If you have to lose more than 20lbs you are in for a marathon, not a sprint.
You will need to think in long term goals and stay at it for months or years. This is where most people struggle. Dieting for <2 months is easy, most can do it. But the longer you diet, the more time you have to encounter complications: weight stays the same, a minor injury, a period of binging and people fall of the wagon and quit their goals entirely (happened to me several times).
In the long run it doesn´t matter if you cheated on your diet, binged for a weekend, had to recover from an injury for a few weeks - the only important thing is that you keep on dieting.
There are 2 concepts I believe to be crucial for doingexactly that - staying on track: SMART long term goals and Most Important Tasks (MITs).
SMART goals: Where to run? I believe smart goal setting is an important first step to win this marathon - or at least to know where to run. SMART is a mnemonic acronym that guides you through your goal setting process:
S = specific M = measurable A = achievable R = relevant T = time-bound Now it becomes quite obvious, why having a goal like “losing weight”, “being sexy" or "being healthy” is quite useless. What does that even mean?
For example: Having the goal of “feeling sexy” is neither specific (how sexy? Sexier than Mila Kunis?), nor measurable (in sexy units?), nor achievable (:p), relevant (Aren´t there better ways to boost self-esteem?), nor time-bound (before you die or next month?).
To have the goal of losing 10kg of fat is both specific and measurable. Is it achievable? Yes!
Relevant? Is there something more important that you should be doing right now? Like gaining weight, taking care of something that needs all your energy? If not, this goal is very relevant! Losing weight will increase your quality of life, increase your health!
In order to make it time bound you could go for a moderate diet and choose a weight loss rate of 0.5kg per week, so you will need 20 weeks to lose 10kg!
So by utilizing this acronym I have a SMART plan for the next months.
Specific: lose fat Measurable: 10kg Achievable: Yes, if I lose 0.5kg per week Relevant: Yes, which gives me motivation Time bound: 20 weeks
“I want to lose 10kg of fat during the next 20 weeks at a rate of 0.5kg per week”.
So this is my marathon for the next 5 months. Staying motivated and on track can be tough, this is what helps me a lot: a glorified to do list!
Most important tasks (MITs): How to keep running
Most Important Tasks help you break down that huge long term goal several smaller weekly and daily goals. It helps staying on track, knowing exactly what you need to do in order to stay on track. And they make things less scary. Needing to lose 20kg is scary, needing to train hundreds of times until you get there is scary. But going for a walk today isn´t so scary anymore. Having to prepare food today is doable. Not eating 500kcal today seems possible. You see where I am getting at: It´s a process, and the best way to enjoy it is by taking one step after another, one day at a time!
So when I want to get stuff done I write down 3 things I want to do for the week and for that day.
3 MITs for the week
3 things you need to do this week to reach your long term goal.
For example in my case:
Eat 3500kcal below maintenance.
This is how we lose weight, by eating less calories than we burn. Most important aspect for dieting.
Go weightlifting 3 times per week on MO/WED/FRI.
This is how you spare as much muscle while dieting.
Do cardio for 90 minutes.
To increase the kcal I can eat and stay healthy.
3 MITs for the day
3 things you need to do today that help you reach your goals.
Again in my case:
Eat 500kcal below maintenance with at least 140g of protein.
Again, most important aspect for dieting is kcal balance. In order to spare as much muscle as possible a diet high in protein is very beneficial.
Do something active.
If I don´t lift weights that day, I go for a long walk or do some cardio or whatever. Just do something! This increases your TDEE, so you can eat more, helps you recover better from weightlifting and is just healthy.
Have healthy food prepared at all times.
Having a freezer full with prepared diet friendly is very important for me. One of the most dangerous enemies for my progress are pizza delivery services. If I get hangry, feel terrible and do not have a healthy meal ready - I just order pizza. So being prepared is the only thing that can help in those situations.
Knowing where to go and breaking your journey down into smaller periods like months, weeks and days can help you to focus on the important aspects of your journey without getting lost.