6 Hacks to Guarantee Weight Loss by the End of this Year

June 30th marks the 1/2 way point of 2019. That’s right, in a few days the year will be 50% complete!

Given the significance of this date, here are a few questions for you:

1.  Are you at the halfway point of achieving the health goals that you set for this year?

2.  Have you surpassed your expectations?

3.  Are you making progress?

Hopefully, you have some great testimonies to share about how the first half of your year has been (please share them in the comments below). But if your answer is a resounding, “No”, for question number 3 then, it’s time to take a long hard look at yourself and your habits.

Remember, no condemnation or judgment as you assess your progress—heaven knows you’ve done enough of that! The point is to take a realistic inventory of what you are, or are not doing and then adjust accordingly.

It is possible to end this year rejoicing instead of regretting what could have been?

Here are my 6 best tips that can help you accomplish this. I’ve selected these because, when implemented consistently, they will provide you with the quickest results.

1. Cut-out All Late Night Eating

Back in the day, I used to listen to a rap song by Whodini called, “The Freaks Come out a Night. (don’t judge me, okay). If you’re anything like me, something happens to us at night, our defenses get low, we’re tired, we’re in chill mode, and we tell ourselves that we deserve a treat. This combo is a recipe for late night binging and it’s not usually carrots sticks you’re craving at this time. At night your body craves pick-me-up foods that are calorie-dense and sugar-dense like potato chips and pizza. This late-night eating can sabotage all the hard work you may have accomplished during the day.

If you want to fast-track your weight loss, make a decision today that you will not eat anything after dinner and try not to eat anything for at least 12 hours.

2. Eliminate All Sugary Drinks

Sodas, sweet teas, frappuccinos, and even smoothies and fruit juice pile on the sugar and calories while providing little to no nutritional value. Sure fruit juices and smoothies might be good for you but the per serving sugar and calorie content is way too high and may provide more harm than good if your goal is weight loss.

If you want to fast track your weight loss for the next six months, I challenge you to drink nothing other than water at least 80% of the time and watch the fat start to melt off your body. If you currently don’t drink any water, start with 16 ounces and gradually build up each day until you’re drinking half your body weight in ounces. A 200-pound person should drink 100 ounces which is 12.5 cups.

3. Track Your Progress

Begin by tracking your starting measurements and then every month track your progress. Too often we start out strong but don’t take the time to track our progress each month. It’s important to track your progress so that you can make the necessary adjustments as you progress. Chart what’s working and what isn’t. Think of yourself as a scientist conducting an experiment and the goal is to learn how your body works. What causes it to gain weight? What triggered you to eat? Keep asking questions and track your findings. When you take on this approach then you no longer beat up on yourself if something does not work. Everything is helpful because it all helps you move closer towards your goal of understanding your body and how it works.

4. Get to the Root of the Problem

One of the biggest problems, when people try to lose weight, is that they focus on the symptoms instead of the cause. Emotional eating is a symptom; late-night eating is a symptom; sugar-craving is a symptom; procrastination is a symptom. Unfortunately, most people try to fix those symptoms which only leave them more frustrated. Emotional eating, sugar cravings, procrastination, etc are symptoms that point you to a deeper problem. It’s analogous to getting frequent colds. The solution is not to take medication for your cold but to get to the root of the problem which is a compromised immune system.

If you truly want to lose weight and keep it off, commit to understanding why you do what you do. Go deeper than just trying to deal with the symptoms and commit to getting to the root of the issue.

5. Let Go and Let God

I know, I know, This sound so cliche, right? But if you’re truly a woman (or man) of prayer then you know that this is more than cliche. It’s everything! Without prayer none of the other points I listed above will not work—at least not for an extended period of time.

Also, after the initial excitement of your new weight loss program wears off, we also have the tendency to stop submitting this journey to God—to stop praying and to stop believing that this is a spiritual battle. Every time you feel like you want to ‘do’ something to speed up the process, remind yourself that the battle is the Lord’s (2 Chron. 20:15).

6. Get Accountable

The final hack to improve your chances of success is accountability. Just ask yourself, how many times you’ve tried to do it on your own. One of the enemy’s schemes is to divide and conquer. He knows that if He can get you alone, then we can whisper lies into your ear and without support to help you confront those lies, you become more open to believe them and have them wear you down.

I want you to get excited about the second half of the year; see it with renewed focus. Don’t look back at the last six months with regret. Look forward with anticipation and declare that your latter days shall be better than your former (Haggai 2:9).

Will you commit with me? Share below if you will commit to practising at least one of these 6 hacks over the next 6 months.

Here’s to a powerful 2nd half!

P.S. if you are tired of circling the same mountain over and over and want a Christ-centered approach to lasting weight loss without feeling guilty, deprived, or overwhelmed, be sure to sign up for our video course program right away at cathymorenzie.com