I recently got asked from someone, “How to lose weight and keep it off?”
Well, I’m about to show you in this article.
You’ll see that it’s not a particular exercise routine or meal plan.
While those definitely play a role, they don’t matter unless you adopt this mindset.
This mindset is the secret weapon.
The secret sauce.
The magic elixir.
The steroids to your fitness journey.
And it’s going to be the one thing that you 100% need in order to get and sustain your results.
Make sure you read all of the way to the end to find out.
Additionally, we’ll discuss some practical tips that you can incorporate into your life today to not only lose weight…
…But also keep it off.
Ready? Cool.
Let’s dive in.
How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: Your Two Super Powers
Fitness success is like any other success story you hear about.
That baseball player who was never drafted and spent years working in the minors.
That college drop out who worked on his business for 10 years before it took off.
Both rely on something special: delayed gratification.
Now, to achieve this, discipline and consistency will be your two super powers on how to lose weight and keep it off.
Because getting in shape is a two step process.
- Get in shape (the easy part)
- Staying in shape (the hard part)
Think of it like this…
Getting results is like winning the battle. Keeping the results is like winning the war.
Anyone can lose weight in the short term.
All you need is a sprinkle of motivation and will power.
The problem most people have is the keeping the weight off for good.
Usually, it looks something like this…
- Motivation is at an all time high when you first start.
- You plan everything out, buy all of the new bougie clothes, cool supplements, a gym membership, etc.
- You get great initial results through relying on will power and working your ass off.
- After 2 weeks, you’re burnt out, motivation has gone to shit, and you end up quitting.
- The cycle repeats.
Sound familiar?
If it does, no worries.
Your story doesn’t have to end like that.
You can still get into shape by activating your two super powers:
- Consistency
- Discipline
Consistency: Doing The Same Things Over and Over Again.
To lose weight and keep it off for good, you have to take enough consistent action that’ll get you closer to that goal.
The results equation look like this: the work you put in = the results you get
Therefore, in order to be consistent, you must have a plan that is sustainable for you (more on this below).
Because, the more sustainable the plan is, the longer you can take action and stick with it.
Which, as you can imagine, will lead to better results over the long term.
Following me so far?
Perfect.
Look at it like this…
Imagine following a plan where you to lose 20 lbs in a month.
Sounds great, right?
However, you don’t learn anything and end up gaining it all back.
It’s almost like giving someone the answers to the test, but they fail the class because they never learned anything.
Now, imagine a plan that’s a tad bit slower.
On the surface, it may look dumb AF since you want quick results.
And there is nothing wrong with that.
But, it’s just like a marathon.
The people who sprint right out the gate tire out quickly and eventually get passed by the runners who pace themselves.
Let’s say you lose 2-4 lbs a month compared to 20 lbs.
That would equal 24-48 lbs over the course of the year.
Dude, that would be a amazing progress.
Not to mention, you’re learning the skills necessary to make this into a lifestyle.
Why is that important?
Because you’re not only learning WHAT to do, but HOW to keep it off as well.
That’s the difference.
So, by taking the more consistent and sustainable route, the results will be more consistent and sustainable.
Ok, But What if You Lack the Discipline to Lose Weight and Keep it Off?
Having discipline means you take the actions on a consistent basis to reach your goal, regardless of how you feel.
Discipline is not a character trait.
Meaning, you’re not born with discipline
So, you can’t use the victim mentality of “I wasn’t born with it” as an excuse.
The cool thing though is that it’s a learned skill.
Just like learning how to dribble and shoot a basketball.
The more you practice, the better you get.
If you want to know how to get into shape forever, you must practice your discipline skill.
This means, doing the shit you’re suppose to do, even when you don’t feel like it.
Remember this: action > feelings.
Because there’s going to be more days than not where you don’t feel like doing shit.
And if you relied on how you felt, you’d rarely take action (which is why people struggle to get results).
Imagine if Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk only worked when they were motivated.
Tesla and Amazon would NOT exist right now and that’s fact.
Trust me, theres so many days where I want to hit that snooze button and sleep in.
But I can’t, because I’ve got shit that’s got to be done to reach my personal goals.
And here’s the cool thing about discipline and motivation…
You Can Create More of It.
- The more action you take when you don’t want to. (discipline)
- The better results you’ll get.
- And the more motivation you’ll create for yourself.
And this cycle continues!
So, motivation, consistency, and discipline all feed off each other.
Which brings me to my next point…
You Gotta Fight, For Your Right, To Lose Weight and Keep it Off
Listen, losing weight and keeping it off is hard.
Ask anyone with a successful transformation.
I’ve had my own that took years to manifest.
I went from being a skinny 15 year old kid who was scared to show off his arms.
To being a confident 26 year old with average sized biceps and a decent looking back.
If I can do it, YOU can do it too.
Why is it so hard you may ask?
Think about it…
You’re building a completely new lifestyle by unlearning your unhealthy habits.
While trying to learn new healthy habits.
All while dealing with the ups and downs of trying to make a transformation.
Plus, you have a lot of other shit going on in your life with work and family so that only adds to it.
It’s like writing with your right hand your whole life, then trying to switch to your left.
Now, I’m not writing this to scare you.
I’m writing this to set you up for success and give you the proper expectation that hard work is going to be required.
So, any person that has gotten in shape isn’t “lucky”.
They worked their ass off to get there.
So, make a pledge right now that “I understand this is going to require hard work. Nothing good in life ever comes easy”.
Got it? Good.
7 Tips on How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off
These tips will be your manual on how to lose weight and keep it off for good.
So, grab a pen and paper, take notes, apply this info, and you’re going to be well on your way.
1. How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: Eat Enough Calories
One of the biggest mistakes I see people make is they cut their calories WAY too low.
This tends to backfire for a few reasons:
1. The Less Food You Eat, The More Hungry You’ll Be.
Now, hunger isn’t necessarily a bad thing when you’re trying to lose body fat, it’s actually normal.
However, always feeling like you’re starving is a different story.
Because that’s when bad things happen.
For example, when I’m starving, I can EASILY put down a whole pizza.
No joke.
That’s not the best if you’re trying to get into shape.
So, it’s best to avoid eating as little as possible.
And instead focus on eating as much as possible.
2. You May Feel Like Shit
Cravings go up, your mood goes to shit, your motivation goes down the drain, and you are going to be like “fuck this”.
That’s not a good recipe for long term progress.
3. You Don’t Have Much Room For Your Favorite Foods
The more calories you eat, the more room you have to include your favorite foods into your diet.
This makes it much more sustainable.
For example, if I’m eating 1,000 calories per day, you bet your ass most of that is coming from whole nutrient dense foods.
Because I want foods that are going to fill me up for not a lot of calories.
If not, I’ll be one starving dude.
On the other hand, if I’m eating 1,800 calories, the progress may be slower but I can throw a cookie to two in their to satisfy my sweet tooth.
4. The Less You Eat, the Harder it is to Retain Muscle.
- Losing muscle will lead to a slower metabolism.
- You’ll have more of that “skinny fat” look.
- And it’ll be harder to stay lean year around.
So, make sure to eat enough.
A sustainable diet consists of eating the most calories you can while still losing weight.
Take your goal bodyweight (don’t overthink this) and multiply it by 11-12.
This is your calorie range.
2. No Foods Are Off Limits
Now, don’t get it twisted…
This isn’t your pass to eat the Twinkie diet.
I mean, you could try but good luck!
After 2 days you’re going to feel like ass.
My point here is to tell you there’s no good or bad foods.
So, you shouldn’t feel guilty of shameful for having something that other people deem as “bad”.
Just like you’re not going to be praised for having a salad.
Food is food.
That’s it.
And you should make the food choices that you’ll be proud of.
Maybe that’s saying no to the pizza and yes to the salad.
Or, sometimes that’s saying yes to the pizza and no to the salad.
Or both!
There’s no right or wrong answer.
As long as you eat mostly whole foods the majority of the time, you’re good!
Just don’t be too “flexible” where you’re ruining your progress.
You still have to be strict enough to make progress, but there is definitely still room for enjoyment.
Remember this… if you can’t sustain this way of eating forever, then this way of eating is not for you.
3. Stick to the Same Routine and Schedule
Your routine and schedule is everything when trying to lose weight and keep it off.
The reason being is you already know what you’re going to do without having to think about it.
When you think too much, your tricky little brain is going to try and talk you out of it.
But, if you just do and not overthink, this shit becomes automatic.
Now, is this something you’ll get right out of the gate? No.
This takes time and effort to learn and create the best routine for you.
This also means NOT to take the weekends off. The weekends account for 40% of your week.
And this is a big reason why a lot of people don’t see the progress they want because they treat the weekends like they don’t count.
Listen, the weekend isn’t magical.
It’s just 2-3 days where you don’t work. That’s it.
You don’t “earn” your weekends off. You earn your results by keeping your weekends “on”.
So, stick to your routine on the weekends (I would even encourage your to workout one day on the weekends to make your weekend better).
Here is an example of my routine Monday-Sunday.
- 6:00-7:00 am: Get up, make coffee, read, journal.
- 7:00-10:00 am: Work
- 10:00-11:00 am: Eat Breakfast and Take mini break
- 11:00-12:30 pm Work More
- 12:30-1:00 pm: Eat lunch
- 1:00-2:00 pm: Go for a walk/study
- 2:00-4:00 pm: Workout
- 4:00-6:00 pm: Train client(s)
- 6:00-7:30 pm: More work or relax
- 7:30-8:00 pm: Dinner
- 8:00 pm: Post dinner snack then get ready for bed
Sometimes this changes, but for the most part this is my plan.
4. Strength Training vs Exercise
The most important point is that any type of exercise is going to be healthy for you.
So, when in doubt, just move.
But there’s one type of exercise that I believe trumps all other types of exercise.
And, in my opinion, that is strength training.
Strength training is simply adding resistance to your bones, joints, and muscles to make them stronger and bigger.
The goal of strength training is for improved aesthetics/body composition, NOT burning calories.
Burning calories comes from nutrition and being in a calorie deficit, which we talked about in point 1.
By building more muscle, it’s almost like you’re getting sculpted by an artist because muscle is what adds definition and tonnes to your body.
Not to mention, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be.
But that’s one part of it.
Strength training is also very time efficient.
Some programs have you working out 6-7 days a week, 1-2 hours at a time (hello P90x).
You will never see me doing that haha.
A proper strength training program only requires you to workout 2-4 days a week for 30-60 minutes a session.
Which comes out to about 1-4 hours per week total.
So, it’s a lot more sustainable from a time commitment perspective.
5. How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: Get Your Steps In
Ok, I know I just rambled on about strength training and how it helps you lose weight and keep it off.
But, there’s an exercise that is easier and may be even more important (both are important by the way).
And that is walking.
Walking is one of the easiest and most accessible exercises out there.
Literally, you can do it right now as you’re reading this.
Research shows that the more steps you get in per day, the longer you’ll live and the healthier you’ll be.
Also, the more steps you get in per day, the more calories you’ll burn.
(This is how you lose weight and keep it off for good)
Try to aim for 7,500 – 12,000 steps per day on average.
I have a whole article HERE for you to read on how to do that.
6. Focus on 1 Day at a Time
There’s no more important day than today.
Yesterday doesn’t matter.
Tomorrow doesn’t matter.
What matters is TODAY.
This is where a lot of people get in trouble, including myself.
I use to stress myself out by thinking about how I messed up the previous day and that I have to stay on track the next 30 days or else I’d be fucked.
Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t plan things out. (Check out point 3)
But, when you stress about it, that’s when it becomes a problem.
Because when you start thinking too far ahead, or are stuck in the past, it can become overwhelming.
So, you’re adding more stress to the pot, and ultimately it may lead to you quitting.
And remember, quitting is the only way you can mess up.
So, that’s something you want to avoid at all costs.
This is where you have to learn about adopting the “win the day” mentality.
This means, crushing everything on your to do list for that day:
When you complete the task, check it off.
Once you have everything checked off, mark that up as a W.
That’s how you win the day.
Then you move onto the next day and focus on the same thing.
And eventually, you’ll have a ton of W’s stacked up, and just like how compounding interest works, stacking up W’s leads to a fortune of results.
Yeah, it may seem monotonous, but that’s because it is.
Doing the same things every day for a long time is how you lose weight and keep it off for good.
Ponder this question…
What are you going to do today to stay on track and get closer to your goals?
7. Flex Your Discipline Muscle
Remember, you can’t let your feelings dictate your actions.
If that were the case, you would never take action.
Shit, this article wouldn’t have even gotten finished.
You must do your shit on your list every. Single. Day.
And you must do this over, and over, and over, and over again.
That’s the secret sauce.
And the more you do the things you’re suppose to do when you don’t feel like it:
- Get that workout in when you’re tired
- Eat the healthy meal vs picking up fast food
- Get in an extra hour of sleep vs watching TV
The stronger this muscle will be, and the easier it will become.
Which means, better results!
The Secret to Losing Weight and Keeping it Off: You Can’t F*ck Up Mentality
This brings me to my last and probably most important point that I want to leave you with.
So, pay close attention.
You need to adopt the “you can’t fuck this up mentality”.
Write this down.
Memorize it.
Say it every night and moring.
Do whatever you gotta do to have this engrained in your mind.
The reason why most people fuck up is they go off track, beat themselves up, and quit.
Talking down to yourself only makes the problem worse because you’re basically bullying yourself.
Now, that’s not to say you’ll never have negative thoughts or feelings.
You 100% will, which is completely normal.
What matters is being aware of those feelings and reframing them that make a massive difference.
Imagine if Michael Jordan would have quit after he didn’t make his high school basketball team when he was down on himself.
The NBA would be completely different and the Jordan brand wouldn’t be a thing – which is a huge part of culture to this day.
You NEED to adopt a growth mindset.
Because your thoughts become your reality.
So, if you practice reframing things into a positive, you’re much more likely to succeed.
And that doesn’t just apply to getting in shape, that’s a life lesson too.
So, Remember There is NO Way to F*ck Up.
I just wanted to say it again so that you hopefully get the point.
Seriously.
Even if you over eat on pizza and ice cream.
Or if you go on a weekend trip and devour alcohol and greasy food.
Or if you miss a week of workouts.
Because there is always one thing that holds true.
And that is.. You’re always one action away from getting back on track dude.
And as long as you continue to have this mindset, you’ll continue to lose weight and keep it off.
It only ends if you quit.
That is the only place you can f*ck up.
Because quitting is for losers and is the only way you can’t put in the work to get results.
So, don’t be scared to fail. Embrace it.
Failure and experience is your greatest teacher.
It’s where your biggest lessons will be learned.
Remember to be kind to yourself, you’re trying your best, and you will succeed if you keep going.
How to Lose Weight and Keep it Off: Final Thoughts
Hopefully you now have the tools you need to lose weight and keep it off.
It’s a lot simpler than it’s made out to be but it’s definitely not easy by any means.
Practice the 7 things above for months and years, and there will be no other option than getting great results.
I can promise you that.
I appreciate you reading dude!
-Bob
Ps. If you want to win 1 free hour long consultation with me, email me at bobhooverfitness@gmail.com with your favorite tip and how you plan to use it.
Pps. Join my mailing list and receive my free Fat Loss Cheat Sheet so you can lose fat, build muscle, and tone up your body HERE.