The 3 Things I Did to Reduce Stress & Lose Weight

MY TOP 3 TIPS FOR ANYONE STRUGGLING TO LOSE WEIGHT DUE TO EMOTIONAL STRESS & GUILT. 

After obsessing over diet and exercise and constantly feeling guilty about what I ate or how many days in the gym I had skipped I decided I needed something to slow me down and calm my mind. All the negative thoughts and abusive self-talk was catching up to me and although I had always been a confident person growing up I could feel that my self-esteem had plummeted miles below what it used to be. 

I wanted to stop being so obsessed with looking in the mirror and standing on the scale. I wanted to stop feeling guilty after having a delicious meal out with my boyfriend or eating ice cream and watching movies with my friends. So what did I do? I did 3 very important things that changed my body and my relationship with fitness completely. 

WHAT I DID TO STOP STRESSING AND START LOSING

1. I searched for cleaner recipes for the “guilty pleasure” foods I often felt bad about eating (pancakes, cookies, brownies, ice cream, pizza, pasta etc.) I experimented with different recipes until I found healthier versions of my favourite “bad-for-you” foods and that way I had something to satisfy my cravings without feeling all the guilt. Because let’s be honest, completely eliminating things that you love out of your diet for forever is unrealistic, unsustainable, and a recipe for failure. 

2. I started listening to guided meditations and practicing more self-love techniques. I used positive affirmations, which feel corny and awkward in the beginning, but they are so powerful. One of my favourites was “I am enough.” I wrote this on a piece of paper and stuck it to my mirror and read it to myself everyday. 

3. I stopped going to the gym and doing BBG workouts (a bikini body HIIT program) everyday cursing myself on the 4th round of burpees. Nothing against BBG, I followed the program and really enjoyed it for awhile, but it became so repetitive & so cardio heavy that I wasn't enjoying it anymore. Working out isn’t fun when you feel like its a punishment and it makes it much more difficult to get your butt in the gym consistently. I didn’t quit the gym completely at first, but I stopped worrying so much about how many fat burning HIIT exercises I was doing and how many calories I was burning. If I wanted to have a more relaxed workout I’d do strength training on the weight machines where I could sit down and take rests between sets. If I felt energized I’d do interval sprints on the treadmill for 15-20 minutes, and if I was short on time or unmotivated to get in the gym (aka most of the time) I would do yoga at home and not worry about it.

HOW I WENT 7 MONTHS WITHOUT A GYM MEMBERSHIP

I have always loved yoga ever since I was a little girl following along with my mom doing at-home yoga tapes in the living room. But once I decided that I really wanted to shed fat and tone muscle I had this idea that yoga was a waste of time. I was the typical person who thought I needed hard-hitting gym sessions everyday in order to lose weight. The more I felt like I was dying during my workout the more effective, right? Wrong! I did heart-racing cardio and resistance/strength workouts for nearly 2 years and saw very little results, and guess what? I also hated my workouts. 

I always felt good afterwards because any workout makes you feel accomplished, but all day I would envision the box jumps, burpees, and jump lunges and just DREAD dragging myself to the gym. If you go through this thought process before your workouts then you need to change it up, because it’s not a sustainable way to exercise and it weighs heavily on your mind bringing negative energy and stress hormones into your body making it even harder for you to reach your goals. 

So one day I decided to just say, “F*** it” and I started doing yoga at home instead of my usual circuit training in the gym. Nowadays I like to have a mix of both, but at that time I was so bogged down by the negative feelings I had about the gym and the stress and guilt I would feel if I skipped a workout that I just needed a mental break more than anything. I started rolling out my mat daily without the mindset of it helping me lose weight, but with the idea that it was going to help calm my mind and reduce the stress I felt about working out and eating. 

And much to my surprise it did exactly that and MORE. I can’t explain it, and honestly still can’t even believe it, but I started losing weight without the gym, without burpees, and without obsessing or feeling guilty. I started to look and feel so good that I actually went 7 months without a gym membership. 7 MONTHS! and I looked 10x better than I had before when I was in the gym 5 days a week.  

STRESS IS THE ENEMY

Stress was the #1 enemy of all my weight-loss goals. So, if you're feeling overwhelmed about what you put in your body and how hard you train everyday I highly suggest taking a step back and doing something that will calm your mind first.

It may feel like you’re going in the totally wrong direction not being crazy active every day, but by allowing your mind to relax and let go of the many obsessions and negative thoughts you have, your body will follow suit releasing tension and eventually weight.

I had a hard time believing in the true power of the mind-body connection but I’m telling you from my personal experience it is SO DAMN REAL. So start now, take a deep breath. Relax your shoulders and your jaw, close your eyes and tell yourself you are enough.

“I am enough.” “I am enough.” “I am enough.”