I’ve watched the motivational videos. I’ve listened to the podcasts about kicking ass. I’ve seen the before and after photos, etc, etc, etc–and let me tell you the terrible truth: there is no amount of motivation in the world that will overcome the suck of losing weight.
I’ve been overweight for way to long and I’ve been dreaming about getting my shit together for approximately the same amount of time.
I’ve done the yo-yo more times than I can count. Once I even lost ~60 pounds and then ate like a freight train and gained it all back and more and I didn’t even notice it was happening. WTF, right?
Here are lies people tell you about losing weight:
“You will just feel so much better!”
No, you don’t.
You feel awful.
You have headaches all day because you cut out the junk food your body was addicted to. There is a constant battle between your willpower and your belly, which demands to be fed. And that’s leads to lie number 2.
“You can eat whatever you want and still lose weight!”
That is utter bullshit! You cannot eat whatever you want and lose weight. If I could eat whatever I wanted I would gain another ten pounds before the end of the week. The only way to lose weight is more calories go out than come in, which means you will be hungry all the time, so no, you cannot eat whatever you want.
“You will have so much more energy!”
Again–no you won’t! You will have less energy. Because the only time to get a workout in is in the early morning before work, so you will rise earlier but go to bed around the same time because just because you are trying to lose weight doesn’t mean your responsibilities magically disappear. You will be TIRED (and hungry).
“You will inspire others!”
Okay, this is only a partial lie.
Yes, some people you will inspire. They will look at you and realize you are like them, as far as life responsibilities go and they will think “I can do that too.”
However, there will be another group of people that will actively try to sabotage you because they hate seeing others succeed:
“Why do you work so hard, just chill out.”
“One donut ain’t gonna derail you.”
“God looks at the inside, not the outside.”
Unfortunately, for some reason, there is a large group of people that love to see others fail. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is. This is the reason you always let on to everybody in your group that they make a bit more money than you. They love feeling superior.
And now the biggest lie of all:
“You just have to stay motivated.”
Motivation has ZERO impact on reaching your goals, whether it is in the domain of weight loss or something else. There are a lot of gurus out there pitching motivation, motivation, motivation…but motivation is fleeting. Motivation will not be there when your alarm goes off at 5:00am.
The only thing that will get you out of that bed at 5:00am, day after day, is DISCIPLINE.
Yes, losing weight sucks, and it is discipline which is the key to reaching your fitness goal.
DISCIPLINE
Also, two alarm clocks will help too.
I have my phone next to my bed, which is alarm number 1. That alarm has the power to wake me up, but not the power to get me out of bed.
Alarm number 2 gets me out of bed.
It’s one of those super annoying alarms that goes…
BEEP BEEP BEEP
…loud enough to blow out your eardrums and wake up the neighbors two houses over, you know the kind.
Anyway, I have that set for 1 minute after my phone alarm. So, when the phone alarm goes off I immediately turn that off and then race to alarm 2, which is across the room. I gotta turn it off because it hurts my ears and the neighbors complain when it goes off, and I try to be courteous toward others. So, really, alarm #1 is just an alarm for alarm #2.
And once I’m out of bed, the chances of me completing my morning workout increase by about 99%, also I put all my workout clothes next to alarm 2. I find the more barriers I remove the easier it is to get to the workout. If I have to do something as simple as rummage in drawer to find socks the chances of completing a morning workout decreased by about 50%. Just how it is.
So, if you’ve learned anything from this article:
- Losing Weight Sucks
- DISCIPLINE
- Have 2 alarm clocks