Finding Your (Weight Loss) Sweet Spot

I have a confession to make.

For much of this year, and up until the past few months, I’ve felt like I’m battling my body nearly every day. Workouts have been slow to start, food choices have often been riddled with guilt or second-guessing, I’ve found myself feeling tired a lot of the time even though I’ve been having more sleep this year than what I’ve enjoyed since student days.

Everything just felt a little – uphill.

Not dramatically so, but enough that I found myself sighing or feeling a little grumpy more often than what I feel is acceptable, considering how happy/successful/in shape I appear to be or think I should be. I also found that for some reason my weight had been hovering a few percent above what I feel comfortable with and usually manage to maintain fairly easily given how well I eat and train.

It’s been bloody annoying, to be honest. Especially as I do like to consider myself a paragon of health and fitness 😉

And it’s seemed that the more I question WHY things are feeling so tough, why I seem to be just slightly out of my ideal shape, why I feel so tired all of the time or just can’t seem to get on top of things, or why I’m not as motivated as I used to be for training – the harder it’s become.

Do you know what I mean?

just ’cause you follow all the rules it doesn’t mean weight loss – or management – will be easy

If you’ve ever felt this way then you’ll know that the whole thing is like a kind of internal quicksand. It might start with a few days of ‘off track’ eating or couch potato behaviour, maybe a few bad sleeps resulting in a stimulant overdose, perhaps getting too caught up in the busywork of everyday life rather than the meaningful stuff that actually impacts your goals, or maybe even just getting sick and tired of always trying to think about what’s important or doing first things first.

Initially, it’s just a small niggle, a sense that you’re not quite yourself.

So you try not to be too hard on yourself, give yourself permission to skip a workout or maybe just take things easier, to let the reigns of a little dietarily. This goes on, off, on, off for some time. You feel out of the swing of things, disconnected.

And then suddenly the anxiety sits in and you quickly try to backpedal.

To push yourself to the max with training, to do the extra sessions, to be ‘100% perfect’ with your nutrition. Whatever that means. You dutifully check all the boxes when it comes to ‘what you should be doing’, but for some reason it doesn’t get easier, and you don’t even seem to be getting results.

So you become a little more obsessive, perhaps. Or else you swing wildly from one style of eating to another, in a frantic attempt to regain control. And constantly, in the back of your mind, you wonder – when did it all become so hard? Was there ever a time when I didn’t constantly think about what to eat, how to train, how to be ‘that girl’?

Is such a thing even possible?

finding your weight loss sweet spot

There’s a line I like to call the sweet spot. I could call it the weight loss sweet spot, or the health sweet spot, but ultimately I think it’s actually the empowerment sweet spot.

When you’re in the sweet spot you feel in control.

Confident.

You seem to be able to eat whatever you want. I mean sure, you do eat very clean most of the time, but you also don’t obsess about breaking that approach from time to time. And it doesn’t seem to matter, for some reason.

Structure also, seems to become slightly less important. You find yourself naturally going with the flow a little, listening to your body rather than ‘the rules’.

Training becomes empowering, energising, exciting, rather than a drudgery. You find yourself SMASHING through plateuas and walking away on a high. The high seems to carry through to other aspects of your life. You are more inspired, more motivated, more ‘springy’ even. People notice you more, and you notice yourself more.

Most likely, your weight also seems to regulate it’s self without you needing to focus on it. You can almost ‘feel’ your metabolism working; your body churning through your food and using it to your advantage. You feel amazing. Empowered. You are, in fact, woman incredible 🙂

The sweet spot is beautiful. It’s the place we all want to hang out in, and never leave.

making magic happen

So how do you get to this magical place, I hear you ask? Well, there are a million answers, and then a million more. You can follow the rules, try new things, amp up your training, cut out sugar, get more sleep, take great supplements, have lab tests, get professional support.

All of those things can help, and have their place. And truthfully, as much as I’d love there to be there simply isn’t one magic answer for everyone. But here is what does seem to be important:

• If you try new things, you have to commit 100% for at least 2 weeks. And for heavens sakes, don’t try anything else at the same time!
• Some people really do need to go zero on sugar (for at least 2 weeks!). Sarah Wilson’s book is a great guide for quitting sugar. I love it.
• You. Simply. Must. Sweat. Lifting heavy weights is not enough. That’s great, but there must be at least 2 great sweat sessions each week. That’s why I include ‘Burn’, ‘Shred’ and ‘Metabolic’ sessions in the weekly training for my Platinum Mentoring clients
• Try try try to let go of only ever thinking about why you can’t lose weight. Whenever I find myself stuck in this pattern I notice that it all becomes much harder. Thoughts really do count. How to stop worrying about worrying? Deliberately focus on the positive health/fitness/emotional outcomes of eating a certain way or training. Ask yourself each day ‘what would I need to do today to end the day happy and calm’, rather than ‘what would I need to do to lose weight’.
• Some people need more carbs. Again, test for at least 2 weeks. Start with non-processed carbs, half a cup after training. Sweet potato and pumpkin are good.
• Sometimes you just need to give your body a break. Ignore ALL the rules – yes even mine – for a full week and do precisely what you feel like. Always asking what would make you feel happy, calm or confident after 🙂

That’s not a definitive list by any means. But it’s a really really good start. And sometimes that’s all you need – a fresh start and a new perspective. Your thoughts?

\