There is no shortage of weight-loss advice available these days, yet we struggle with finding the best weight-loss method almost as much as we struggle with cutting the pounds. Some of us have had tastes of success, shedding a few pounds here and there by following the latest fitness trends, but our results are often temporary and the lifestyle alterations unsustainable. A new approach is needed.

Take Inventory of your Basic Needs

When is the last time you took inventory of your basic needs? One of the biggest pitfalls we encounter when attempting to lose weight is ignoring the fact that our emotional and physical lives intertwine. We have an array of both physiological and psychosocial needs, but we don’t often factor all of them into the weight loss equation. Are you getting quality sleep? Are you experiencing safety in your life? How about belongingness and a sense of importance? Be aware that unmet needs in other parts of your life may thwart even the most valiant of weight-loss attempts. If you are struggling to lose weight, consider whether there are other aspects of your life that need attention in order for physical transformation to occur.

Embrace the Journey

Truly lasting results require long-term lifestyle changes, not short-term solutions. The good news? You can avoid the stress of another extreme intervention. Maybe you’ll even find yourself throwing out your old methods of tracking progress. When the goal is to develop new and healthy long-term lifestyle habits, the focus shifts from tracking progress, towards creating the conditions for weight-loss to occur. For many, this is a needed perspective shift in order to bypass the anxiety and shame that accompanies the initial stages of progress tracking.

If you find yourself motivated by tracking progress as your journey picks up pace, by all means, embrace that too! Embracing the journey means re-evaluating your focus at any given point and allowing yourself the power to decide what’s needed next.

Build a Support System: Internal & External

As social beings we benefit from external accountability. Having others join us on the journey helps reinforce the positive changes we want to sustain. That said, no amount of external cheerleading will overcome an internal naysayer. Though is it tempting to postpone self-acceptance until we reach our goal-weight, withholding self-love is a doomed motivation tactic. Developing an internal support system means appreciating and accepting yourself right now, regardless of where you are in the journey. The point is that you are actively engaged in the journey. Most days, that’s enough. Make sure your diet is on point, you take your supplements , which you can get at Mairanutrition, and you get your excercise in. The rest comes easy.

Devise a Maintenance Plan

How will you pick yourself up when things get difficult? We may initiate our weight loss journey by springboarding in, but at some point we’ve got to find a steady pace that we can maintain. As part of embracing the journey, we must prepare a realistic plan for the long-haul, allowing room for the inevitable ebbs and flows in our motivation.