“You did not gain all your weight in one day; you won’t lose it in one day.” ~ Jenna Wolfe
Starting with Person in the Mirror
Michael Jackson has some powerful lyrics in many songs, but I thought that “Man in the Mirror” was appropriate to pair with this article about how you can lose weight quickly.
Michael Jackson sings,
“I’m gonna make a change For once in my life It’s gonna feel real good Gonna make a difference Gonna make it right…
I’m starting with the man in the mirror I’m asking him to change his ways And no message could’ve been any clearer If they wanna make the world a better place Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”
MJ gives us a great starting point as the first and most crucial step is taking a profound look at ourselves and wanting to make a change if it’s needed or wanted.
This is not a shallow look in the mirror to have a better beach bod, but instead, looking deeper for intrinsic motivation that goes beyond “looking better.”
Why do you want to drop some pounds? Is it for more significant health goals and increased energy to keep up with your kids/grandkids more? Is it to decrease the pain you feel in various joints as you move through the day? Or is it to increase your mental well-being?
Once you have discovered your WHY, the process strengthens significantly with a solid foundation for change.
Quickest is Not Always Best
To answer the question posed in the headline of this article, the quickest way to lose weight is to move more, drink more water, sleep 8 hours, and enter a caloric deficit.
All of these will get your metabolism going, get you sweating, and decrease how much you’re putting into your system food-wise.
Even if you’re trying to lose weight as quickly as possible, you’ll want to monitor and ensure you’re still getting enough in your system to fuel it properly.
Wrestlers have always been revered in one sense for how quickly they can drop weight before a match.
However, The National Eating Disorders Association estimates that “33% of male athletes in aesthetic sports (bodybuilding, gymnastics, swimming) and weight-class sports (wrestling, rowing) are affected by eating disorders.”
The stat above leads us to the next point: we all want instant gratification and instant results.
As the first quote mentions, we cannot expect to lose the weight we want within one day of exercise.
If you’re like me, you tend to be an all-or-nothing kind of individual and tend to lean into overcorrecting.
For example, this could look like when you overeat on the weekend and then decide it’s essential to run a marathon that Monday to compensate. This type of attitude typically is not sustainable for long-term health goals and healthy weight management.
The mindset needed to achieve successful weight management includes patience and balance.
Patience is necessary because of the time it takes to lose weight consistently. The rate/pace at which you should go about it should be achievable and sustainable.
Balance is necessary because it allows us to be patient and have grace for ourselves with life’s natural ups and downs.
Tiger Medical Institute Takeaways
Trying to lose or maintain a healthy weight is a significant task. That’s why it is called a challenge!
There are a few things you can do instantly to start seeing the scale go down:
- Sleep 8 hours
- Increase movement
- Decrease caloric intake
- Drink more water.
We at Tiger Medical Institute want you not just to get quick wins for your wedding or class reunion but to see you achieve these goals for a lifetime.
That process starts with finding your deepest WHY as it pertains to your health goals, then continues with a mindset of patience and balance along your health/fitness journey.
These are needed because our weight fluctuates throughout the day. We at Tiger Medical Institute want to see overall trends going down over months vs. just minutes, hours, weeks, etc.
We want to shed some pounds but do it sustainably for long-lasting change. So a healthy weight loss graph can look like the following:
As you can see, the overall trend is down, which is what this particular individual desired.
Notice all the little ups and downs along the way? That’s normal and to be expected!
Remember to be patient and strive for balance in your life regarding food, movement, and weight specifically!
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