I’m sure you’ve tried a diet before and seen that even if you do lose the weight for a while, it usually comes back. Wondering why? Because restriction through a diet isn’t sustainable - it doesn’t help you create a lifestyle where you keep the weight off for good, it just takes it off for a while. The best way to create a sustainable lifestyle where you can not only lose weight, but keep it off, is by making small, incremental, and seemingly insignificant changes that you can stick within the long term. All those little things add up to big things, and in changing them slowly, but surely, you can ensure that those new habits stick around long term.

Here Are Some Ideas:

• Instead of committing to 6 workout classes a week, make sure you don’t miss any less than 2 or 3 per week. Anything over that? Great!

• Simplify your food and eat the same thing for breakfast each week. When you take the guessing out of the food that you eat, you provide stability and save time.

• Make it a habit to include a palm-sized portion of protein at every single meal, no matter what

• Go to bed at the same time each night and wake up at the same time each day

• Drink 2 glasses of water right when you wake up

Avoid Quick Fixes and Weight Loss Products

Look, the weight loss industry is a multi, multi-billion dollar industry for one reason - people want a quick fix. It’s time to do away with the quick fix mentality in your own life and realize that quality change takes time and persistence. Detox teas don’t work, they’re just laxatives. Water diets? Skip those. Not eating carbs? Not sustainable. You don’t need magic to lose weight, you need a plan, ok? That plan should be very simple and straight forward. Pick out your food, keep it simple, make it repetitious and achievable, practice your core habits every day.

While lifestyle changes should always be the number 1 goal of a weight loss plan, you might benefit from having a coach that keeps you accountable and on track with those lifestyle changes and goals. Here at The Swole Kitchen our coaches create customized plans and work with you 1:1 to help you reach your specific goals.

The 80/20 rule

Your diet or nutritional lifestyle doesn’t need to be 100% perfect, and the sooner that you can do away with that mentality, the better. The 80/20 rule works like this - 80 percent of the time you’re going to want to eat the healthy, on-plan foods, while the remaining 20 percent of the time allows for your life, like going to brunch on Sunday or having dessert on Tuesday. The 80/20 rule supports a healthy, balanced diet, with room for indulgences. When you don’t feel restricted, you’re not as likely to go over the top and overindulge or binge on foods, which often end up being very sugar-heavy. Eat healthily, have your cake, and eat it, too! That’s what we preach here at TSK and it makes for some really, really awesome results for your weight loss journey.

Eliminate ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Foods

Yes and no, good and bad, it all fuels that all or nothing mentality that keeps coming up in this article. Instead, look at it this way, ok? There is food that makes you feel good inside, that supports your goals, energy levels, and that gives you health. There are also foods that make you feel bad inside, that zap your energy, send you on a roller coaster, sugar high, and crash, that doesn’t actually support your health. You’ll want to eat more of the foods that support your health and less of the foods that take away from it.

Rather than cutting food out completely and creating restriction and rules, commit to a better strategy - your foods a little more thoughtfully. There are a million options and swaps out there. And if you want cinnamon rolls on Sunday, that’s great, have them! Try to implement the 80/20 and you can make it all a part of your lifestyle without feeling like you’re missing out or you’re a complete and total health nut. It’s not about what works for others, it’s ultimately what works for you.

Have A Plan For The Grocery Store With A List

Ever go to the grocery store, get home, and realize you didn’t get anything to actually ‘eat’? You loaded up on snacks and things that seemed good at the moment, yet you didn’t plan any meals, get any protein, or grab anything that you can eat during the week aside from Cheetos and maybe some fruit? Where’d you go wrong? You acted on impulse - when we go to the store without a plan we don’t get home with the tools we need to use to prepare ourselves for the week ahead. Be intentional with your food planning, write yourself a list, go to the grocery store, and stick to it.

We help our meal plan clients by creating their grocery lists and weekly meal plan for them. They know exactly what to get and how much to get so that they have what they need to prep their meals and advance themselves towards their goals every day. Sounds like something you could benefit for? Schedule a free nutrition consultation at www.theswolekitchen.com/schedule

Takeaway: How To Make Weight Loss Easier

When we find ourselves in a rut or over our heads in our weight loss journey it’s probably because we overcomplicated the process. We live and embrace the all or nothing mentality where if it’s not perfect it’s not worth it and if we don’t have every single duck in a row then we’re going to fail. Which, well, couldn’t be further from the truth! If you’re feeling overwhelmed, this article is going to help you simplify. In fact, our clients here at The Swole Kitchen who use our coaching services to lose weight and lose it for good often find that throwing more things at the problem makes it worse. How to make weight loss easier? Get a coach!

THE SWOLE KITCHEN provides 1:1 nutrition coaching, macro coaching, and custom meal plans to help guide you to becoming the best version of yourself.

We believe nutrition should be simplified and delicious. We give you the tools you’ve been missing to anticipate and meet your needs on a daily basis. Discover what if feels like to truly love your body and your life with personalized 1:1 nutrition coaching.