Not a single person reading this post is 100% happy with their body. Not one of you. That is true the population over.

In 95% of cases we can do something about it. We have the knowledge, means and ability to change how we look. It’s not beyond the grasp of anyone to be able to make unbelievable and radical transformations in how they look.

Even those of us with food allergies, medications, injuries, disabilities and dire personal situations can STILL make changes that move us towards a leaner, stronger and healthier body. But getting there, for most of us, sucks.

Dieting is miserable, it involves deprivation, restriction, social outcasting, even inter family disputes. It’s never an easy ride and is always a long hard slog, longer than anyone EVER thinks it is going to be.

But despite the hardship of dieting, and the miserable state it can put us in, it’s not a difficult process, in fact it’s obscenely simple. But note the use of the word SIMPLE, simple does not mean easy. Please understand that.

Ultimately you have to consume fewer calories than you expend in order to lose weight. That’s it. Nothing else. Bingo Bango. Simples. There is no massive expense, no magical exercise, no expensive pills or food stuffs and no ‘secret’. Losing weight is available to everyone and anyone and you can do it from anywhere in the world, with any job, any social background and any physical ability.

You simply need to eat and drink LESS than you are now. That is it. Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it. Just one instruction which if followed would mean your entire life would be different. Almost every part of it.

Think about it for a minute, there is not ONE element of your day, not one, that is not, in some way, affected by either your weight directly, or how you feel about your body. Your body image invades everything and whether you realise it or not is consciously and subconsciously controlling your life. It makes decisions for you and literally changes how you live your life.

But it can be fixed by following one simple instruction. Consume fewer calories. I keep saying it but it IS that simple. Consume fewer calories.

There are of course a number of factors affecting how MANY calories you need to consume in order to lose weight, and every single one of us is different. Illness, medications, work patterns, sleep patterns, stress, current body composition, hormonal profile, dieting history, all affect how many we need to get the job done.

DORIS

13 stone, 5ft 7in tall, 54 years old, works M-F in an office, gets 8 hours good sleep. Needs 1450 calories on average per day to lose weight

DEIRDRE

13 stone, 5ft 7in tall, 54 years old, works M-F in an office, gets 8 hours good sleep. Needs 1150 calories on average per day to lose weight. Why less? Who knows? Seriously. There could be lots of reasons but far too many for me to go into on here.

The point is, wherever your individual level is, whatever the amount of calories you need to lose weight with, that’s it. Congratulations, that’s what you’ve got, and ALL you have to do, to change every aspect of your life, for the absolute better, is stick to those calories.

SO why don’t you, why don’t we, as a collective. Why can’t we do something so so simple as follow one instruction, why is losing weight so hard.

Honestly? You don’t want it badly enough. WE don’t want it badly enough. (bear with me don’t get angry)

You think you do, in the lowest moments of despair, crying to yourself, desperate to change your life, the times where you literally hate yourself, you think you want it badly enough but you don’t.

If you did, you would refuse the biscuits at work, you would make social events fit your diet, you would prepare and cook meals for nights you know you will be in late, you would have emergency frozen food that fits your plan for when all else fails, you would not look at situations and events as ‘well I won’t be able to diet then’ but instead as ‘well I have to make it fit, because I have no choice and this is what I want’.

You would plan your food for the week, you would KNOW 3 days in advance what is for tea, and if all else fails and you are in a situation where there is NO good food choice to have, you would do your best to simply not eat (guaranteed to lose weight)

You would go to bed early and read instead of watching TV at night when you know that is when you snack, you would park the car in the furthest point from the store entrance, you would take the stairs not the lift, you would get off the bus or train a stop early and walk the rest, you would stand more in the office, you would take your lunch to work, you would always be looking for every single opportunity to move you closer to your goals.

The list goes on and on and on and if weight loss is your goal, and you are not doing each and every one of these things that you are physically capable of and that apply to you, then you do NOT want it badly enough. 

And if you don’t, that’s fine, seriously, but if you think you do, but are now thinking to yourself how actually you could do more of those things you have just read BUT “oh but that wouldn’t work cos I don’t have time to prep at night” think about what you have just said, seriously and decide if that is actually really true.

And if you really want this, and you truly do not have time, for example, why have you not spoke to me, told me the problem, asked me for help, asked for a different plan. 

“JJ this doesn’t work for me cos I don’t have time to cook meals, this plan isn’t for me” are not the words of a person who truly want’s to lose weight.

“JJ, I need help, I literally have no time to make food in the evening, please give me options and make this work for me” IS!

So listen, I have ranted on I am sorry but the message here is this.

DO you want to lose weight, truly, honestly, seriously. DO YOU? If not thats fine, or if you are happy for slow, gentle, gradual weight loss, that’s also fine.

But if you are desperate, if you are miserable, if your life is dictated by your weight, then you need to take a long hard look at how seriously you are approaching this, and in the areas you struggle with, ask for help. You are not alone, everyone struggles, no one has it easy, but ultimately no one can do this for you, it’s ALL on you.

Sorry.

BUT just so you know, it CAN be done. 9 /10 people who successfully lose all their weight previously tried losing it for years until one day, reality struck and they realised that messing around with it is actually ruining their lives. And from that moment on they DID want it badly enough, and started parking further away from the store entrance.