What if I gain it all back?
.
.
.
Opposing feelings surfaced every time I was losing weight: 
happiness (wow, I did it! I feel great! Well done me!)
vs. sadness (what if I gain it all back?) 
Doubts and fears quickly shadowed my happiness.
And every time my worst fear came true: I’d gain the weight back on.
The last time this feeling was creeping in was after my postpartum period when I was starting to lose weight
I was seeing progress but I found myself not wanting to say goodbye to my loose clothes (old habits die hard)
What if I will need them again?
Why should I throw them away and buy the same size 5-6 months from now?
Better keep them just in case…
(This “just in case” is actually detrimental, it’s me telling myself I can’t do it, I will fail again. In the back of my mind, I had a “safety net”. Later on, I understood that the safety net was more like a spider web )
I was in this terrible loop because I was only treating the illness but had no recovery and prevention plan in place (you can see how I like my metaphors 
)
…and man oh man, it’s expensive and mentally draining to go over and over again through the same thing…
I was only following a short time plan (diet + workouts) but I was not forming new habits, so naturally, once the plan was over I was going back to what I knew.
If you start a plan for a fixed period of time with no intention or idea how to continue, of course, the results will be short term and you’ll face the exact same problem sooner than you think.
Losing fat is the first part, how to maintain the weight and prevent gaining again is just as important (this is where habits come in)
I build my foundation on doable, realistic things which became HABITS (and I do the same for my clients) .
Once a habit is created, you can carry on no matter what changes in your life.
Think about what you can do even on your worst day.
Something small. Something that will not disrupt your entire life.
Okay, got it?
Do that every day. And when you have good days it will be easy to build/ add to it. Just like building blocks.
Even on my worst days, I move my body. Even if I’m not hitting 10k steps every day, I still move inside the house. If a workout is out of the question, then I still find the time to do a few squats randomly, a couple of push-ups, lunges, whatever.
Even on my worst days, I have to eat. What I can do is choose food that won’t add stress to my body (fast food, highly processed, deep fried, high in sugar/ salt/ additives) and stick with the simple stuff – whole foods (minimally processed, ideally one-ingredient food, such as nuts, oats, fish, veggies, fruit, beans, eggs…)
There are things you can do. Every day.
These little things not only keep you going, but they have the power to change your habits if done regularly. They are the true builders of your foundation because what’s done daily in small amounts counts and shows in the long run.
No one showed me how to make it into a lifestyle, so I struggled a lot because of that (but you don’t have to ;))
Going back to my postpartum period – although the doubt was creeping in, I quickly tossed out the loose clothes (partially because I was afraid I’d change my mind if I don’t 
)
Even by doing that, I was starting a new habit of not holding on to the things that no longer serve me 
This time around I was not going on a diet, I was building a new lifestyle.
My mind was made up: out with the old, in with the new – clothes and habits
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