After a year and half and over two stone lost, I’m finally well under 9 and a half stone – the lightest I’ve been since I was sixteen. Up top, I’ve dropped almost 4 clothes sizes. As someone who’s tried countless methods throughout the years, just to keep my weight level (as someone who suffers from PCOS and hypothyroid), I thought I might share my tricks with those who are a little bit like me.
My first word of advice is: don’t try too hard. If you’re doing it right, you shouldn’t feel like you’re trying at all. Every time you push yourself too far, you’ll hate it a little bit more and that won’t help you lose anything besides the will to bother.
Make your goal as loose as possible to begin with. Don’t try for a massive instant change: it just won’t happen that fast, and if it does, there’s a risk of bouncing back up again once you’ve done it. Think of what you’d be pleased with. At 11 1/2 stone, I said to myself I’d be happy if I got to 10 1/2. Ever. Think about an easy, ideal weight by your standards, not by anyone else’s. Once you’ve reached that goal and you know you’re still losing weight, aim again. But don’t let time limits cap you. Take as long as it needs to take.
Try and spend as much time on your feet as possible. I’m sure to begin with, my weight loss started by changing to a job where I was constantly standing or on the move. If you have to sit down to work at a desk, see if you can get a standing desk, or take a walk while you’re eating your lunch, even if that’s just wandering around your department. It’s easy enough to take a standing spot on the bus or train.
Pay as little for parking as you possibly can. Scout out the cheapest or free parking places where you work or visit often. They tend to be a little walk, but even that five minutes every day will help more than you think and that bit of change you save can be spent on something worth having.
Get yourself a hobby that keeps you moving. Whether that’s visiting National Trust properties or learning to waltz, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a sport. I took up volunteering in a local Oxfam books, and ended up in charge of displays and D of E students. It seemed a bit exhausting after a full week of work, but I took the shift between 9am and 1pm so I would at least have the best half of the day to play with. As always, make sure the benefits outweigh the cons with whatever you pick. With mine it was losing one late lie in VS getting books at an enormous discount and having a fun time with the people I work with.
Pick a gym that’s on the route to or from work or somewhere you go every day. Keep your kit on you at all times and tell yourself to go once a day when you pass it. If you’re passing, you tend to have to make a conscious effort not to go. It takes less effort to turn in and have the workout you’ll be kicking yourself for not having all evening.
Don’t aim to do a set time. If you only feel like doing five minutes of the elliptical, that’s fine. Five minutes is better than no minutes. After a while, you might find out you enjoy it more than you think and you could while away three hours if you wanted to.
Change up your routine. Don’t always just do one machine or the other. If you’re someone who enjoys a set, change the order sometimes, even if you keep on the same activities. It’ll curb any boredom you might feel for them. I do weights, cardio and swimming on alternative days to keep myself interested.
Don’t worry about the people who are slimmer or fitter than you. There’s probably someone on the other side of you that wishes they looked like you too. And, from experience, just because they’re ‘in shape’ doesn’t mean they know what they’re doing there any more than you do.
See if you can get with a gym that has multiple branches you can use. The one I’m with (Better) lets you go anywhere within your district. Meaning, if you pass one further afield, you can use it as freely as your use your own. If you’re someone who likes to go with friends as well, this can help you go with those that don’t live in the same town as you.
If you genuinely feel ill, take a break for a couple of days. Overworking yourself could make you sicker and mean you end up spending even less time in the gym in the long run.
Same goes for plans. Don’t cancel plans to go to the gym. Try your best to fit it around them but if you can’t, don’t sweat it. Make it up to yourself on another day.
Work out how many times you’d have to go to the gym a month pay as you go to spend the money of your membership and target yourself to do that as a minimum. After that, everytime you go, you’ll feel like you’re saving money. Sometimes being stingy pays off.
Make yourself a great playlist of songs you love and songs that motivate you. Anything with a strong beat is good. Or something that strikes home for you. I tend to listen to anything when I’m working out regularly, though I have a spot in my heart for Stromae when I’m feeling a little ‘punch a bitch’ motivated. Though for the treadmill, I do have a couple of set songs that keep me going if I find it tough. I could run to Came Here for Love by Sigala for about three years if I had to, and Most Girls by Hailee Steinfeld has a special spot in my heart. Find the songs that make you motivated to be alive and play them through your hardest workouts.
Don’t stop yourself from having a little treat every day. Just know your limit. Stop yourself once you’ve had one or two and make sure you keep a track of it.
Keep a vague mental track of the calories you eat a day. You can also use this as a limit or a target. I try to make sure I eat no more than around 600 or 700 calories before dinner. It means I know I’ll definitely have the calories spare to eat a dinner I know I’m going to enjoy. I tend to do this by making sure I don’t have more than one item for breakfast and limit my lunch to anything that’ll fit into a 450ml tub. Leftovers, a couple of slices of pizza. You can get away with more than you think. If it fits, it sits. Otherwise, a can of soup is a great alternative, they never tend to be more than 300 calories, even with a slice of toast and they fill you up.
If you’re going to have a fizzy drink, make it Diet or low calorie. Otherwise it’s a waste of calories for something that isn’t going to fill you up.
Treat yourself. Go out for dinner. Get the worst option possible. Just have a system that makes up for it. If you get a burger one week, get a light pasta the next. If you want a Large Big Mac meal from McDonalds, go for it, just make up for it by having chicken nuggets instead another time. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Never buy smaller sizes aspirationally. You don’t know when and where your body will slim down. While I went from a 14 to an 8 on my upper half, I was still in size 12 jeans until very recently. I have the thighs of a weightlifter. No amount of aspirational size 6 leggings will make them any smaller.
Sometimes you will put weight back on and that is completely fine. It happens, there’s no use kicking yourself for it. Just make sure you can identify why. It’ll make losing it easier.
No matter how much you look in the mirror, you’ll probably still see the same person you’ve always seen. It’s a depressing prospect, I know. But sometimes, you don’t always see yourself the size you are, especially when you get large. In my head, I was always this size, even when I was twice as big. With time, other people will notice for you. It might take a year, but one day, you’ll come back from holiday and someone will see it and tell you about it until you’re bored of the words.
So, point out the little bits that make the difference. Mine was my collar bones. All of a sudden, I just had them. And I’ve loved them ever since.
My last bit of advice?
Love yourself.
It might seem hard at times. Be it because of the person who keeps on stringing you along or the jealous friend. But don’t let them steal your sparkle.
And if they do, I’ve found doing furious cardio to a ‘punch a bitch’ playlist can really lift your spirits.
Alexandra Girardey 