11 fat loss hacks 🎯

This isn't going to be what you expect.

Hacks are so appealing because they look like secret cheat codes that allow you to get results without effort.

The reality is… effort is required in the pursuit of any worthwhile goal.

& if you stop wasting time looking for a way to avoid that you’ll be miles ahead.

Below are some fat loss ‘hacks’ that actually work but I will be honest - do require effort.

The best hacks are usually hard and somewhat obvious.
The ‘hack’ is actually doing them.

1: It’s hard is not an excuse not to do it.
It’s just an observation.

Use it as a cue to give yourself some credit when you do it.

Losing fat is hard, changing behaviours is hard, not being overweight in an obesinogenic environment is hard.

Do you know what else is hard? Being overweight, disliking your body, feeling like you’ve let yourself down, health implications of storing too much body fat.

2: Acknowledge that you need to be in a deficit - that means expending more energy than you take in.

This doesn’t require tracking everything but it does require structure to your eating, being calorie aware & choose your indulgences - you can have anything but you can’t have everything and you can’t have what you want all the time.

FYI that’s true in all areas of life. Anti - diet people will claim this is disordered. It’s not. It’s reality.

3. You’ll have to do things when you don’t want to.

Again, seems almost mad to say this but if you want to achieve any goal this is true.

Be it running a marathon, passing an exam, learning a language. There will be days you don’t want to put in the practice but if you want the outcome you have to commit to doing the actions required even when you don’t want to.

4. Time is going to pass anyway.

One of the most common things that trips people up on their pursuit of fat loss is impatience. They try and do it too quickly.
Impatience is paradoxical because impatient acts tend to make things take even longer.

Be impatient with your actions and patient with your results.

5. Real progress isn’t measured on the scales
   
   This is why I will often take the scales away when working with clients. It’s not because I have decided we don’t want to lose fat or I am trying to change their goal. It’s actually because eI want them to get better results.
   
   If you are obsessing over the scale and it’s fluctuations are dictating your mood and thus your actions then removing the scale makes the process more enjoyable and you more consistent which ultimately gets you better results. That is the goal.

6. You’ll learn a tonne about yourself in the process.
   
   Doing hard things & showing up for yourself translates.  The amount o clients I have that then go on to get promotions or leave toxic relationships or try that hobby they always wanted to try but never had the confidence to start.
   
   When I say coaching is a good investment - it is and not just in your health, in your life as a whole, including your finances!

7. Ownership.. not shame, is the answer.
   
   Most people’s natural tendency is a combination of shame and victim mentality.
   
   That usually looks like the decision that fat loss is too hard for me and I will never do it - there must be something inherently wrong with me.
   
   There is not. Is it hard for some? 100% there is absolutely no doubt about that. Will the right support make it a hell of a lot easier? 100% there is absolutely no doubt about that!

8. Stop people pleasing & stop making that your identity.
   
   People pleasing may seem selfless in the moment but it’s not.

You will show up better for others & be able to give more if you are not a people pleaser. First step: stop identifying as one.

Now that doesn’t mean don’t have those tendencies. We all do.. at least I hope most people have a drive somewhere to please others… Anyone who doesn’t is a bit of a psycho.

It is a pretty human drive to want to please others and to want to be liked. It’s a lovely trait but not when it comes at the expense of your own goals.

Here is where it commonly sabotages your fat loss.

• Peer pressure to eat desert or drink alcohol - sometimes this is genuine people pleasing, other times it’s an excuse.. either way it’s not going to get you results!
  

• Not making any time for yourself because you feel you should constantly be giving to others…
  
  Example:
  
  As a parent there is nothing more important to your child’s wellbeing than your own health.
  
  It’s not selfish to invest time, money & effort into you.
  
  It’s what allows you to show up at your best.

  
  9. Don’t get into a sh*t situation to start with.
  
  I swayed about putting this one in as I thought it would be pretty unhelpful to those trying but struggling. The reason I have is that yo-yo dieting is so common and if you tweak things early it doesn’t have to be.
  
  Think of fat loss maintenance as like a thermostat. You don’t want to wait until your house is FREEZING to turn the heating on or until you’re sweating to turn on the air con.
  
  You adjust as you go to keep it within range.
  
  The same is true at maintenance. There will be times when your habits slip a little - rather than letting yourself regain a tonne of fat make the adjustments needed.
  
  Not going to extremes on one end avoids it on the other too.. example.. if you don’t go into debt you’re less likely to make risky financial decisions to get out of debt or take out high interest loans etc. If you don’t let yourself regain tonnes of weight then you’re less tempted by crash diets to quickly get it off which never end well.
  
  10. Appreciate consistency but I mean REALLY appreciate consistency.

One poor choice alone didn’t make you gain weight. It was consistently poor choices over time that compounded.

You don’t need to do anything drastic to stay in shape. You need to make consistently decent choices most of the time.

11. Extraordinary results in a short period of time always require extraordinary sacrifice.
    
    Have a strong BS radar for anything that seems too good to be true. I know ‘get lean quick’ is tempting… its the same reason that people are tempted by get rich quick schemes. But if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.
    
    Anything that promises you abnormal returns will likely require abnormal risk - this is true for fat loss and for finance.