Words to Lose by

It's so tempting to let a problem slide, be it an issue at work, a relationship that isn't working or our food habits. The thought of tackling things head on can be so overwhelming that you might want to shy away from action. Sadly, that's unlikely to improve the situation. But don't despair. Any situation can be made right. The decision is in your hands. Do you let things deterior...

Short episode alert! It’s pretty straightforward. High calorie food is simply too high calorie to fit into a balanced diet in anything other than a small quantity. Sometimes we want to have our cake and eat it too, and endeavour to burn off thousands of extra calories so we can binge on junk. A healthy diet will treat your body so much better. When your diet is whole and natural, there’s nothing t...

You might be convinced it’s impossible to lose weight. You feel like you’ve tried everything, but nothing changes. Having spent 10 years at double the healthy weight of someone my height, I understand why you might feel that way. I felt so stuck in the cycle of overeating and weight gain. Any effort to fight against it seemed futile. Thinking about doing all the work at once can be so daunting you...

I can see why people think this, particularly if they themselves have never been overweight. As someone who’s been through it I understand how we can wind up with weight problems against our will. That’s not that part that we choose. Changing is. You can choose to change your life in an instant. Believe you’re capable and make your choice. Enough good choices lead to enormous changes, and your ent...

It would be lovely if there were magical solutions to our problems. Sadly, that’s beyond the realm of possibility. What is possible though, is starting the work. It might not feel like that’s the case, but I assure you it is. You have to believe you’re capable. That’s going to catapult your progress. If all you ever do is wish to be at the finish line, just know that in reality you’ll never get th...

Losing weight can be a battle, but having a plan can shield you from the hardest blows. Personally, I succumb to my urges to overeat the quickest when I haven’t planned a healthy meal. I feel intimidated by all the gym equipment when I walk in without a clue where to start. Preparing ahead of time helps me get through cravings and temptations. It’s obviously okay to splurge once in a while, but do...

A common pitfall in weight loss is to get side tracked by your goal weight. I would stand on the scale every day and do the mental maths to see how far away I was from success. If I could go back now, I’d do things differently. Instead of counting every pound I had left to lose, I could have focused on my behaviour. I should have nurtured my new habits and celebrated them. That would have been muc...

Losing weight the natural way is a struggle. But in that fight, you get stronger. You change. You end up a new person. You emerge from the battle ready to face the rest of your life. There are “easier” paths to weight loss now that GLP-1 injections are widely available. The problem is, the only thing they do is reduce your appetite. I know what you might be thinking. Only? That’s the answer to my...

This is yet another piece of toxic diet culture that I think has the potential to do more harm than good. I’ve relied on it myself for far too long. It sends the message to my body loud and clear that I dislike it so much that I want it to cry. We shouldn’t be punishing ourselves. Self-love is our salvation. Don’t try and make any of yourself cry, even the parts you wish you could part with. Your...

You can ask yourself this question every time you make a food decision. You might want the snack, but you might well want to lose weight more . It's up to you to decide. If you’re in the habit of throwing caution to the wind because you’re having a craving, take a minute to pause and ask yourself this question. There are two paths before you. One might feel comfortable and familiar, but the ot...

Yes, it’s cliché. But the fact that diet is the most important factor in weight loss can never be repeated enough. So many of us eat too many calories to stay at a healthy weight. This is a very recent problem, and it’s coming from the smorgasbord of high-octane processed food options at our fingertips. We can escape it by shifting to clean, whole food. We need to give our bodies the fuel it needs...

You might think once you get to your goal weight, you’ll be able to become a whole new person. Why wait? In fact, shifting how you view yourself can both create new habits and prevent you from limiting yourself based on your perception of who you are. If you see yourself as a loser who can’t shift a pound to save your life, that could become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, see yourself as a f...

Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz gives such fantastic advice on writing comedy that it’s applicable to other areas of life. This line was about not scrapping your material if you start to doubt it. Don’t chuck it all away, give it a minute. This has been invaluable advice to me. I had an awful habit of meeting an obstacle and immediately wanting to give up, both with my comedy writing an...

I concede, it’s not all in the mind. But so much of being in shape is mental, some say as high as 90%. Even if you feel like you have no fitness, you are still the owner of a human brain. The foundations are already there. You won’t believe how much mental strength it’s possible to build, and how far it can take you. Here's a link to some simple breathing exercises - www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li...

I always imagined being able to afford a trainer to whip me into shape. I thought that would make it easier. But it doesn’t. Weight loss is hard, even with someone else there helping you. It’s you that has to do it. A trainer could move your arms and legs for you, but they’d be the one burning calories. Nobody can do it for you. You have to step up, take responsibility and get to work. That’s the...

Everybody knows I love a good debunk, so this week I’ve taken time to address some rumours I’ve heard about calories. The rumour in question came from AI, so maybe it’s my own fault for consorting with robots. Either way, let’s get to the bottom of it. Does 3,500 calories add up to a pound? Listen and find out. wordstolosebypod@gmail.com @wordstoloseby Music Ades Lofi - Ohamigah Lukrembo – Castle...

We have high expectations of ourselves. We’ve been programmed to believe we need to get up and give 100% every day if we want to succeed. But that’s not how nature works. Nothing on Earth gives everything it can every single day. Plants drop their leaves and go dormant. Trees don’t bear fruit all year. Some animals can’t reproduce outside a limited breeding season. You don’t have to submit yoursel...

This is not to be taken literally, I am not commanding you to run. But think about it. We’ve all seen the people in our lives get older. Those that have taken good care of themselves seem to do better in their later years. I was confronted by this phrase when I was still morbidly obese, and it really made me think. I was already struggling to walk. Keeping my mobility late into life wasn’t guarant...

I initially planned to make this an opposite day edition. On the face of it, it’s useless advice. If you feel lost and have given up hope, how is being told to ‘just do it’ going to help? The thing is, we can just do it. We can decide to make a change, then take action. The only thing that can hold you back from that is what you believe. If you’ve convinced yourself you can’t do it you’re already...

One of the biggest battles in life can be reminding ourselves we still have time to accomplish our goals. It’s plagued me almost as long as I can remember. That in itself can be enough to make me want to dive headfirst into a pile of junk food. But the clock isn’t running out. You probably have much more time than you realise. Find my inspirational phone wallpaper here: https://imgur.com/a/ktVjxA2...

It’s hard to build your dream body by accident. It’s actually quite hard to do it on purpose, too. If that’s what you want, the only way to get there is with a killer mentality. Work out hard, eat right and in time your body can be whatever you want to make it. Just don’t shy away from the hard work, or the results you want will shy away from you. Here’s the original image I found 10+ years ago on...

If you’re struggling, don’t despair. Losing weight is a difficult endeavour, but keeping up the fight makes you better at it. The more you struggle, the stronger you can become. The harder you work now, the easier life will be down the line once you’ve developed the skills you need to get there. wordstolosebypod@gmail.com @wordstoloseby Music Swell - I'm Sorry (Feat. Shiloh) LAKEY INSPIRED - M...

Have you ever given up an opportunity because you were worried it would take too long to complete? I certainly have, on multiple occasions. I reckon that's a mistake. I did the same with losing weight. I knew it wouldn't happen right away, but I didn't want to wait to get to the finish line. That ended up stalling me completely. It wasn't until I realised that time marches on regardless of what we...

We’re both the victim and the perpetrator here. We tell ourselves terrible, degrading things. Our bodies get the message loud and clear. The solution is to tell your body nice things. Tell it you love it, that you’re grateful for all the things it does for you, and that you want to take care of it. The body is keeping score, so it’s down to us to make sure the result goes in our favour. wordstolos...

You can’t blame yourself for doing something wrong before you knew how to do it. But once you do know, you have the opportunity to do better than before. Knowledge is power, and if you yield that power right, you’ll get to your goals. Keep learning and you’ll continue to do better and better. As promised, here are some links. Check out the YouTubers I recommended, and please hold back your excitem...