Are you looking into overcoming weight loss obstacles?
Or are you just making sure you don’t run into any of these obstacles?
Now, we just talked about these weight loss roadblocks last week.
This week we’ll talk about how to stay away from these obstacles.
Not only stay away but overcome so they are, if nothing else, less of a obstacles.
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Overcoming Weight Loss Obstacles
Stress
We all have it and we all know we have to figure out how to manage it.
A little stress is good.
It helps keep us on our toes and paying attention to our surroundings.
Too much stress is bad.
It will affect the other roadblocks below.
If you’re working on overcoming weight loss obstacles this is a great one to start with.
Managing stress
So how do we manage it?
Well, we all know the big ones, right?
Get more sleep, meditate, eat right, etc.
Those are all great and are definitely helpful but those are some of the big ones to that can be a bit more difficult to get a handle on quickly.
Here are some little ways to help you manage your stress so that it won’t be a weight loss obstacles.
-Take deep breaths.
Give yourself a moment, when needed, and take a deep breath or two will do wonders!
-Get outside.
Can you take five minutes to go outside?
Feel the sun on your face, the wind in your hair.
-Change your scenery.
Even if you can’t get outside, you can still change your scenery.
Go to another room, take a walk down the hallway.
Anything little will help.
Speaking of taking a walk.
-Exercise.
No, I don’t mean take an hour out of every day, go to the gym and workout.
I mean take a moment to do some jumping jacks or even just walk around for five minute.
Getting the blood moving around your body will do wonders.
Hormones
This one’s a hard one.
Especially for me.
I feel like my hormones are all over the place all month long.
They will always affect your weight loss.
Meaning, there will be times during a month when you will inevitably gain weight because of your natural hormone changes.
The trick is to not let that roadblock you.
Instead, be aware of when those changes happen so that when you see the gain you know why it’s happening and that it’s not permanent.
Remember, don’t get stuck on the scale numbers.
They are only part of the whole equation.
Check out my post on weight loss goals in case you need a refresher on what that whole equation looks like.
Sleep
O.k., this one can feel impossible, right?
There are so many suggestions out there, so I’m not going to go into them.
What I am going to do is suggest a couple that really help me.
The first is chamomile tea.
Even if you’re not a tea person it’s worth a shot.
It takes about 30 minutes for it to kick in for me and even if I wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom I’ve never had a problem getting back to sleep.
The second is a heating pad.
I have one that has an automatic shut-off after 2 hours so I never have to worry about it being on all night.
Sometimes it’s just nice to have some heat on my back, my front or even on my legs to give me that extra bit of relaxation to fall asleep easily.
Bowel Movements
Well, this happens sometimes.
We’re not regular bathroom users.
We all know eating more fiber will help in this arena.
Raspberries, pears and apples are some fruits that’ll help.
Green peas, broccoli and potatoes are just a few vegetables that are hight in fiber.
Spaghetti, oatmeal and even popcorn are some great grains to try.
Split peas, black beans and baked beans are other great options.
Another thought is getting some Fiber One bars.
I’ve been using these because getting some chocolate in plus upping my fiber is a win-win to me 🙂
So there’s no reason not to be able to get in the fiber you need in a day.
The American Heart Association says on average you should try to get in around 25 grams a day.
Past Weight Loss
Unfortunately this is not one you can just overcome or even avoid, right?
Your past weight loss has already happened.
Now is when you need to understand that it will play into your current weight loss journey.
And that you just need to continue to push towards your weight loss goals.
Not only that but figuring out this next point will be key!
Maintenance Calories
If you’re anything like me, I had no idea what my maintenance calories were.
Let alone how to figure it out or how it translated into my weight loss journey.
How do you figure them out?
Figuring out your calories
It’s two-fold.
You’ll want to take at least two weeks to do this so you can get a better and truer idea of your maintenance calories.
Now, if you can do it for three or four weeks you’ll have even more data to use!
Count Calories
First, you’ll need to count your calories each day for those two plus weeks.
There are several apps you can download.
I know lots of people use My Fitness Pal.
I have a Samsung phone which came with a health app.
This is the one I use.
Find one that you like and works for you.
If you happen to not have a smartphone, you can still always use paper and pen to figure your calories!
You’ll want to record every little thing you eat.
Even if it’s just a bite.
This way you’ll really, truly have your maintenance calories.
Remember, at this stage you’re trying to find your maintenance calories.
So you don’t want to start eating less or doing anything different than what you’ve been doing.
Eat the same, exercise the same.
Weigh Daily
Second, you’ll need to weigh yourself every day.
If you don’t do this already I’ll warn you, it can be a little daunting.
You’ll see just how much your weight fluctuates each week, let along each day!
Try not to get discouraged or disheartened.
This is part of the process.
Do your math
And at the end of your two weeks (or more :)) you’ll figure out what your average calorie intake was.
And then you’ll need to figure out whether during that time you lost, gained or maintained your weight.
If you’ve maintained your weight then you also now know your maintenance calories.
Now, if you’ve lost or gained weight you’ll need to do some math to figure out what your correct maintenance calories are.
Just to give you an idea:
Let’s say you calculate your calories to be at 2,000, but you gained 2 pounds.
Then you’re maintenance is probably closer to say maybe 1,800 not actually 2,000.
Which in turn means that, if you want to lose weight , you’ll need to base your deficit off of 1,800 calories and not 2,000.
This is huge when you think about it.
Understanding your calories
First of all, instead of willy-nilly cutting calories you can be strategic about it.
Meaning, up until recently, I would just cut calories so drastically, like down to 900 a day.
I would lose weight this way but it was not the funniest way to do it 🙂
And it certainly was not sustainable.
Not only not sustainable to lose all the weight I wanted but also not for keeping it off.
This is why being strategic can be wonderful, even if it feels a bit overwhelming in the beginning.
So, instead, if your maintenance is 1,800 you know that you can cut 500 calories, down to 1,300 for a few weeks.
In that time you should be able to lose a few pounds.
With this example though you can also see that, although 1,300 is much more than 900 it’s still not really what you’d like to be eating on a daily basis, is it?
And that is when I would suggest that you reverse diet.
Reverse Dieting
I am currently, as of writing this, at the end of a reverse diet and getting ready to start a cut (calorie deficit).
I will share this story soon.
I really want to have better grasp of what my experience was and how the cut is going before I share 🙂
So, now that you know how to overcome your weight loss roadblocks, you can focus and crush your goals.