Losing weight isn’t easy, as a matter of fact, it’s really hard. And it becomes much more difficult when you are trying to do it the right way. And by the right way, I mean changing your lifestyle permanently and making healthy living a daily habit.

Millions of folks out there are living a sub par quality of life due to being overweight or obese and many feel overwhelmed by their lack of knowledge about how to lose weight. There is a massive amount of information out there and much of it is conflicting or just plain wrong! Everywhere you look it’s a new miracle diet, the latest fat loss pill, or the best new way to burn belly fat, and it’s confusing the hell out of us.

This article is not meant to try to answer all of your questions or give you the ‘secret to losing weight’ but it will attempt to give you several reasons why you may be struggling. Not exercising, overeating, or eating poorly are the obvious answers, but what if you are eating well and exercising hard? What other factors could be contributing to your lack of results?

Here are some key factors that could be limiting your weight loss goals:

Photo © Alan Cleaver

1) A true desire to change: Without this, you are sunk. It’s easy to tell yourself that you need a change and are going to change, but it’s extremely difficult to lie to yourself about wanting to make a life altering change when deep down  you really don’t want to do it.

Imagine this (may be familiar) scenario-You are sitting on your sofa and you just finished watching The Biggest Loser. You feel inspired and are excited about beginning that new exercise program you’ve been putting off for 6 months now. Tomorrow will be different, you say to yourself. You set your alarm for 5 am the next morning with all intentions of getting on the treadmill and starting your new, healthy life! Does this sound familiar? It probably does.

Many of us have gone through this mindset pattern on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, many of us are in love with the idea of getting back into shape or becoming fit but in all reality, there is no real desire or passion to do it. It doesn’t take long before old habits start creeping back in and you are right back where you started…sitting on your butt! I know because I’ve gone through this scenario many times over the last 15 years or so. You MUST make the conscious decision to change your lifestyle and be 100% behind it if you are going to have long-term success.

2) Discipline: Once you have made a choice to change your life for the better through regular exercise and proper eating habits, it’s time to get on track and STAY on track. This is one of THE hardest things you will do hands down, especially when you are new to fitness.

Being a trainer, I myself have quite a bit of difficulty staying on track and keeping myself focused on my fitness goals…and I know what I’m doing!!

I’ve found that having written specific short and long-term goals helps immeasurably when it comes to staying disciplined. Keeping your eyes on the end result is key to your success. Read your goals daily and reward yourself when you meet a goal.

3) Support: Having a support system is crucial to success if you have difficulty staying motivated. For example, if you have a problem controlling your food choices or portions, having some form of support to assist you with adjusting your day to day choices is extremely helpful. Having a non supportive spouse, family member, or close friend can be debilitating to your progress and unfortunately it’s rather common.

It’s difficult enough to get out of bed to exercise, especially if you hate it, but when you have a loved one working against you, it can spell failure. For those of you who don’t have a support system, look for an artificial one. By that I mean, join a group, forum, or club with people in the same boat as you. If you have the resources, hire a personal trainer to help you out. Is it any wonder why Weight Watchers is so successful? I personally am not a fan of their point counting system, but they have a terrific program that holds people accountable and offers a haven for support.

4) Knowledge: Internet overload. There is soooo much information out there, that it’s nearly impossible to tell fact from opinion (or outright crap). Also, in the health and fitness world, there are a lot of gray areas and that breed opinions. My advice is to always be skeptical of the information you read (sure, even this site) because there are many, many people out there who are looking to make a buck and have no real knowledge of their topic. Your job is to sort the good from the bad and it ain’t easy!
A few reputable resources would be MayoClinic.com. WebMD, or The American College of Sports Medicine’s website.

5) Motivation: One of the biggest questions you can ask yourself is “why am I doing this?” Maybe you just found out that you are pre diabetic and need to lose 50 pounds or that your blood pressure is off the charts and you need to change your lifestyle or risk having a stroke or heart attack. Whatever it is, you need to find your ‘why’. I truly believe if your ‘why’ is strong enough, you can make anything happen.

A strong enough reason to exercise will keep your motivation high even when things are not going well. If you’re not losing weight like you think you should or not getting to the gym frequently enough, remember why you need to.

For further reading, please visit http://www.royfitness.com