I think most of us who have battled with our weight over the years want a real answer to this question: Is losing weight easy? Our experiences tell us one thing and Instagram, fad diets, and other people tell us another. Why do some people struggle and other’s don’t? Why is the world saturated with advertisements trying to convince us that losing weight should be easy?
The truth is that losing weight is never easy. Easy just isn’t the right word. There are things that you can do to help you understand how food affects your body, which can make the fight a little less painful. Having a coach to guide you can make it a little more fun, but it’s still work.
I try to to provide myself and my dieters with support, knowledge, recipes, motivation and anything I can so that their journey to a healthier lifestyle doesn’t have to be the only thing they think about every day. Losing weight is never easy, but it doesn’t have to take over your life and you don’t have to suffer.
Education is the most important - understanding how our bodies process certain foods, and why some things are better than others even though the calorie count might be the same, can help us make healthier choices. When a diet becomes about more than just a number on the scale, it can truly change the way you look at food. So many fad diets out there tell you what to eat and when, but not why. When you don’t know why you’re making the choices it becomes harder and harder to stick to them, and you end up right back where you started. My mission with Ideally You is to help my dieters understand the balance between food, our bodies, and our emotions. I want to help them set goals that they want to achieve and give them the information they need to do so. I want to teach people that it’s not about will power, but about visualizing the end game and creating positive self-talk to get through temptation.
All of these things are my goals as a weight-loss coach, but none of them are designed to make dieting easier. I work to dispel unhealthy dieting myths, and give people the information and motivation they need to make the hard work feel like it’s paying off. There is no magic solution to weight loss, no perfect pill, no secret recipes - But when we understand what we’re doing and the results are showing, it makes the hard work worth it.