10 Simple Tips To Help Make Your Weight Loss Journey Easier

Expecting 10 tips that are going to help you lose 10 lbs in 10 days?

I'll advise you to stop reading now. Save your time.

What you'll discover in this post is:

• How to make weight loss easier

• How to remove all the complicated fluffy shit most people SELL you

• Appreciate that it's these basics that build you amazing foundations for your journey.

Before you read on though, let's get the truth out there.

Weight loss takes TIME and PATIENCE.

I'll repeat that again.

It takes TIME and PATIENCE.

Probably more than we would like. But that's just the harsh reality.

No one became overweight in a matter of 10 days.

So why should you expect loads of weight loss in 10 days?

With that being said, here are 10 of our favourite tips to help make your journey of losing weight that little easier and improve your chances of success.

 

#1 - Do resistance training 2-3 times a week

This means lifting some form of weights. And no, before you ask, lifting weights won't make you bulky. Some people have tried for years and are still waiting for it to happen. Instead, it will help build you some lean muscle to give you more of that toned look.

 

#2 - Have 6-8 hours of quality sleep a night

It's usually the first thing to be sacrificed in our modern lives in place of something like Netflix but it's sooo important. It's where the magic of all your body's recovery happens. When we're sleep deprived, we tend to overeat to make up for the tiredness. So get a good night's sleep as often as possible.

 

#3 - Eat some form of protein in each of your meals

It's going to help your muscles recover from the exercise you do so you don't feel as sore. It also helps keep you feeling fuller for longer. So when you're dieting, it's going to make the feeling of being hungry less likely. Short on ideas of high protein meals? Check out some of our recipes here.

#4 - Eat fruit/vegetables with every meal

Your parents had a point when you were younger - they are GOOD FOR YOU! They are going to give you plenty of vitamins and minerals that are so vital to everyday health. Not only that, but most are low in calories and the fibre they contain is going to help keep you feeling full.

#5 - Drink 2-3 litres of water a day

One of the easiest and cheapest habits that can improve anyone's life. It may sound like a lot of water but grab yourself a 500ml bottle of water and start by trying to drink it 4 times in a day. Just don't drink all of your water in the evening before going bed. Nobody wants to wake up half way through the night to go to the loo.

#6 - Walk 10k steps a day

Something the modern day desk lifestyle has robbed us of is daily activity. We commute to work, sit down at our desks to work, eat lunch at our desk, commute home and then chill on the sofa in the evening. Try making a conscious effort to increase your steps and keep track of them using an activity tracker - we discuss LOADS about them in episode 25 of the Eat Lift Lose Show.

#7 - Eat 80-90% of your food from single ingredient foods

That doesn't mean you have to eat a raw carrot and dry chicken breast for lunch. It means that you're eating wholesome, unprocessed foods most of the time that we are know are great for us and going to give us plenty of energy.

#8 - Eat the foods that are less "healthy" in moderation: 10-20%

Because who doesn't enjoy a slice of cake, pizza or ice cream?! They might not be that healthy in terms of the amount of nutrition they provide but you probably enjoy them and what's life if you remove them completely? Just eat them in moderation so that you're not having them all day, everyday.

#9 - Do activities you enjoy e.g. walking the dog, a fun gym class, yoga, climbing etc.

Guess what happens when you enjoy something? You're more likely to stick to it. Yes, resistance training is amazing but I'm pretty sure there are other physical activities you enjoy. So try a bunch, give them a go and you never know what you might discover you love.

#10 -  Opt for lower calorie options

Lucikly in the modern world, we have a lot of different options available to us and there are so many low calorie versions of what we consume daily. It could range from cooking oils, milk, meat or cheese and everything in between. Make a few smart swaps like these here and you could easily save yourself 500 calories in a day without making much change.

So there you have it...

10 simple tips for you to take away and IMPLEMENT.

Because that's what you need to do to make a change. Don't just consume them, TAKE ACTION.

Start off with one or two. Get consistent with them for a couple of weeks and then start to layer a few more on top.

Before you know it, you'll be building a lifestyle of healthy habits without even realising.

If you want someone support to make all of this easier (because it can be hard going solo), we have a FREE group where we share workout ideas, recipes, tips to make weight loss easier and have a few LOLs at the same time.

Click here to get involved and start making your journey a little easier.

It's Time To Take Some Responsibility

Responsibility.

It’s about time we all took a little more of it.

And by a little. I actually mean a lot.

So much that it’s about time we recognise we’re responsible for everything.

Yep. Everything.

This post is coming after I read about responsibility a couple week’s ago in the very humorous and well-written book, “The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck” by Mark Manson. I’d highly recommend it. I’ve almost finished it in less than a month since getting it so it must be good. I’m awful at starting and completing books. Anyway, I digress.

Ever since reading about it, my perception on a lot of things have changed. Why? Because I’ve started to actually take responsibility for shit. Does it mean I’m “adulting”? Probably not. What does that even mean? I still like to slide down staircases.

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Fault and responsibility are different

Taking responsibility doesn’t equate to everything being your fault. There is a clear distinction here between fault and responsibility.

It might be someone else’s fault that you were in a car crash (debatable depending on your driving skills) but it’s your responsibility as to how you react and take action.

Do you:

A)    Swear at the other driver until smoke comes out of your ears and edge your way into a physical fight

B)    Recognise for a second that it may have been a genuine accident (I doubt many people do it on purpose) and take responsibility for how you react

There’s obviously plenty more ways to deal with a car crash.

But it’s your responsibility as to how you react.

Take responsibility for your nutrition and fitness

If we relate this back to nutrition and fitness, I think this is where I find it most interesting.

A lot of people put the blame onto others or create excuses as to why they can’t change. They point the finger away from themselves when they are not getting the progress they want in their health, weight loss, fitness etc. goals.

Why?

Well, probably because it’s easier to put the responsibility onto something or someone else than take it for themselves.

It’s not easy to take responsibility. Think it’s easy to admit that you’ve neglected your nutrition for the last 15 years and now you’ve got some health-related issues?

Or that it’s easy to admit you’ve neglected to do any sort of regular fitness for the last 7 years and now it’s a struggle to just keep up with your kids?

Nah. It’s not.

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If you did take responsibility, you might feel a little guilt or shame. You might be a little less happy or content. So it’s easier to shy away from claiming responsibility.

But if you don’t claim responsibility, who is? Your partner? Your sister? Your dog?

Let’s face it, they are too busy with their own lives to take on the responsibility of your actions too. And why should they?

We should all start to take a little more responsibility for the way we interpret situations, our actions and behaviours. Even if that means admitting to things that you’re not necessarily the proudest of.

When we start to take responsibility for everything we do, we can actually take control of what’s been holding us back.

Struggled with losing weight in the past and never really taken responsibility for your eating habits? Well, start to take responsibility for the number of times you eat cake and go for seconds/thirds.

Struggled with running for the bus in the morning and never really taken responsibility for your fitness? Well, start to take responsibility by setting some time during the week to exercise. Even for just 20 minutes, 3 days a week. It’s probably better than where you are currently if you are continuously blaming others for your lack of fitness.

It will be uncomfortable to take responsibility

I’m not saying it’s easy. Hell no. Taking responsibility and realising you’re fully in control is, in actual fact, a little scary at times. 

There are dozens of things I’d rather not be responsible for. But by taking responsibility for everything, you begin to appreciate that you can actually achieve what you want.

You can achieve your weight loss goals that you’ve held onto for so long but never succeeded in.

You can create that side business that you have dreamt of, baking cakes, cupcakes and all sorts of deliciousness! (If you're local to East London, check out Bakes By Maria for some amazing cakes)

You can run that marathon that you’ve always thought about doing.

Take responsibility for your actions and you no longer play the victim card. The card that gets you nowhere.

The only place it gets you is further into the delusion that where you currently are, is where you’ll always be and you’ll never be able to succeed. And let’s face it. Who really wants to be there? No thanks.

So next time something you perceive as negative happens to you, realise it’s your responsibility as to how you react.

Next time something you perceive is positive happens to you, again, it’s your responsibility as to how you react.

I’ve made it pretty clear as to what your action from reading this is.

Take responsibility.

If you want to start taking some responsibility for your fitness & health, you can grab a free copy of the Eat. Lift. Lose. Weight Loss guide that provides simplified ways to lose weight and doesn't involve spending hours in the gym every night.

Grab a copy of it here

 

Nailing The Basics

Fitness and nutrition can be complex.

How many times to train a week?

Train fasted or after eating?

How many meals to eat in a day?

How much chicken, rice and broccoli do I need to eat in a day to grow muscles like Arnie?

A lot of the time, we can sweat the small minor details. We overthink what we need to do to become more fit and healthy. Rather than concentrating on what's going to have a big impact on our health, we focus on what might help us improve by the smaller 5-10%.

For those reasons, I wanted to share 5 actions we can begin to implement into our lifestyle. If you're currently doing none of them, you might want to set yourself a challenge to just complete one consistently for 2 weeks, before choosing another.

Get in at least 10,000 steps a day

Increasing your levels of NEAT (non exercise activity thermogenesis) will certainly help the amount of energy you expend in a day. It's very easy to only take 5,000 steps in a day but at the same time, with some small tweaks it's easy to hit 10,000 steps. Get off the tube/bus a stop or two earlier, walk up and down the stairs of your office or during your commute, park further away from wherever your destination is that you're driving to, take 20 minutes out at lunch for a walk and get some air. They're all small steps (pun intended) that add up across the day.

Sleep 6-8 hours a night

Sleep is often an area that's overlooked within our health. It's easy to sacrifice it in place of other things such as watching the latest season of something on Netflix. But is it really worth it? There might be times in our lives when work/life makes it's hard to get a consistent amount of good sleep. But by getting 6-8 hours of quality and uninterrupted sleep a night, it will help with recovery from your sessions in the gym, give you more energy for the next day and allows your brain to function better. I've previously talked about here about how to sleep better.

Get some protein and fruit/vegetables in each meal

There are numerous benefits to eating protein. For muscle growth & repair, increased satiety and healthy nails/hair. It can help keep you fuller for longer so there's benefits to eating it with each meal. There's many different foods you can eat for protein: lean meats such as chicken/turkey, eggs, greek yoghurt or whey protein to name a few. As for fruit and vegetables, it goes without saying that these are important to help get your vitamins in. Vegetables are relatively low calorie for the amount of food volume and contain fibre so again can help keep you feeling full. By eating fruit and vegetables in each meal, it makes it easier to get your 5 (or even 10) a day in!

Drink 2 litres of water a day

This is a bit of an arbitrary amount of water to drink. It's obviously different for everyone depending on their weight and activity levels but is a good base to aim for if you're not currently drinking much. Staying hydrated is an important aspect for performance and concentration. Keeping a water bottle to hand will help you achieve this target. Where possible, try and drink the majority of your water during the morning and day time. If you're guzzling 1.5 litres of water at night to hit your target, good luck with not waking up during the night to pee!

Do some form of exercise you enjoy

If you're not enjoying the exercise you're doing most of the time, chances are you won't sustain it for very long. If you're looking to be fit and healthy for the long term (and why wouldn't you) then it's good to find something you enjoy. Exercise gets the endorphins going, expends calories and brings a whole heap of health benefits. There's so many options out there: from aerobics to zumba and everything in between. There's definitely something for everyone out there.

Thanks for reading.

If you've got any questions or need help with anything, let me know.

Vele Fitness

Keeping Yourself Progressing

Real progress is slow. It can be tedious and at times frustrating.

It's not linear so when things aren't improving all the time it may feel like you're going backwards.

Weight loss, muscle gain, strength improvements. There are so many variables that impact them.

Not every weigh in is going to be lower than the last. Not every bench press is going to be stronger than the previous.

So with that, what can you do to ensure you're progressing in the right direction?

Below are 3 things that I've found have helped me...

Be clear what you want to achieve with real reasons why

Ever set yourself 4 or 5 different goals and not achieve any of them?

Yep, I've done that. When you try to achieve a lot of different goals at the same time, you can spread yourself thin and not truly complete any of them.

So rather than setting yourself up to fail, set yourself up to succeed.

Have fewer goals and make sure you've got real reasons for why you want to achieve them.

Once you've got one or two clear goals and tangible reasons for them, you can then focus your time & energy on that.

What get's measured, get's managed

This is a classic phrase that I love.

Data. Data. Data.

That's probably just the geek in my coming out, but what you track really does help yourself understand what's happening. So you're able to manage whatever goal you have better.

With the amount of technology we have at our fingertips, there's no reason not to measure the variables.

Your training for instance can be tracked through an app such as FitNotes.

Your daily activity levels can be tracked through an activity tracker such as Fitbit, or most phones will have built in step counters on them.

Your nutrition can be tracked through MyFitnessPal. You can also use this to log your weight progression.

You get the idea. These are just a few of what I've used myself in the past but there's 100s of different options out there. Try a few, see what you like using and stick with it.

You then have the ability to review your progress over a long period of time.

It's easy to get bogged down if your weight doesn't change from the previous week or your squat PR doesn't increase from your last session.

But track all the data and you can then go back and see how it's changed over a more realistic time period such as months, quarters and even over the past year.

Reflection

Taking time to reflect has a massive amount of value.

It may not seem like much but stopping to take note of what you've achieved, progressed and struggled with allows you to learn how to become better.

I don't think there's a set way everyone should do it. Everyone is different.

For someone, this could be 10 minutes at the end of each day to think about how their day has gone and if they've accomplished what they set out to.

For me, it's taking time out on a Sunday or Monday to review the previous week, set some new targets and think about what I can do to improve.

I don't achieve everything I set out to each week. So when I don't, that's where I can review with myself why it's not happened.

Oh. and all of this is done on a whiteboard that I can see daily. For me, it's no good setting goals and never having visibility of them other than in my head.

Whiteboards can literally change lives.

Hopefully that's 3 clear ideas of what you can do to ensure you keep yourself progressing.

Thanks for reading. If you've got any questions or want any support with anything, let me know!

Vele Fitness