When people decide it’s time to lose some of their excess pounds (or kilograms, or stones!), they almost invariably want it to happen then and there. This is entirely understandable – when we decide we want to achieve a certain task, it’s natural to want to accomplish it quickly, especially when it is something as important and potentially life changing as weight loss.

Weight loss, however, isn’t usually something which occurs immediately. It takes work and effort, and is more often than not given up on because of this. While this is the norm, and what is almost always pushed by diet and weight loss sources (and rightly so), it doesn’t necessarily take you years to reach your goals, as long as you’re focused.

While I do not recommend ‘crash dieting’, weight loss pills, surgeries or self-starvation, there is something to be said for the motivational ‘head-start’ given by some of these tactics. What I mean by this, is that if one gets off to a great start to dieting and exercising, and loses a lot of weight quickly, it helps motivate you to keep losing weight. When ones notices tangible changes to the body, this is even more inspiring.

The main problem with this early burst is that it will inevitably slow down. There are lots of people who lose 7 or 8 pounds (or even more) in their first weeks of their new dieting regime, but then in subsequent weeks lose much less. It’s in these subsequent weeks when self-doubt kicks in and a lot of people lose the motivation to continue their weight loss program.

The secret to keeping to your diet plan is to up the pace after the initial weeks weight loss burst depletes, and by all means exercise harder, but please – don’t eat less than you did in your first few weeks! When our weight loss slows down, it’s tempting to drop the calories we’re consuming so as to keep the pounds shooting off. This wont work very well. You probably know by now that you should be eating at least 1,200 calories a day and that must not change if you want to sustain your diet. If you eat less, your body will start converting whatever few calories it gets to fat, and will slow down (but not discontinue) your weight loss, rather than if you eat little but often.

The important thing to remember, even when it becomes hard, is that the weight loss will speed up again, and if you don’t let the dieting take over your life, it will happen sooner than you think. After all, even the strictest diet programs will tell you it is healthy to shed up to 2 pounds a week — that is more than 100 pounds in just a year!

While a year may seem like a long time, it really isn’t, as throughout your weight loss you will notice big changes all the time. You’ll be fitting into clothes you weren’t before, and friends and family will comment on the changes. All of these factors help make the time fly by, and after you reach your goals you’ll realise that fast weight loss truly is achievable!

I recently started watching a playlist on YouTube by a woman nicknamed ‘fatty2slim‘. On her video blog, she has weekly weigh-ins and discusses her exercise and ‘menu plan’. It’s a really inspiring collection of videos, as you see her consistently lose weight every week. So far, Cindy (fatty2slim) (as of January 26th), has shed an impressive 92 pounds, and is very close to reaching her goal weight.

I thought I’d post her playlist here for you guys to enjoy:

Congratulations to Cindy on her huge success!