EN 
FI Let’s be totally honest; a lot of us have spent a good chunk of our lives trying to loose weight. Sometimes those attempts might have been successful, a lot of times unsuccessful and most of the times unsustainable. Most diets work. As in if you manage to stick with them you will loose weight. Problem is what happens when the diet ends… You go back to your old habits and the weight piles back on. Not only do we know this from personal experiences but this has been researched over and over and it’s what the data shows.
Most often we know what’s standing in our way to our goals. We know what we should change in our diets… we know if we should move more, sleep more, take some more time to look after ourselves. Often we are just so stuck in our ways that change seems impossible. We justify our choices to ourselves “it’s okay because I walked more than normally today”, “it’s okay because I’m going to starve myself tomorrow”, “it’s okay because it’s the weekend”, “it’s not really that fattening”, “it’s okay because everyone around me is eating the same”, “I’m too busy”, “it’s impossible to go to bed earlier”… the list goes on.
We say we want to loose weight but in fact our actions are not aligned with this goal. If you recorded everything you ate for a week would you be happy with what you saw? If you recorded what you spend your days doing would it really be true that you can’t squeeze in a 15 minute workout at home, or an extra half an hour walk outside?
If you think of loosing weight purely as an unpleasant exercise of calories in and calories out it’s very unlikely to happen, or at least it’s unlikely that you’ll maintain the results. Permanent weight loss is first and foremost down to your mindset. You need to ask yourself how much do you want those results? How badly do you want to feel your best and look your best? How would it feel if you were living life at your ideal weight? What would it look like? What would you wear? What would you do differently? How would it affect your confidence? How would you show up in the world? Would you perform better at your work? Would your social life improve? Would you be able to inspire those around you to change their lives around too? Would it even help reverse some chronic health issues you’re living with? Would your future look brighter?
With permanent weight loss you need to find it in yourself to choose long term gain over short term dopamine hit. That’s all it is. When eating ultra processed snacks and foods the gain is incredibly short lived. That taste is in your mouth for a brief moment. Often it’s followed by a physical feeling of uncomfortableness and emotional feeling or failure and guilt. When you switch this around and focus on long term results you will firstly ditch those negative feelings. Every time you make that healthy choice you will feel a little bit better about yourself. You will never regret that either. I dare to claim that you will not wake up the next morning and think to yourself: “if only I had had one more bag of crisps or one more glass of wine last night”. But if you’ve made a choice to eat healthy, or go for a walk, or put yourself to bed earlier you will wake up the next morning with a sense of achievement. And the more you do this the more you’re able to do it. It’s a beautiful cycle.
Motivation will not come knocking on your door and drag you out from your sofa. Action, and the motivation will follow. Action small… one tiny step at a time towards your goals. Start right now. Not tomorrow… not on Monday… not in January… not when your lifestyle finally leads to a health condition… but right now. And do it from love for yourself. You are where you are right now and it’s okay, there’s no need to feel guilty about it. You can make a change You deserve to live better and feel better.