A year ago, I promised myself that I have to change something about my obesity and actually DO something, and throughout this whole year my perspectives on life in general and weight loss in particular have changed.
If you want to lose weight because you want to be accepted among people, DON'T LOSE WEIGHT!
If you want to lose weight because you want to be/feel loved, DON'T LOSE WEIGHT!
If you want to lose weight just because you want to look pretty in the eyes of people around you, DON'T LOSE WEIGHT!!
If you want to lose weight hoping you will find better opportunities in life, DON'T LOSE WEIGHT!
To cut it short, if you want to lose weight for the people and not for yourself, don't do it! Believe me, they will always find something wrong in you, and no matter how hard you tried or how thin you became, it will never be good enough! But if you want to lose weight for a healthier and happier you, then be SURE that you can do it! I am not an expert, but here are my humble tips for weight loss:
1. Don’t put irrational goals, put short, small attainable goals and then set new ones whenever you reach one goal.
2. FORGET about fast weight loss, what you gained in years won’t be lost in a couple of days... PATIENCE IS THE KEY!!
3. دلع دايتك!! Yesss!! Pamper your diet and preferably, don’t call it a diet. The word diet is depressing, very limiting and restraining, instead call it my new lifestyle or my healthy eating plan, be the one in control, don't let it control you!
4. Learn to say no! مش كل حد يعزم عليك بحاجة تقول و ماله قطمة مش هاتضر، لا ياخويا بتضر
5. Learn to be tough on yourself at the beginning, tame your hungry beast now and watch yourself enjoying your new body later on, it is very rewarding!!
6. It’s all about trial and error, try one program, if it didn't work then it’s okay, try another one and so on until your body starts responding, JUST DON'T GIVE UP.
7. Learn to listen to your body and understand its needs, learn to differentiate between REAL FOOD hunger and psychological, emotional and hormonal hunger.
8. Read a lot about food and healthier alternatives, remember you will live a healthy life forever, replace sodas with flavored water or fresh juice, sweets and candies with natural stuff. Remember this is not a phase, it’s a lifetime decision!!
9. Don’t deprive yourself of cheat meals every now and then, and be sure that if you worked hard for it, you will be enjoying it – guilt free!
10. Water, water, water, water, water, water, water and more water!
11. Though I don't do it regularly, workouts are very important, if you can’t do it for any reason, move a lot!! Take the stairs, walk, some crunches, squats, burpees, you can use the aid of workouts applications that can be downloaded or videos on youtube.. بلاش كسل و اتنحرر - الحركة بركة
12. The most important one of all... LOVE YOURSELF THE WAY YOU ARE! Cherish your looks, value yourself, learn to embrace yourself, you are stuck with this temple till the rest of your life, stop killing yourself slowly using demotivating words, everything about you is just beautiful! That's why you should take care of it and lose the excess harmful fats!!
I have been suffering from obesity for a long time, I tried on several diets and been up and down since I can’t remember when, but this time, I am glad I am in this journey.
I am, I guess, the same person I was a year ago maybe with more confidence, but those who once hurt me one way or another because of my look (I don’t mean the ones who did it out of love) are still the same limited, shallow and air-headed people and they are stuck with this forever, I seriously feel sorry for you but screw it! At least part of my flaws or imperfections was an outer one, I bet you are hiding your own flaws and so scared that people would find out about it and start judging you!
One last thing... DON'T LOSE HOPE AND BE PERSISTENT!! It’s not impossible and if you search the internet you will find lots of before and after photos for REAL people, not plastic ones, who went on this journey at different ages and from different background and with different circumstances, take them as your role models, and start doing something NOW!!