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| Edited By: Sapna Vyas |Source: DNA |Updated: Jan 13, 2019, 06:40 AM IST
I was 86 kgs when I started working out just to lose weight, but by the time I brought it to 53 kg, I got addicted to my fitness routine. I have lost 33 kg in one year with a lifestyle change (without pills, surgery or crash dieting). I have been working out five to six days a week since the past nine years.
People often ask me, “How did you stay motivated throughout your weight loss journey and even today how do you maintain your weight? What keeps you going? How do you motivate yourself daily?” Here’s what I did...
Daily habits are automatic. They remove emotion from the equation. When you are not emotionally driven, you do things without even thinking about it. That is what we exactly want. You do things out of your habits. I have scheduled a regular workout time. I go to the gym every morning at 6.30 am even if it is a busy day, birthday or national holiday.
The only way to accomplish your fitness goals is by doing the same things over and over again. An athlete gets good at his sport because he practices daily. Do not rely on willpower. It is overrated and you can’t always rely on it to change your habits. This is what you should do instead: Practise good behaviour every day and master healthy habits eventually.
Why do some people seem to lose weight easily while others fail year after year? Is it genetics? Money? Time? While it’s true these may play a small part, there’s something else that has a much larger role. It’s “mindset”. And yours may be holding you back.
What is a mindset? It is a belief about yourself and your most basic qualities. In other words, your mindset is like a muscle: the more you use it to learn and focus on positive thoughts, the stronger it becomes.
What you need to do is, recognise your fixed thinking. Does your mind produce these types of thoughts?
Once you recognise a fixed mindset, you have a choice. Believe those negative thoughts or reframe them. For example:
All you have to do is shift your thinking from couch potato mentality to thinking like an athlete.
When people come to me with the intention to lose weight, the first question I ask is, “Why? Why do you want to lose weight?” Some people tell me I want to lose weight because...
I am sure you must have seen such people, who lost weight just to get married and then once they have achieved their “real goal”, they are again back to their old habits and weight. Because such reasons may motivate people to shed kilos for sometime, but they don’t inspire or ignite a lasting change. Your reason should have the power to be your transformational trigger. I want to lose weight because...
This is what you need to do. Find your transformational trigger.
I have been often asked, “How do you reward yourself for doing exercise regularly?”. My answer is, “I do absolutely nothing”. You don’t have to reward yourself for something that you’re supposed to do. Fitness is for life. It is not an achievement. This is something that should be added to your routine like you eat food or drink water. This is what you’re supposed to do anyway.
