Why Do Women Want To Lose Weight?

 

In my client registration forms, I always ask clients why they want to change their lifestyle. The main reason they always give me, is to lose weight and look good.

Who doesn’t want to look good?

Looking good is a good motivator but if it’s the only motivator you have for changing your lifestyle, it may not take you very far.

Different people have different reasons for starting a wellness journey

Musicians try to maintain a healthy lifestyle because of their work; most of their fans not only love their music but their body

Some do it for their spouse; some do it to get a job.

What of you?

• Why do you want to change your lifestyle, why did you register in a gym or start online wellness coaching?
• What exactly made you come out and pay money to a coach, register in the gym or go out for a run in the morning even when you just want to curl up in bed and sleep?
• Are those intentions right? If things change will you continue or will you stop, is it something you can keep doing for the rest of your life?
• Is it something you are surviving and struggling with or are you thriving in it?

Answering these questions honestly is very important because, just looking good will never be enough.

I also get other answers as well; some women tell me they just want to fit in standard seats. One of my dear clients came in after she couldn’t fit in a chair then fell with the chair as she was squeezing herself in

For others it’s struggling to get into their car, squeezing in and feeling uncomfortable.

These are great wake up calls, but the missing part is their intention.

Celebrities also gave their reasons for changing their lifestyle:

Meghan Trainor told E! News, that she lost weight because of her kids. She doesn’t have kids yet, but she’s planning to and according to her she wants to be “be the healthiest I can be for those kids.”

 

For Empire star Gabourey Sidibe, her wakeup call was her type 2 diabetes diagnosis in 2016.She didn’t want to spend her life worrying that her toes will be cut off and she didn’t want to be “in pain every time I walk up a flight of stairs.”

For Khloe Kardashian it was about getting revenge on her ex Lamar Odom.

These intentions sound great but the one that touched me the most because it agrees with my belief about weight loss is this reason by Oprah Winfrey. She told Weight Watchers Magazine “I needed to get clear on my intention. I could lose weight to fit a dress size or attend an event or to make other people like me. But I couldn’t keep it off for those reasons. I always put the weight back on,” “This time I changed the intention to; ‘I want to be the healthiest I can be — physically, emotionally, spiritually. “So the process and purpose of losing shifted for me. It was easier, because my intention was clearer.”

 

That’s just it, ladies.

That’s the way to a sustainable weight loss; simply developing a culture of health and total wellness.

There are different aspects of wellness: emotional, spiritual, mental, financial or economic and social.

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as a state of complete, physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely an absence of illness”

That means having consistent energy, emotional and spiritual balance, mental clarity, resistance to stress, freedom from infection, having a balance between career and family, ageless aging, healthy weight and – an absence of illness.

All you need for weight loss and sustainable weight loss is inside the culture of health, not outside of it.

Desire a healthy weight but not only that; desire to be well in every aspect of your life.

That’s why I no longer use before and after photos even though it seems to be the rave, and use testimonials instead. When you make it about body alone, you forget other important aspects of your life that is equally important. Those are the things that are not seen but they determine how far you will go in sustaining a healthy lifestyle and your weight.

Women have dieted and exercised to lose weight and there was an outbreak of eating disorders and bodies that became resistant to even the most restrictive measures.

So you lost 20 kg, that’s great, but why is it important to you?

Is it because you’re bombarded with images of slim models trotting confidently on the runway and want to look like them or because you want to be healthy?

Most of those models don’t look that way by choice; but that’s what the industry needs for it to thrive and that’s what they get paid for. Just like the fitness industry concentrates on your body alone and weight loss, so supplements can be sold and the industry will thrive.

But ultimately, concentrating on just the physical aspect of your alone is not enough.

Models are not an ideal of a realistic or standard image of a female body. It doesn’t make them healthier either. It doesn’t also mean that a fuller figure makes you unhealthy.

There’s a difference between overweight and obesity. Look at the images on these BMI numbers  again and take a good look at your body.

For any weight loss goal to be sustainable, the person inside, relationship, emotions, sexuality, purpose, finance and spirituality will play their role.

You are a whole person, made up of several parts and they all have to work together effectively for you to be healthy, have a healthy weight and sustain that weight loss.

This is what derails your weight loss journey not will power. Evaluate your wellness wheel.

I will love to hear from you. Do you agree that total wellness affects weight loss and the ability to keep it off? Leave your comments below.

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