Since I was young I have struggled with my weight. Looking back at photos I am both shocked and surprised how I looked at some stages. I know I felt overweight at the time, and always wanted to do something about it, but it never worked.
At different stages of my life, a lot bigger than I am now!
Now, I have finally found a way to make it work, lose weight and feel good about it. I had to change 3 things, and it may be a surprise which was the most difficult of all…
1) Mind
Yes, in order to lose weight I had to change my mind. I always told myself I did not really have to workout, just eat less. I told myself that I had a slow metabolism. I needed to sleep more. I knew what was good for me, I knew what was healthy.
I found articles and news sources that confirmed my beliefs. Whenever I heard something that went against my habits, I was skeptical. I tried to fight the facts, deny and ignore whatever information I was presented with. This is completely normal, it’s called the Backfire Effect, and we all do it all the time.
One day I could not ignore the fact my lifestyle and habits were making me fat anymore. Time for a change! I actively started to question everything I believed in. When I was confronted with something different, I resisted the urge to defend and researched instead. Being completely open minded, was the hardest thing I ever did, but it worked!
I never thought this would be me!
2) Exercise
All information pointed at the fact that to speed up my metabolism and to lose weight, I had to go all in. Food and sport is equally important, you can not structurally lose weight without both. So I started working out. Tough, but satisfying!
Old me VS new me
3) Nutrition
It turned out there was a lot of things I did not know, and the more I read the more I learned. I went full vegan and that was a great decision. I eat differently, and have a much better relationship with food now.
With my new mindset, exercise and nutrition combined, I started losing weight quickly, 17 kilo in a few months. I looked & felt better than ever!
Remember, you can not become a doctor in a few weeks, you need to study hard for years. You can not build a multimillion company overnight, it needs focus and effort, and lots of time. Same with getting a healthy body, it takes a lot of work, an open mind and results come in baby steps, there is no shortcuts.
The good news is that everybody can do it, my only regret is that I did not start sooner!
