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The Amy Roddy Coaching Podcast
Lose weight for the last time using a health first approach
The Amy Roddy Coaching Podcast
#017:Results Revealed! - Listen for an update of my most recent 6 week fat loss phase
I am sharing my experiences and results from my recent six-week fat loss phase, reflecting on the importance of self-awareness and sustainable habits. Through weight tracking, body measurements, and personal insights, I explore the psychological and practical challenges of dieting.
• Detailed results from my six-week fat loss journey
• Importance of tracking multiple metrics for progress
• The significant impact of daily habits on long-term results
• Personal reflections on emotional responses to weight fluctuations
• Insights on sustainable eating practices during weight loss phases
If you'd like to work with me reach out, you'll find me on instagram @_amyroddycoaching or for more information on my services check out my website www.amyroddycoaching.com
Hey everyone, welcome to another episode of the podcast. Today's episode is an update of my results, so if you haven't already done so, make sure you go back and listen to episode number 13. That was recorded six weeks ago and in that episode I outlined my intentions for my current six week fat loss phase. I told you what I was gonna do and how I was gonna do it. So make sure you listen to that episode, because in this episode I am now going to update you with my results of the last six weeks and whether or not I followed through with my commitments. So this is going to be a really valuable episode for anyone, especially if you're on your health and fitness journey yourself or your fat loss phase, because you're going to get an insight into what I'm doing and the results I'm getting from my efforts that I'm putting in. So this is my second intentional fat loss phase or intentional dieting phase in the last six months, and I was just thinking recently that I'm pretty much, I suppose, a newbie when it comes to like dieting phases and even like as much as I hate to say it, I suppose, in the gym in terms of like. I've never consistently followed a progressive strength training program for months and months on end, tracking my weights, tracking my progress and being consistent following a program, and these are all the things I suppose that you need to do if you do want to give yourself the best possible chance to change your physique and my whole life. I suppose I was always into health and fitness and I was always into the gym, but my priority was football. So I'd spend eight months out of the year focusing on performance on the pitch and running and training sessions, and then it was only really I suppose when I think about it, in like the off season mainly so those two months of the year when football was completely finished. That's when I'd go into like spells of training consistently in the gym and I'd be in the gym for those two months. But then the minute February, march, hit, the shift would focus again and I was out playing on the pitch. I'd still like be dabbling in the gym, kind of tipping away, like trying to keep myself, I suppose, injury free for football. But, as I said, it was never kind of focused around physique change or body composition change. So I suppose I'm a newbie in that sense.
Speaker 1:Now, obviously, that football has finished, I am now focusing on maintaining health and fitness standards and as part of that process, I've found that one of my kind of recurring goals that keeps propping into my mind that I want to achieve is to change my physique. I suppose it's something that I've always wanted to do and would have loved to have done to like get to the point where you commit to something and you see the physical differences in your body in terms of, like, visible muscle definition. It's just I don't I'm not sure if everyone else feels like this, but I just think it'd be a cool thing to achieve and a cool process to go through um. And I never really could prioritize this up until now because, as I said, I was always playing football. So, while, yes, it was always on my mind to do something cool like that, it's kind of hard to go through those like dieting phases and the phases that you need to go through um to get that level of physique when also one of your goals is performance and playing football. But saying that, I am happy that I'm going through it now and I kind of have these goals and intentions now because when you're younger and when you aren't as clued in in all things fat loss and nutrition and we don't have kind of knowledge and experience behind you, it's very easy to fall into the stupid dieting phases and the stupid quick fixes that you see being promoted every single day on social media.
Speaker 1:And just a quick story a couple of years back I actually was victim to one of these silly dieting phases. I remember following this guy on Instagram no, sorry, it was on Facebook at the time and he was promoting this rapid kind of weight loss protocol saying lose weight, or sorry, like lose a certain amount of weight, like I know he was promising like lose 10 pounds in five days following these specific set of steps. And look, I've got to admit I got sucked in, even though I knew deep down like it was water weight. You know he was getting a lot of people on board with it. Everyone was kind of hyping it up, saying, oh my God, it actually works. And yeah, it is hard not to get sucked into these silly scams when there's a lot of hype around it and when the marketing is good. So basically, he had a set of steps that you had to follow to the T for I don't know. It was like five days.
Speaker 1:It was a very short amount of time and the steps were like go for a cold shower every single day, start your morning with lemon water, but then the main thing in it was you had to cut out all carbohydrates, so literally no carbs. It was a zero carb diet. You had to only eat protein and fats and obviously you're going to lose a lot of water weight, you're going to lose the pounds and but I done it anyways and I remember feeling like so dizzy the first two and three days I had this real intense headache and yeah, it was like impossible to stick to and yeah, I lost a couple of pounds. I looked leaner, but just as quick as I lost it I regained again in four days time once I started eating carbs and reintroducing carbs into my diet.
Speaker 1:So the reason why I'm bringing this up is that obviously now I'm going through this phase, these dieting phases, and, you know, intentionally trying to change my physique when I'm older and wiser and have more knowledge in all things weight loss, health and fitness. But it makes me think about not only like when you're younger you do stupid things, but it doesn't really matter about your age. It's more about even women right now, who are feeling kind of down themselves, not feeling confident, have might have gained a couple of pounds. They're not feeling confident in their own skin. They're scrolling social media, they're feeling vulnerable during these times and then you have these people promoting these stupid, you know, rapid weight loss diets and it's very easy to get sucked in on them. So it's why every program that I put out online, I make sure that people understand you know what they're doing and why they're doing it, and I give them realistic, you know expectations to have based on their starting point, based on what they want to achieve, and I just think it's very important to push more of that content out.
Speaker 1:So, as I'm documenting my own fat loss phase, I stepped on the scales, as I'll be mentioning now in a second, every single day for 42 days and you'll see the results now in a second. But I just think it's very important to be honest and even though, look, my journey is different to your journey and my results will be different to your results, because there's so much kind of context and things that are dependent on the outcome of everyone's results in terms of individual results and how they can change, but I just think it's important to be sensible if you have a like, especially a fat loss goal, you have to go into it with a bit of common sense and you have to get really good at being self-aware, because that is a really important part of the process, as I'll explain throughout this episode. And finally, I just want to mention that a friend mentioned this to me this week and I thought it was a very profound piece of wisdom, even though I suppose it's again, it's very obvious when you say it, but you can't be a specialist in any area of health and fitness until you've went through it and came out the other end of it. And I think that's really important for me, especially because, as I said, yes, I was always into health and fitness. Growing up, I was very active, I was in the gym, I was doing running, I was playing sports. But in terms of fat loss, that is a process that you know it's, it's uncomfortable, it's difficult, there's approaches to it that you have to you know, undertake, and I think it's important for me as a coach. Even though I don't have a significant amount of weight to lose, I still think it's important for me to go through the process so I can help my clients better and understand the process and the struggles as you go through it a lot more. So, yeah, that's a big driving factor for me at the minute, especially with my own health and fitness goals, and you know I'm reminding myself of that as I go through it myself. I'm kind of using that as motivation and drive and inspiration, because I know it's going to help both me and the clients that I help going forward.
Speaker 1:Okay, so the reason probably you're here and listen to this episode is because I am obviously sharing my results over the last six weeks. So, without further ado, here we go. I have been tracking my weight every single day for 42 days, documenting it on Instagram under the same circumstances. Every single morning I'm taking a picture of the scales and the reason why I want to do that. Just very briefly. I'm sure if you're following my journey on Instagram, you're going to know this already, because I mentioned it about 17 times a day, but I want to just show you the fluctuations that can occur that, again, have nothing specifically to do with body fat. Yes, obviously, body fat can't. You can lose and gain weight and that will impact the number and the scales, but again, there's so many other factors as well that contribute to that number. So that was the reason why I wanted to document my weight every single day. I put it into a highlight on Instagram, so now you can literally tap through it and you'll see all the fluctuations.
Speaker 1:So on week number one, I got my average weight that week and it was 67.3 kg. On week six, I got my average weight and it was 67.3 kg. Literally the exact same in terms of average weight from week one to week number six. Now, saying that my heaviest weight throughout the six weeks it went up to 68.5 kg and then my lightest weight went down to 66.4 kg. So I fluctuated between 66.5 kg up to 68.5 kg. I fluctuated between 66.5 kg up to 68.5 kg. So it just goes to show like imagine if I had thrown in the towel on that day when the scales went up to 68.5. And likewise when it went down to 64, or, sorry, 66.4,. It's just so important not to place so much emphasis on that number because it changes so often and it doesn't tell you the full story. So that was my weight. Literally nothing changed in terms of my weight.
Speaker 1:And the next part is very important because this is why it's really important to take a number of different tracking metrics when you're undertaking your own fat loss phase or physique change. So I tracked my weight, but I also was recording my measurements. I'm using progress photos and I'm being mindful and just being aware of how my clothes feel. So my measurements and I took four measurements um, two around my waist, so upper waist and kind of lower waist. Um, on week one my upper waist was 31.2 and then on week number six, so this week it was 30.5. So again a slight change, nothing major or significant. Um, my lower waist, so my waistband, or kind of my belly button area, just under my belly button is where I usually pull the tape around that was 36.6 on week one and it was 35 on week number six. So again about just over an inch in difference on those ones. And I also took a measurement around my hip area that pretty much didn't change much, it's pretty much 38 and it's 38 again this week.
Speaker 1:And then my back. This one was kind of pleasantly surprising and so I take a measurement, kind of just I pull the tape underneath my armpits and kind of bring it around my back and just on top of my chest, and on week one that was 35 inches and on week number six it was 33. So usually, like, if it's like a two inch difference, I kind of, you know, accept that that is definitely coming down or there's a change. And because, again, me being me, I'm just so hard on myself unless I see something significantly different, especially like with my waist, my measurement, sorry and progress pictures, I always kind of think, well, it could be like a little bit of you know, human error, or you know, if there's only like a half an inch in the difference, you know, maybe did I pull the bat or the tape a little bit tighter, I don't know. I think like this. So, unless I see something significant and I think two inches is significant you can't really make a two inch error, um, with the measuring tape when you're tracking your measurements. So, anyways, look, either way, my measurements are coming down and my weight is staying the same. So what is that telling me? Well, it's telling me exactly kind of what I would like to happen, and hopefully I'm maintaining muscle mass while losing body fat, and that's the exact situation that you'd want to see happening, especially when you're a fat loss phase, because you want to maintain as much muscle mass as you can, especially while you're in a calorie deficit.
Speaker 1:So that was my results in terms of weight and measurements, progress photos. I took them as well and again. If I was to show them to you right now, if you could see them on the screen, like you'd have to kind of look at them in detail to be like, which is the before, which is the after? There's nothing really significant in it. Um, now you can see like subtle changes. I am getting a little bit leaner in areas, but again, nothing drastic. And again, what does that tell me? Well, even though this is my second, I suppose, intentional dieting phase in the last six months, it just tells me that in order to see like significant changes in a shorter, in a shorter amount of time, I really do have to go strict and get very accurate and, um, get very, I suppose, almost close to perfection in terms of my efforts if I wanted to see significant results in a shorter amount of time. And I'll touch on that and the pros and cons of doing those in a second. But that's pretty much an update on my measurements in the last six weeks. So what I'd say? There is nothing significant, nothing like wow, amazing, but saying that like it is going in the right direction.
Speaker 1:So, before I move on to the five thoughts that I've had on my fat loss phase, I think it's important as well to share my consistency and my commitment to the plan over the last six weeks so you can get a clear picture of what my results were based on the effort that I put in. So if I was to give a rating to each of the areas of nutrition and training that I was planning on sticking to. So with my calories, my aim was to hit 1700 per day, along with 100 grams minimum of protein. Was I consistent and was I accurate with my calorie tracking across the six weeks? Short answer, no long answer. It depends because, while yes, I was, I gave a good effort to it, like I was very intentional, I genuinely tried very hard to do it, but at the same time, I was battling a couple of unsupportive eating habits that I'm trying to improve, and just, I'm human. So I wasn't 100% perfect. But if I was to give it a rating, I would say that I was probably a solid, like seven and a half out of 10 in terms of consistency and accuracy with my tracking.
Speaker 1:My calories I did make an effort to track every single day, and on top of that, if you remembered from my episode back on the 6th of January, I also set a little mini challenge for myself that I didn't want to eat any chocolate, any crisps, any biscuits, any sweets, any tatoe, any takeaway. I wasn't going eating out, I wasn't going drinking any alcohol, and that wasn't just because, you know, I was losing weight and I felt like that's what I needed to do to lose weight. That was like a little mini challenge that I set for myself because, again, as I said, I'm still kind of working on my own unsupportive eating habits and I stuck to that pretty much, except I did start eating chocolate again and I started bringing that back in and I'm going to blame the storm. So when we had that bad storm storm on, or eon or whatever you call it, and that weekend when there was no electricity in the house, I caved and I was like, fuck it, I'm eating chocolate, and so I did from that. That was must have been, I think, like the third weekend, and I did start eating chocolate again, but I didn't eat out, I didn't have any takeaways, I didn't drink any alcohol. So the reason why I'm telling you that is because you still have to be accurate with your calorie tracking and you can still maintain your weight or gain weight or not lose weight even though you're eating a relatively healthy diet. So I just wanted to bring up that point as well before I moved on with everything else.
Speaker 1:Like, my consistency with training has been pretty good over the last number of months, not even just in this like six week fat loss phase. I've been in the gym since I stopped playing football pretty much back in what was it? April 2024 and I've been consistently trying to keep my standards high when it comes to my health and fitness in terms of activity in the gym and running and walking and getting my step count high. It's been okay, it's decent. Like I don't think I've missed a gym session since I started my own health and fitness journey back in April of last year. I'm still doing my two upper sessions, two lower sessions and I'm pretty much being consistent with them every single week, which I'm happy about. And then I've my 10,000 step goal per day.
Speaker 1:I don't actually have a Fitbit, so I can't really track this accurately, but I've gotten to the point now where I kind of know exactly how much movement I need to do per day to know that I'm hitting around 10,000 steps, because I've tracked it in the past and again. If I was to give it a rating like, I'm not going to be too hard myself here, even though my mind always goes to I could be could have been better. So I'm going to be hard myself in terms of rating it, but probably, like I'd know, like a 7 out of 10 as well in terms of have I been making an, making an intentional effort to move as much as possible. So I feel like I have been actually making an effort with that. I do walk to work. I try and walk everywhere. I've actually started walking to the gym, which is very far away from my house, and so I've been adding things like that in to try and get my movement high and because, as I said, I do spend a lot of my afternoons, usually on the laptop and sitting down. So, yeah, that's pretty much what I set out to do on the 6th of January. That's what I'd done and that were they were the results that I got, so you can interpret those as whatever you want.
Speaker 1:Okay, just before I end the episode, I wanted to share five thoughts that I typed out on my phone throughout this six week fat loss phase because, as I said, as I go through this process myself, I'm learning a lot about myself. It's a it's a good process to go through. I would recommend it to everyone to try, and you know, improve your health and fitness standards and your healthy habits, and all that because you do learn a lot about yourself. So I'm going to really quickly share the five things that I wrote down on my phone throughout the last six weeks that I thought would be valuable for you if you're listening and if you are on your health and fitness journey yourself. So the first one that I wrote down it's kind of funny is the number on the scales does bother me at times, even though I promote it online that it doesn't or that it shouldn't, but I am human, like everyone else and I'm not going to lie.
Speaker 1:There were times throughout the last six weeks when I stepped on the scales and I was posting that picture on Instagram and I was like what the fuck? Like I was like all my efforts and this could have been off the back of having three really good days of eating where I was very strict and accurate with my calories, and then the number came up at like 68 and I was like what the fuck you know? But I am human and as much as I say it online, that like it shouldn't bother you, and you do have to stop and remember why the number on the scales could be showing that number. Um, sometimes, look, we're all human and it can be disheartening, discouraging and annoying at times. So if you are someone, you're either going to be someone who needs to throw the scales in the bin or just use it sensibly and just understand these fluctuations and don't let them fucking ruin your day. They will, for a moment, like they ruined. They ruined moments for me in the morning for like five minutes, but then I got over and I moved on and I had a little chat with myself and I, you know, got focused again. So if it does ruin your whole day though, um, even though you know and you understand the fluctuations, but it still ruins your day, fucking toss them out.
Speaker 1:The second thing that I noticed was that it's not the occasional meal out, that's the issue. It's your daily habits that you're not willing to change. So, as I said, throughout the six weeks, I said that I just set a little challenge myself that I wasn't going to eat out. No restaurants, no alcohol, no nights out, nothing. And what I've realized is that those moments that you have at the weekend, that takeaway that you have, it's rare. Okay, it's a rare occasion that you have and in the grand scheme of things, it's never going to be the thing that's causing you to not lose weight.
Speaker 1:Now, you know, unless you're really overdoing it, you know, a couple of times a week obviously, um, but for most of us, we all might go out, like what, twice a month. Am I being really boring by saying that if you go out for a meal, maybe twice a month, maybe go out for drinks, I don't know once a month? And if you are in a fat loss phase, if you're having a takeaway, even like once a week, like I don't think it's going to really put you up or down. Now again, you'd have to, I'd have to have more information on this to know if that's accurate or not. But my point is, those occasional meals out and nights out aren't the issue. It's our daily habits that we're just not willing to change or that we're not working hard enough to change that. That is the issue.
Speaker 1:So for me personally, as I said, I have an unsupportive eating habit that I'm working on. I'm a mindless snacker, obviously, like the rest of us, overeat at nighttime too much and I struggle kind of with nighttime eating and the weekends I usually go off track. So they're all the things that I'm trying to kind of rein in and get a handle on and trying to improve, and I'm noticing that the more I do that I know it's going to serve me going forward, because at the end of the day, those daily habits are going to be the reason whether I get to my goal or not at the end. So something practical for you to take away with this you need to figure out when those things are necessary or not and when those things are an issue or not. So, for example, if you get annoyed at yourself or if you feel guilty at the weekend because you have a takeaway and you're trying to lose weight, is that takeaway actually an issue? In the grand scheme of things, is that takeaway actually the reason why you're not losing weight? You need to know that because at the end of the day, we all have lives to live and we have to, you know, take a sensible approach to this and if you're someone who gets really obsessed with this and you start sacrificing nights out and family nights out on different things just because you're trying to lose weight. When it's unnecessary, then you need to know that and you need to get better at knowing whether it's an issue or not.
Speaker 1:Okay, point number three that I wrote down this week overindulgence is often mistaken for balance, and it's funny that I wrote this down because a lot of my clients in check-ins recently have been saying things like they just feel at night time they deserve a treat after the kids are in bed. This is when I kind of discuss when we bring up like night time eating and going off track the weekend, and I kind of get deeper with them and I'm like why is it happening, you know, is it something to do with your habits during the day? Are you restricting, that? You're not eating enough protein and fiber, and they're like no, like I'm eating. You know well, during the day my meals are all balanced and nutrient dense. But it's just that feeling at night time, that comfort that you're longing for when the kids are in bed long days over, you just want to collapse on the couch with a bag of tato and a chocolate bar and relax and, like I said in the last point. You need to get better at knowing if that's an issue or not.
Speaker 1:So sometimes we over indulge and we'll kind of justify in our mind by saying, oh well, we all have to live and you have to, you know, incorporate these things and you have to factor these things in as well. You can't be restricting chocolate, and that is 100 true, but at the same time is is this something that's an issue? Is your overindulgence on your comfort food the thing that's constantly keeping you out of a calorie deficit and preventing you from losing weight? You need to know if that's an issue or not, and the only way you're going to know that for sure is by tracking your calories. So, yes, you can absolutely factor in chocolate bars and ice cream or whatever you want into your meal plan, as long as it's within your calorie needs in terms of being in the calorie deficit. So you can absolutely factor them in.
Speaker 1:But for me personally, what I realized with this was, while I love chocolate as much as the next person, for me it's a trigger food and no matter how much I try and you know, portion it out and just have one bar of chocolate, I'm just always left with this kind of feeling of dissatisfaction. So if I have one chocolate bar, even like a Freddo, like something that's, you know, low in calories, you could factor it in. You could have it with a cup of tea at the end of the night. Know low in calories, you could factor it in. You could have it with a cup of tea at the end of the night. And for some people that would satisfy them and they're happy with that. For me, I'm just left like, oh my god, I want another one, and obviously they're designed to be that way. So again, just be mindful of your habits and your. You know, when you do over, indulge on certain things, is it an issue or is it not? And tracking your calories will tell you that. Okay, and the last two things. So just really quickly.
Speaker 1:I suppose this is a big thing that has been coming up since I started this journey in April of last year and it's the things that I'm learning about myself as I'm going through these fat loss phases. So right now, I'm a healthy weight, I'm healthy BMI, I'm relatively fit, strong and healthy. Everything is good in that sense. But I still have this kind of urge and desire to push hard and change my physique and that requires a lot of effort and discipline. But I often find myself coming back to saying things like oh, but I'm like a healthy weight. Like why do I need to push that hard? My body is actually happy at this weight. I think my body just loves being at like 66 or 67 kg, so why am I pushing hard to change it? You know where is this coming from, and even though I know why I want to do this, like I want to do this because I just want to challenge myself and I think it would be cool to go through that process, as I said, and see can I actually change my physique. I just think it'd be something cool to do. That's literally the the long and short of it. There's no deeper reason really. But I do always kind of come back to trying to take like the safer path and the easy path by saying, oh, but I don't really need to do it.
Speaker 1:As I said, I'm maintaining my health and fitness standards, I'm relatively fit and healthy, and what I'm wondering about myself is that am I fearing failure? Am I is it? Do I kind of subconsciously want to avoid doing the hard and uncomfortable things? Am I thinking that if I do put this out there and if I tell everyone publicly, publicly, this is what I'm trying to do, and then I fail. Like am I fearing that? So it's just interesting kind of my thought process as I go through these stages. One thing, though, that I'm very, very aware of even though, yes, I do want to push and I would like to change my physique, I'm, like, extremely self-aware, and I'm one thing as well when I'm coaching clients, and this is why I always try and make mindset and mental health the forefront of it.
Speaker 1:Just as much as your physical health, your mental health is so important too. I feel like I've got a really good ability to know if it's becoming more of a negative than a positive in my life. So the things that I'm doing, is it becoming a negative? Am I showing up the best for the people around me? Still, even though I'm going through this health and fitness journey or trying to change my physique in this way? You know, pushing myself hard to go through dieting phases even though, as I said, I'm already at a relatively healthy weight. The harder I push, you know, the more my body is going to resist and push back, and it is going to be hard to go through it.
Speaker 1:But, as I said, if I'm doing it with a sensible approach, if I have an understanding and you know an internal reason why that I'm doing it and I'm not doing it for any other reasons other than for myself, then I think it's okay. But a lot of people aren't like that and that's what I said at the start. Like you know, when you're younger, you do stupid things and when you're kind of vulnerable and feeling kind of down and shitty about yourself, you do stupid things, and that's why it's so important to go through it with self-awareness and having that ability to catch yourself if it is becoming an issue. Are you becoming really obsessed with calorie tracking? Are you becoming really obsessed with the scales? Are you starting to avoid social events and nights out with your family or nights out with your partner because you're trying to do all these things? And, to a certain extent, yes, there are some sacrifices that need to be made, but you have to, like, look at the bigger picture and, you know, have that ability to know if it's actually more of a negative in your life than a positive. So that's just something interesting.
Speaker 1:I suppose that I'm going through and, but on my, my side of it, I'm kind of more. I definitely won't push to the point, and I found that out in the last six weeks. I'm not going to push to the point where I'm, you know, doing something um unhealthy to my body, like I'm taking a very sensible approach with it and, as I said, there's no fear of me not eating enough calories and there's no fear of me, you know, if I don't want to go to the gym, like, I'm not going to like fucking get up at five o'clock in the morning and push myself to go to the gym and then, like, go through a, like a really crazy day and, you know, sacrifice sleep to get up and run like, and I know there are some people who get very, very into it and very, very obsessed and again, like, each to their own and all that. But you have to have that ability to um, catch yourself and know if it is becoming more of a negative than a positive in your life. And finally, the last point that I wanted to share with you is that, surprisingly, I am actually improving my unsupportive eating habits while being in a calorie deficit, and that's kind of, you know, unheard of a lot of the time, because when you do go into a calorie deficit, you do have to. Obviously it's pretty much intentional dieting or, sorry, intentional starvation. You are restricting calories and usually as a result, you can develop a lot of unsupportive health, unsupportive eating habits, sorry, um, as part of that process.
Speaker 1:But for me, I'm finding that I'm improving my eating habits in terms of working on improving my unsupportive eating habits that I have. So I used to be a mindless snacker. I used to overeat at nighttime and I used to go off track the weekend. Now I still do those things, but it helps, don't, you know, identify with those habits. I'm not saying I am a mindless snacker because it's something that I'm working on and it's definitely getting better. It's not perfect, but the more I'm aware of it, the more I'm kind of managing it and I'm really happy about that, because that's something that has always kind of been an issue with me and it's probably the reason why, if I'm not aware of it and constantly aware of it because I personally need to be aware of it and I need to be very intentional with the choices that I make around nutrition I can very easily kind of go off track and over time I know myself I will gain weight because I'm a fucking devil for just mindless snacking and overeating mindlessly. So, yeah, for me, there are a lot of positives coming from these dieting phases.
Speaker 1:Okay, so what's next? What's my intentions going forward? So I'm definitely going to continue for another six weeks because, as I said, like the last six weeks, it was pretty manageable and I'm learning more as I go through dieting phases. I'm learning more about how I can go through them better. As I said, I wasn't like 100% perfect with my nutrition and I am taking the approach where I do want to kind of go into strict dieting phases for a certain amount of weeks. I think 12 weeks is a good time to really be intentional and strict. So, in this situation, I wasn't perfect for the last six weeks, so I'm going to do another six weeks where I'm going to get better and when I update the podcast again, my score of 7.5 out of 10 for nutrition, I'm hoping it's going to be up on 8.5.
Speaker 1:So I do want to improve my nutrition and my discipline around my eating and my my accuracy with tracking calories. So I want to give myself the opportunity to go again for another six weeks of intentional dieting and, as I said, my approach to this is I want to go all in for like 12 weeks, lose the weight, see the results, but then spend the rest of the year maintaining. So I'd want to go all in for like 12 weeks, lose the weight, see the results but then spend the rest of the year maintaining. So I'd love to go through strict fat loss phases get in, get out, get it done and then maintain. But as I'm learning and what I'm realizing about myself is that I'm not at the level that I want to be at yet to actually say that yeah, I've done a 12 week fat loss phase and I'm happy with my efforts in it, if that makes sense. So the current one that I'm in now, yeah, I'm going to spend the next six weeks and I'm going to try a little bit harder and I'm going to improve my efforts compared to the last six weeks, but it still wasn't 12 weeks of giving myself, you know, a proper run at it and a proper go at it. Now, this is the approach that I'm taking, because I want to get in, get it done and get out and then maintain and just focus on maintaining my weight and getting focused in the gym and working on kind of building muscle mass and changing my physique that way. So that's my approach to it.
Speaker 1:But another approach to weight loss and this is what I'd recommend for most of the clients, especially that come to work with me is taking a more flexible approach. So you're kind of taking, instead of like thinking 12 strict weeks, you're thinking 12 months and in those 12 strict weeks you're thinking 12 months and in those 12 months you're simply just improving your healthy habits. You're being intentional and aware with your nutrition. You may not be tracking calories. You may kind of have an idea from previous spells of tracking and you're kind of going to kind of eyeball on things, but you're not like tracking every single day. You're not recording your weight. You're not kind of doing all the things I'm doing in this 12 week strict phase, but you're still being mindful and intentional.
Speaker 1:And usually it's very hard that weight loss and being happy kind of in your own skin isn't a byproduct of your efforts. If you are someone who is being intentional with your nutrition and being intentional with your training and you're making an effort to get your 10,000 steps in per day, you're strength training regularly. You're doing all the things consistently but not with perfection because, again, we got to be realistic. We got, we have lives to live and everyone's circumstances and situations are different, so we all need to go through these phases differently. So, yeah, there's just two approaches, I suppose, to weight loss.
Speaker 1:It's important to note how you can, you know, approach your own fat loss phase. Go strict and hard, but choose wisely, because going strict and hard for some people, as I said, it can bring up a lot of unsupportive habits for me it's actually improving my habits and but for other people, again, you know, you have to have that self-awareness, as I mentioned earlier. So be your own self-experiment. It's okay to you know, look at my journey and see how I'm doing things, but you have your own journey to go on and your results will be unique to you. We're all different in terms of genetics, in terms of starting point, level, ability, values, characteristics, personality, and while the approach to fat loss is the same, or the method to fat loss and how you actually lose weight is the same for everyone, the outcome will be different for everyone.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I'm experimenting for the next six weeks. Again, I'll update my results. We'll see what happens. I might maybe, if the next six weeks go really well. I might then do another six weeks and keep going, especially because I'm not finding it too difficult really and I do think I have another gear to go on, another level that I can push myself, especially with my nutrition, and so I might then actually do 12 weeks all in where I can look back and say, yeah, that was 12 weeks of me being very intentional. You know, I'm giving myself a score of nine and a half out of ten in terms of accuracy and effort and commitment and, um, consistency, perfection, all the things, and then I'll see and I'll learn more from that, and then I can see, kind of you know where I want to go from then. But it's a whole process and I think when you approach it with this is a long-term process. This is a thing that you're undertaking for the rest of your life. All these habits will be in your life forever. It's not just a phase. While you're trying to lose weight, you're going to feel a lot better about it and you're going to actually have the patience to go through these processes like I am.
Speaker 1:That's it, guys. I hope you got value from my update and it was an interest in six weeks. I'm excited for the next six weeks and I'll continue to post updates of my journey on this podcast. Obviously, I can do longer form, I can go into more detail, but I am updating my journey on Instagram as well and if you would like support, accountability and guidance from someone who is going through the process like I am, and along with, obviously, the knowledge and the ability to be compassionate to your situation and the common sense to use a sensible health first approach, then reach out, get in touch. I offer both one-to-one coaching options and more affordable coaching options, so I'm sure I'll have something that will work for you to help you on your health and fitness journey, and especially if you have a fat loss goal. Thanks for listening, guys. I will catch you all on the next episode.