What you need to know before losing weight

Slender (even anorexic) women on the cover of the magazines, on the TV, at the Oscars. We all look at their perfect bodies (so we think) and want to be like them. Losing weight has been almost like a mania for a huge percentage of the women, wanting to look just like a movie star.

Before you enter such a life changing regime, let’s try to set the record straight in some aspects you might not know or just wished to ignore.

1. Not all slim women look normal.

I can give you at least 2 names to support my theory: Calista Flockhart (Ally Mc Beal) and Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey from Grey’s Anatomy). Please tell me these two look like normal healthy women and I’ll just go to sleep.

So, not all you see is right and healthy. I assume you also know that most magazines use a nice software (I also use in my designs) called Photoshop. Aside creating amazing website layouts (yep, needed to push myself a bit again) Photoshop is used to brush out some skin imperfections and also make huge thighs looks less “imperial”.

Would you like to look just like an anorexic chick you saw on TV or like an image that has been edited, thus unreal? Nope, because you’re smart and you know better.

2. What’s your healthy weight?

Nope, no one tells you this. Maybe you don’t know it, but for some people for instance, being a bit “chubby” is healthy. I had a Karate instructor years ago. She was a bit smaller then me (height wise) and had 15 kilos more than I did. I am 1.70 m high and weigh 50 kilos. She was shorter and a bit “stronger”.

You know what? She had her perfect weight such as I did. For me this “combination” has been going on since I was a teen. I gain 2-3 kilos and lose them afterwars, naturally without caring too much about this. I am not on a diet, sometimes I eat less and “stress” more and it shows. When I get to eat a decent meal and maybe rest some more, I start looking better with 2-3 kilos more.

My instructor was on a diet some years ago and she was sick afterwards. She was one of the best athletes I saw in my life and would outrun me at any second. Seeing she’s almost fainting at 55 kg, she realized this weight is not for her. So, she reached her healthy and normal weight and felt right.

So, it’s again tricky: I look good and feel Ok at 50 kilos, but you might get really sick. Your body might need more for it to function normally, so always take yourself into account and not other women’s situation.

3. If you want to start losing that weight, start now.

We all know those “new year resolutions”. I have tens of them and never achieve anything. So I just decide to do something NOW and will do it. I don’t wait for my birthday anymore, nor for Christmas.

If you have already decided to lose weight and took into account the things I wrote above, start moving into that direction NOW!

4. Don’t plan a “crash diet”.

I am sorry to bring you the sad news: if you want to look amazing the day after tomorrow and fit in that very very small dress, you should have thought about this months ago. Instead of killing yourself by not eating and depriving your body of all it needs to work properly, get a bigger dress and enjoy the party.

A diet is not something you achieve overnight. It’s something you work a lot for to achieve a desired healthy weight and then to keep it there. Losing weight can be done easy, but staying thin and fit, it’s another story.

We don’t aim for short results that might get you into the ER faster than you can say “hungry”, we focus on something you will work on and achieve step by step.

5. This is your new lifestyle!

As I said before: you can lose weight, gain it back, then lose again or you can lose it once and then keep it that way. If you want a new life, you have to be able to live it. It’s not easy for someone who gains pounds easier, everyone knows. I can eat junk food a lot and not gain anything more than I should have. Others just look at food and the weight piles on. It’s not fair, that’s true. But this is your life and, in order to live a new one, you have to be prepared to succeed on the long run.

Instead of letting yourself starve in all kinds of diets, try to think about this on the long term. You can’t make it to old age if you don’t eat for many years. So, instead of not eating and killing yourself, you can have a good healthy diet and also stay as thin as you want.

Which leads us too ..

6. The diet.

If you think eating just carrots for 2 weeks to lose pounds is gonna make your body happy, let me know how it works. You cannot renounce the “ingredients” your body needs, just because you want to lose 20 kilos in 3 days.

Don’t start dieting out of the blue, discuss with a nutritionist. It’s very important. You will put a lot of stress on your body with the new changes in your eating habit and you need to know how much you need to be healthy, what foods provide you with the vitamins and minerals and what’s a healthy eating plan.

Remember, it’s for a very long time (even for the rest of your life). Have a specialist advise you and be careful to any sign your body might give you that something is not OK. Don’t just stop eating, take a well planned diet and have the specialist guide you. It’s your health and even life we’re talking about.

7. No pain .. no gain, get your lazy behind to work out!

Sorry again for bringing more sad news. In order to have a chance to look like a godess and feel like one, we all need to work out. And, no matter how “cute” walking and taking the stairs are, we need to do some more. Sure, it’s a good idea to leave the elevator and take the stairs, try to walk some more, but, in order for your body to eat up the surplus and for you to shape it a Venus like body, you need sports.

I would gladly recommend aerobics and Tae Bo. Both mean a lot of running, jumping and kicking and, after successfully surviving (or just slightly fainting during the class), you will love it. The first classes are horrible. I am a fit person and still, after not working out for some months, I need a wheelchair to get home. Don’t get discouraged, you will make it. And, after some classes, you’ll start feeling amazing and believe me, if you keep it up, you will look amazing.

I took Karate for 5 years (will return in the dojo in 2 weeks and I am thrilled) and I felt awesome. I was skinny all my life, but the “look at her, she’s like a twig” kind of skinny. Since we’re only girls here: I had no abs, I had no ass.

After few months of sports I started looking pretty nice: good looking behind (firm and round), nice legs, flat abs. I wasn’t a twig anymore, I was “athletic”. This will also happen to you. Even if you won’t lose all the weight you will start walking more like an athlete, have firmer abs, nicer legs. It will show and you will be filled with energy.

So, don’t be afraid of this. If you find a nice gym you will just love it. With a professional trainer and some nice coleagues the hours will fly and you will curse the days you can’t be there to train with them. You don’t have to become a professional sports woman, you have to work out and start being healthy.

I am sure most of these things are familiar to you, but I felt it was my ‘duty’ to repeat them. Before you start with this weightloss plan, just know all the facts, get in touch with a good nutritionist, see your doctor and also have a chat. Prepare for this experience and be courageous. You want to do this, you know how to do this and, if you are walking this road one step at the time, it won’t be a very hard journey. You will make it!

Tags: diet, losing weight, weightloss