Losing weight is one of the easiest things to do. Why do then so many people struggle with excessive pounds (or kilos)? As with any popular question, ask different person and you’ll get different answer. Some will blame their metabolism, others busy schedule, few will complain about sweet tooth for certain types of foods.

Reality is that while all those answers are valid and true, they don’t address the main point. The reason why most people gain weight is quite simple:

They are eating more calories then their body needs.

Now, I am being Mr Obvious for one simple reason. Whenever discussing any topic you always need to keep main cause in the focus. By doing that you allow yourself to filter real from perceived problems.

Zero calorie sodas with natural sweeteners are easy way to reduce calorie count, for those that consume such drinks. We’ll talk more about Zevia sodas in parts to come.

With proper focus, let’s now revisit original list of reasons that supposedly stand in way of losing weight:

• Metabolism – genetic differences allow some people to eat more than others without gaining weight. But we are talking about minuscule differences here. You can easily negate bad metabolism. Drink green tea, increase muscle mass or walk 10 minutes a day; to name just few ideas.
• Busy schedule – take time to find answers to your problems. In today’s world most of the problems are already solved. There are so many shakes, protein bars and ready-to-eat meals on the market today. Incorporate these in your diet and you’ll see that eating right is effortless.
• Sweet tooth for certain types of foods – now we are getting somewhere. If you know you are craving something that’s bad, you are already ahead. You understand it’s area of subjective choice. Take smoking cigarettes for example. Everybody knows that smoking causes cancer; yet, some people still do it. Sure, tiny percentage will still deny cause-effect relationship, but only most extreme or oblivious will smoke when their child or someone they care about is present. Smoking becomes personal choice they embrace and enjoy living with.

Don’t torture yourself with special diets

Eating right to lose weight and maintain ideal BMR is not much different. Many get lost in sticking to certain diet, fasting and torturing themselves. We all know someone who does this once a year, only to roll back to old eating habits after reaching goal. I personally find this unnecessary. Why reward healthy eating by eating junk? I mean, I get the concept of guilty pleasure; but why focus on it? Guilty pleasure every now and then – sure, if you need it go for it. But every day?

Don’t idolize foods that are bad for you

Reality is that you don’t need to live like that. In today’s world it’s easy to eat healthy, nutritious diet that you 100% enjoy. It only a matter of taking time to figure things out and building proper mindset. Because it is all about mindset. Try to make someone who enjoys drinking water to gulp down a beer or two. You won’t be able to do it – simply because that person doesn’t enjoy beer. It’s not about calories, carbs, alcohol. It’s about being completely indifferent when it comes to taste of certain beverages.

For example – you can only be a voracious Coke drinker if you invested in that habit. Over time you have developed enjoyment in the act of drinking Coke. You associate taste of Coca Cola with pleasure and happiness. Now, here is something I find extremely funny. Try to give Pepsi to someone who drinks Coke (or the other way around). On the surface, for practical purposes it’s the same drink – same amount of sugar, calories, caffeine, guilty pleasure and all. But for person drinking – it’s nowhere near the same. It’s all about perceived taste.

Choose your healthy eating

So, in a nutshell – eating right is not about food. It’s all about mindset. It’s about not craving a Big Mac that you’ll get on your way back home from work. Dissociate pleasure and bad eating. If you are unable to find meaning and enjoyment in something else, then at least stop idolizing bad food. If you need to idolize food, idolize one that good for you.

You need to be willing to walk to the summit

In parts that follow I’ll take you on a journey of building your personal, healthy diet that you 100% enjoy. We will talk about exercising, foods you can try and address bunch of topics related to weight loss. But, to start you need to make a small first step:

Decide that you are willing to change your mindset.

You already know which foods in your diet you should be avoiding. For some of them we will find substitutions. Some of them we will ditch all together. But for this to work you need to be willing to stop associating pleasure to foods that are bad for you.

Leave your comments, and read part 2

If you are up for the journey – leave comment below. I will try to help anyone who comments and wants to lose weight regardless of exactly visit this page.

Part 2 of this guide is up – Lose weight 102: Shifting your mindset and crafting a plan

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