Losing Weight and Living in Balance

Today I’d like to talk a bit about losing weight and living in balance. Despite all of our planning, invariably, life will test us in every way. The beauty of pursuing a balanced yet loosey-goosey approach of living enables us to have a bit more wiggle room to stay afloat when things fall apart.

Developing a balanced approach to deal with issues during the chaotic moments we all face is essential for self-preservation. Especially if we are to maintain a positive and healthy lifestyle.

Is embracing balance in everything we do truly helping us to achieve challenging goals?

Because “balance” has so many different meanings, striving for day-to-day balance is an excellent approach toward mindful living, especially when our hectic to-do list becomes overwhelming.

But, perhaps, keeping balance is instead too vague a term to describe our addictive behavior toward food. Especially food like sugar which is proven to keep us hooked. 

So how can we approach losing weight or maintaining our weight when so many of our food options are unhealthy?

Look everywhere, and we are told to pick a balanced approach to eat healthily. We count our calories, eat keto, Paleo, and exercise regularly. How well we do at eating healthily is a supposedly a testament of how “balanced” we are living.

Can we truly live a balanced life yet still achieve challenging goals?

Has the word “balance” become a mechanism to protect oneself from the discomfort associated with the hard work needed to endure losing weight and achieve our weight loss goals?

Do the people we admire most really live a balanced life or do they work their arse off every step of the way to succeed in their personal weight loss program?

Aren’t some goals, like weight loss, hard work and often painful to follow through with?

Most of us purposefully don’t run away from the challenges of work. We convince ourselves that just this once won’t hurt, which ends up sabotaging any of our hard work. Yet the reality of dealing with the discomfort associated with working at losing weight turns us off quicker than we can blink an eye. We convince ourselves that “just this once” won’t hurt and we call our self-sabotage balance.

The fact is, our brain will pick the path of least resistance every time to protect us from discomfort.

Balancing weight

It wasn’t until I began tracking my weight loss progress that I realized just how difficult reaching my goal weight had become. But why?

Why was I not losing weight? Especially if I am eating a balanced diet and exercise every day.

Answer: Because the pursuit of any goal through only ‘balance’ is entirely unattainable. If we are to achieve any goal, there is no wiggle room or excuses like “just this once.” Cheating with our diet is not serving the “goal” to lose weight. Having a “tomorrow is another day” approach balances us into excusing our own bad behavior and we don’t follow through with the work.

The cruel fact is saying “NO” to the foods that harm us is the only way to succeed. Saying “no” means there is no compromise or ‘balance’ needed to achieve our weight loss. Sure we are going to feel unsatisfied and unhappy at times, but in the end, we will be thrilled and proud of the work we’ve invested in ourselves. Our health depends on it! And remember that It’s Not a Diet, It’s a Lifestyle Change.

My goal moving forward is to develop the discipline needed to achieve a well-balanced life through sustainable healthy lifestyle choices.