A to B via W

One of the elements that attract people most to a concept, idea or course of action is its possible ease of execution. Given the choice of two possible options, people usually opt for the easier one, whether that ease is financial, time saved or physical exertion depends entirely on the individual in questions view of what is easiest.
The vast array of diets and exercise plans with the promise of rapid results feeds into that human desire for the easiest route. Adverts for meal replacement drinks, point system diets, twelve weeks to a bikini body, lose ten pounds in a fortnight, plus the ever popular before and after pictures of people losing ten, twenty and even thirty kilos, help to fuel the notion that it is easy.
The pictorial depictions of weight loss are particularly powerful due to society’s long held notion of fat people being lazy. Subconsciously, one believes that if the fat person in the photo, who was obviously a lazy lard arse, can do it, they can. It is not just the weight loss, there is this warped logic of it being easy. We only tend to hear about people’s successes and if they have somehow managed to, supposedly, attained their success quickly, we want to know more, how.
The reason weight loss is popular as a goal or achievement is that, barring a medical condition, anybody can do it. Whether done sensibly and gradually or in a haphazard fashion, crash dieting, one needs no help to do it. What a lot of people do not realise, regardless of how one approaches a diet or weight loss regime, is that one has to be consistent.
Follow any weight loss diet as prescribed and you will lose weight. You may not achieve the dramatic weight loss of their star performers, but the weight will come down. It will also go up. This is one of the things that can discourage so many when it comes to weight loss and, more pertinently, healthy eating and exercise. The road to weight loss is not a linear one. People mistakenly believe that losing weight, even gradually, means a steady decrease in the number on the scales. Not so.
The number on the scales will go down, absolutely, but it will also not move at all and occasionally go up. Even though a weight loss graph would show a predominantly downward trajectory, it will not always be at the same rate. Initially, weight loss is quick for those new to a diet, the body shocked by the change. Once the body gets used to the diet and exercise, the weight loss slows, the body accustomed to the reduced calorific intake and exercise.
Once again, this would be the point when many would give up or worse, reduce their calorific intake further, lowering it to a level that is unsustainable over the long term. Even though a diet may seem to have stopped working, if one’s calories are not enough to maintain a certain weight, the weight loss will continue, albeit slowly.
It bears repeating; weight loss is not a linear process. There are so many things that affect the way one’s body retains weight, from bowel movements to hormones to meal digestion. The only thing you can do is adhere to the diet and trust the process. Unless you are on a prohibitively restricted regime, you should not only be able to lose weight but keep it off also. Many, mistakenly, think that ‘diet’ means food reduction. Diet simply means what one eats. If all you eat is cake and chips, washed down with cola, that is your diet.
The things we want take discipline and diligence. They also take time. Nobody gets fat over a weekend or even a fortnight, so to expect to lose weight or a dramatic body transformation in a short period is just wishful thinking. To achieve the body beautiful takes only two things; a solid plan and patience. Go plan your diet and ignore the scales.