Your “ideal body weight” isn’t the weight that you achieved when you were doing fasted cardio at the crack of dawn, drinking coffee to suppress your appetite, force feeding yourself Frankenfood zero calorie sauces on top of your low carb meals, and avoiding social gatherings because of the fear of overeating.
Newsflash: If you haven’t been able to sustain those results from that diet or exercise routine you did 1,5,10 years ago, it didn’t actually work...
Your ideal body weight is the one that you can achieve by creating a lifestyle that aligns your goals. If the goals include improving body composition, implementing healthy habits that you can sustain for the rest of your life means that these habits also have to bring you happiness.
If your have to drag yourself through your workout routine, experiment with different styles of movement to find one that you actually enjoy.
If your eating bland and boring food, prioritize time to exploring online blogs for meal prep inspo. A few of my favourites are @paleomg@ambitiouskitchen@halfbakedharvest@paleorunningmomma@howsweeteats@rachlmansfield@fedandfit
Just like with building any new habit, it may take more time and effort in the beginning (#bebraveenoughtosuckatsomethingnew) but this is a crucial step if you want to end the yo-yo diet/exercise cycle. Change is scary, but the effort is worth building a life you love to bring you happiness AND improve your self confidence.
And remember, there is no BEST way to eat or exercise to achieve your goals. The habits that work best for your unique body and lifestyle are the ones that YOU can commit to executing with consistency for the rest of your life.
The road to your goals doesn’t have to be a miserable one. I’m not saying you will feel motivated to exercise or meal prep every single day, but you CAN and SHOULD enjoy the process to achieving your goals. When you finally start to feel how great you CAN feel, these healthy habits become a mindless part of your routine because you realize how much they enable you to thrive. You naturally start to make more of the choices that make you feel great and less of the choices that don’t.