For a lot of you, this week couldn’t have come any sooner – YES, the schools are back open and its time to shift the kids off to someone else every day or in my case, for a few hours! It’s the time of year when you sit down with a cup of tea in your hands and the only thing you can hear is the wind blowing or car doors banging outside – and inside…HEAVEN – PEACE & QUIET. It’s also the time when you can start to do things that YOU have wanted to do for the last few months. Thoughts of going shopping ALONE, reading a book without stopping every few minutes, cleaning a room in the house without seeing it getting destroyed behind you – the list can go on and on Unfortunately I am going to say a word that at this time of the year shouldn’t be said but it creeps up so fast…Christmas! Yes I said it…Christmas. It’s coming! I see Brown Thomas has started to put up their Christmas trees, Rathwood Garden Centre have their Christmas Train Ride open for bookings on Sunday and the toy ads have been on the TVs for a while now. All too early I think – Halloween hasn’t even been mentioned yet – oopps! The reason I mention the word Christmas is that before we know it, it will be here, and as we know fitness and weight loss doesn’t happen over night! Now is the time to start thinking about yourself and your health. Now is the time to put those thoughts and dreams into reality. You said once the kids’ get back to school you will look after your diet and look after your fitness…well now is the time.
Start
To lose weight and get fit you have to start somewhere. I suppose it’s a bit like writing this blog! At first I would plan out what I want to talk about and then fill in the gaps with words. You need to start, write down what your goal is, either for weight loss, fitness or both. Plan what you are going to do and how you expect to do it and go for it. So many people think about doing things, they keep saying to themselves, I will start tomorrow, I’m too busy, I can’t afford to lose weight and I can’t afford to eat healthily! You know they are all excuses! Eating healthily doesn’t have to cost more money. Getting fit doesn’t have to cost anything other than a comfortable pair of runners. Yes, I am 
available to those who wish to use Why Weight Ireland but there are things available that cost nothing. A lot of towns and villages have out-door gyms which are brilliant and it’s a pity not more people use them. Walking and running outside is fantastic for your health and for burning calories. For those who are trying to lose weight you need to look at what you are currently eating. You need to be reducing the amount of calories you are taking in. There are many different ways to lose weight, different diets and weight loss programs but they all in the end result in fewer calories in compared to what your recommended allowance is and the amount of calories you burn through exercise. Some people will say that you must eat certain foods to lose weight but in the end those foods are going to contain less calories and less fat, which still reverts to the idea of eating less calories than your recommended calorie allowance while also burning enough calories to lose weight. There are so many variables that can effect weight loss; it’s not just all about calories in V calories out but about the food you eat too. Eat healthily – make healthy choices – The Why Weight Ireland food diary can assist with this in showing you what calories are more beneficial for you and which aren’t.
Plan
Planning in all aspects in life is important. You don’t just go into meetings with no plan or structure. Every day you are doing things that you planned so why is it when it comes to out bodies do we for say “Feck it”? Planning your food & exercise can really be the difference in being successful and failing with your weight loss. When you first start your weight loss journey you tent to eat great for the first few days and may even make it to a month or two but then what? What does your plan say? Oh ye, you didn’t have a plan!! You tend to start slipping the extra unhealthy snack in, then it turns to two snacks, portion sizes start creeping up again because you never bothered to actually weigh anything to check them in the first place, then the take-aways get added and before you know it your weight has increased and your on the slippy road again.
Compare that to someone who has a plan or structure to his or her diet plan. They know their weight and they have a fairly good idea of how long it will take to hit their goals. They structure their weight loss in to mini goals. This can be weekly, fortnightly, monthly goals, what ever you wish. Their exercise is also planned into their weekly schedule. Each time they complete their day’s exercise, be-it the gym or a run or whatever, they tick it off so it gives them the satisfaction of saying, “Yep that’s finished with”. The first few weeks go by and all is great; they are ticking their exercises off one by one and their eating habits have began to change for the better and their weight loss is coming down. They hit their first weight loss goal. They reevaluate where they are and where they want to be and create another plan that will get them to their next goal.
The person planning or structuring their weight loss will be successful compared to the person who just goes it alone! Even if the person who has a plan has a bad day or week (as these happen to EVERYONE – if they have a plan, they can see WHERE they went wrong and learn from the mistake, move on and draw a line under it – and continue on the path towards the next goal!)
Succeed
The percentage of those who hit their final weight loss goals is very low but this is due to the fact that people give up. They find it too hard. If weight loss was easy, we’d all be fit and healthy whereas the reality is that we are now more over-weight than normal weight. Those who WANT to succeed and I mean really want to succeed and believe in what they are doing will have a high chance of being part of that small percentage. There are those 
who look at exercise as something that is a negative; they head to the shops to buy a 10 minute workout DVD in the hope that the faster they do the exercise the faster it will be all over and the faster they will be slim! But it doesn’t work out like that. The chances are they will get bored of the DVD and only use it for the first week because they aren’t suddenly thin! Exercise should be something that is just like brushing your teeth; it’s just something you do every day. Going for a walk, doing the gardening, playing with the children, walking to the garage instead of driving – exercise doesn’t mean you have to run 100 metres in 10 seconds or even run a marathon – Everything counts so don’t be afraid to do something!
Some people will go from one weight loss plan or fad to another in the hope that they will all of a sudden find that “magic pill”! In the end it is you and only you that can change your body. It is you who has to make the choices that affect your weight. It is you that has to decide to eat “good food” or “bad food” and it is you that has to get off your bum and exercise.
Here are some questions that you need to answer:
- Do you really know what you want?
- Do you really want to put the effort in?
- Do you really want to succeed?
If you have answered yes to those then there is just one more question:
- Are you ready?
“When I thought I couldn’t go on, I forced myself to keep going. My success is based on persistence, not luck.” –Estee Lauder
Why Weight Ireland offers you the tools to help you and I will do my very best to guide and give you the advice you need to get through your journey. As well as the food diary that will help you plan your food and teach you about the calories & fat you eat, you will also receive a personal fitness plan that you can use to plan your exercise – this plan is tailored to your needs and abilities.
Like most things, the more you put in, the more you will get out of it.
“Exercise is only strange to those who don’t do it!”
Remember Now is the Time
Hannah x
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