Louisa's Weight Loss Blog

Everything has an opposite, so the seven deadly dieting sins must do too, which is why I have had a go at writing about the seven heavenly dieting virtues.

This one has been a bit harder as it’s less applicable to dieting than the deadly sins (why are sins more interesting? Who knows!?) but work with me and I’ll try and make this post interesting and informative.

Thing is, the heavenly contrary virtues are a bit boring as they overlap a bit – so I’ve used artistic licence to combine the four cardinal virtues with three theological virtues.

Many people want to lose weight with the help of Jesus – type ‘lose weight with Jesus’ into Google and it returns over a million results which is rather incredible.

I’m not a religious woman but this post is definitely applicable to all dieters, whether they are determined Atheists or can’t get out of bed without saying a prayer.

Happy reading!

HOPE: As long as you have hope that you will achieve your weight loss goals then you are still capable of reaching them. If you are into motivational stuff, you’ll know that the people who write down their goals, maybe in a diary or an online blog, are more likely to achieve them as they are constantly aware of the bigger picture.

We all get despondent at times, it’s human nature to feel as though we are getting nowhere when we have worked so hard but are not yet seeing amazing results. Sometimes seeing the bigger picture seems almost impossible! For example, women find it harder to build muscle than men – so if a woman hits the gym with her man, they could do the same amount of exercise but he will appear to gain muscle quicker. This can be hugely demoralising but as long as you understand all the factors in your diet e.g. your food intake and your biology then you aren’t daring to hope, you have a darn good reason to hope to be successful at losing weight.

FAITH: Faith is the confidence you have in others. Obviously people have faith in God, but God is not going to get you slim no matter how much you pray if you’re eating 4000 calories a day and only stand up to get more food! Nope, in this case you need to have faith in YOURSELF.

Losing weight requires a huge amount of emotional and mental strength as you will find yourself facing temptation to eat the ‘naughty’ foods and tempted to spend Saturday morning in bed instead of burning calories down the gym. You need to have faith in your own abilities otherwise you will be wracked with self-doubt:

Self-doubt = failure

See it like this, hope and faith are entwined as hope provides the vision to work towards, faith is the belief that you can achieve this vision.

Fortitude: Fortitude is pretty much a synonym for ‘strength’. This is a NECESSITY for losing weight.

There will be times that you will have to say “no” to well meaning friends and family who would like to offer you a chocolate/biscuit/glass of wine.

Find healthy diet-friendly alternatives that help you stay strong so that you are making conscious choices to stick to your weight loss plan that don’t make you feel resentful about missing out on the treats you like.

You also need to find the emotional strength to do more exercise. Join a club where people rely on you being there to function so that you don’t find yourself making excuses not to go.

CHARITY: Charity is the act of giving and doing it gladly. Tell friends how good they look or how much you appreciate their support. Kind words like this are truly a gift.

There is a huge weight loss community on the internet so get involved! Search for weight loss blogs and diaries and get commenting on other people’s weight loss stories and help encourage bloggers to continue with their journey because sometimes, as I am sure you well know – losing weight is a fierce battle from one day to the next. Be prepared to set up your own weight loss blog and tell your own dieting story and share your own tips. Be generous with your kind comments, I can assure you, the internet community appreciates it!

Alternatively, you could try losing weight for charity. Ask people to sponsor you £1 for each 1lb you lose over 6 months or do a 10k run for charity like I did in October 2008! I can’t think of many better reasons to motivate myself to lose those nasty Christmas lbs!

PRUDENCE: Prudence is wisdom and knowing when to be discrete.

Dieters need to make prudent decisions on sometimes an hourly basis. In my office I get hungry because I’m sat in front of a computer all day. My body wants to do something and my natural instinct is to eat.

In cases like this where dieters eat when placed in certain situations that cause them to over-eat, maybe when they are stressed, bored or unhappy, the dieter needs to be cautious.How can you make prudent decisions?

• Make a deal with yourself – you can eat a low fat yogurt in 30 mins when you have completed a certain task if you eat due to boredom
• Tempted? Choose the naughty chocolate cake but have a smaller slice and be prepared not to have another treat like this for another 48 hours at least
• If you eat the crisps, you must do an extra 10 minutes of cardio at the gym tonight
• Do you eat when stressed? Research methods that you can use to help regulate your stress levels such as the Alexander Technique.

TEMPERANCE: Temperance is the act of moderation. This means knowing when to stop with not just eating, but exercise and the extent of your limitations.

It seems pretty obvious that you need to moderate your food intake, so I’m going to take another route to temperance…

Obesity is soaring but so are eating disorders. Too often people go from obese to anorexic. It seems as though the two have some kind of link – an obsession with food.

When you start losing weight it is so satisfying and when you hit your target it’s incredible and you feel on top of the world – and some people become hooked on the euphoria of losing another pound. If your friends and family begin to comment that you are getting too thin, reassess your weight loss plan to a maintenance plan.

JUSTICE: Only you will know if you deserve your weight loss. If you’ve worked up a sweat every 48 hours and tried really hard to make nutritious meals that fill you up and give you good energy yet you’ve not over-indulged, then you have truly deserved your weight loss.

However, many people have been scammed into believing that weight loss can and should be easy. It is not! I could slap anyone who tries to tell you that losing weight is simple as breathing! Complex minds and complex problems require innovative ideas and sometimes, the closer you get to your goal, the more creative you need to be with your tricks to lose weight. Check back to Total Chunk for dieting hints and tips that you won’t see anywhere else.

With hard work and dedication you will see results. You will experience sacrifice and possibly hardship as your body begins to get used to eat real food instead of synthetic rubbish that is clearly addictive. But after all the effort you put in, when you look in the mirror in 6-12 months and you admire your slim, healthy figure, you can say to yourself:

“I did this for me, and I deserved it.”