next level is why you want to lose weight and why you want to keep it off. I know you’ve probably heard it a million times…”What’s your why?” And the reason you have heard it so much is that it’s truly a very important factor in your ability to lose weight and keep it off. You 1,000,000% do need to be in touch with your why. Let’s explore some of the whys we may have and ways of weight loss.
I was recently going over a mental checklist of things I had to get done this week.
I have to do this. I have to do that. Then I thought, I have to lose weight.
- How is this on my to-do list?
- Why do I have to lose weight?
- Do I want to lose weight?
- What is happening here?
I realized, oftentimes, we have these habitual thoughts.
- I need to lose weight.
- I have to lose weight.
- I should lose weight.
- I should weigh less.
- I need to be smaller.
- I need to be more toned.
- I need to be more buff.
- I need to weigh less.
It’s this constant thought.
Studies say we have about 60,000 thoughts a day. I already knew that most of them were going to be the same thoughts over and over throughout the day. I was just so interested to find that this was one of those thoughts. I wonder how many times I have thought this thought.
- Do I need to lose weight?
- Do I want to lose weight?
- Do I have weight to lose?
On any given day, you might have a different answer.
For most of us the first reaction we have is of course I do. I want to lose weight yesterday. I’ve wanted to lose weight my whole life. I have been doing health, fitness, weight loss, dieting, and transformation as a career for about 25 years. In truth, I really never met a woman who said that she didn’t want to lose weight. Sometimes people will say that they don’t really want to lose weight, they just want to become more toned or muscular or have different size clothes, or look a certain way.
In many ways the answer is still yes, I want to change something about my weight. If I want to be more toned, or more buff, or more muscular, etc that is changing some part of the body composition ratio. I want to have less body fat. One of the things to ask yourself during your year-end reflection is, do you want to lose weight? Find out what the answer is.
What does it mean to you to lose weight?
- Is it an actual number on the scale?
- Is it the size of your clothing?
- Is it the way that you look in the mirror?
- Is it the way your body feels?
- Is it the way your body moves?
- Is it how you feel physically?
- Is it your energy level?
- Is it your digestion?
Be really clear as to what you want.
It is interesting when you start to dig into what it is that you want around weight loss. That next level is why you want to lose weight, and you want to keep it off. You do need to be in touch with your why.
We want to go deep into the why. You probably want to have at least five or six different reasons why you want to lose weight. There are no right or wrong answers. We want to have all the why’s that actually serve as the bigger reward.
If you have weight loss goals, we really want to get in touch with them. If you don’t want to lose weight. That is okay, too.
Whether you’re looking to:
- Get stronger,
- Run faster,
- Learn a new sport,
- Be active,
- Have better health.
Know what it is that you want, and it’s okay if you don’t want to lose weight. There is no right or wrong answer here, but getting clear is key.
You don’t have to be a better dieter.
You do have to be a better thinker. As a person who has been considered a professional dieter her whole life, I do understand. Dieting is actually easier than trying to figure out our thoughts and feelings. There’s something that feels very dangerous about that, or like it’s too much work. I don’t want to uncover my own shit. I don’t want to deal with that.
I had an epiphany a few years ago. I looked in the mirror and my brain said, “You have to go on another diet.” I felt very woe is me. Feeling like, when I die, my headstone is going to say “She was a great dieter” right?
I don’t know what triggered it, but I obviously looked in the mirror and didn’t like what I saw. At that same moment, I also realized it’s not a problem.
- I know how I want to look.
- I know how I want to feel.
- I know how I want my clothes to fit.
- I know what I want to see in the mirror.
- I know who I am.
I’m going to eat a certain way and work out a certain way and take care of myself in a certain way. That’s not a problem.
I think for a long time dieting was addictive.
For me, dieting was a safe place. Dieting is a place where you can put your whole focus. If I’m on a diet then I don’t have to eat what everybody else’s eating. I don’t have to socialize. I don’t have to go to parties. I don’t have to do a lot of things. I can just sort of isolate myself, I can feel sorry for myself. I can have a whole different focus other than focusing on my thoughts and feelings.
I can be miserable on a diet, but I’m very committed to getting the results that I want. This only lasts for so long. This is the kind of stuff where you see people do have willpower and determination. They want what they want because they don’t want to deal with the why.
NOTES IN ANCHOR
Do you want to lose weight? I think this is a very valid question that you need to ask yourself. Truth be told, on any given day, you might have a different answer. For most of us, I think the first reaction we have is, “Of course I do!” When you start to dig into what it is that you want around weight loss, the next level is why you want to lose weight and why you want to keep it off. I know you’ve probably heard it a million times…”What’s your why?” And the reason you have heard it so much is because it’s truly a very important factor in your ability to lose weight and keep it off. You 1,000,000% do need to be in touch with your why. Let’s explore some of the whys we may have and ways of weight loss on episode 25 of the Unf*ck Your Weight Loss podcast now!
ABOUT THE HOST
Bonnie Lefrak is a Life & Body Transformation Expert and Founder of Self Made, a program designed to help you tackle the physical aspects of health and weight loss as well as the beliefs and thoughts that drive our habits and behaviors. It is her goal to help women create certainty in their own lives, their own results, and their own abilities.
Weight loss is not about the one “right” diet – it is about MUCH more than that. Weight loss is not about the one “right” workout. Weight loss is not about being positive and putting a big smile on. Weight loss is about FEELINGS. All of them. Not trying to bury them or hide from them but knowing and allowing the full human experience.
Weight loss is not about grinding hustling and will powering your way to some end line. Transformation (when done well) is done from the inside out.
By addressing both the physical and mental aspects of dieting and weight loss, she has coached thousands of women ages 30-55+ from all over and helped them ditch the mindsets that are holding them back, achieve permanent weight loss, and get the bangin’ body of their dreams.
Bonnie is an expert at Demystifying weight loss. She helps you unf*ck your diet brain.
She is on a mission to help women love themselves, to find PEACE in the process of losing weight, taking care of themselves, and leveraging the power they do have to become who and want they want right now.
Connect with Bonnie-
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Email- bonnie@bonnielefrak.com
