I love coaching fat loss.

This year will mark my 15th year since I first got certified and I’ve been fascinated by fat loss ever since.

I love seeing how happy clients are when they make progress.

I love being part of their journey to celebrate the scale victories and the non-scale victories (because they both count).

I love when fat loss is easy.

Some clients, I just have to give a little nudge to and off they go.

I love when fat loss is challenging.

Other clients need more TLC, more frequent touchpoints, more reminders that their struggles are normal struggles, that they have the room to make mistakes, to “lose ground”, to eat things that weren’t “part of the plan”.

All of which is what keeps fat loss from ever being boring.

And it’s an interesting dynamic, because often, a coach is taking on a client when they’ve reached a point which implies: “I need you to care more about me than I care about myself to help me succeed.”

It’s a loaded statement.

When you wake up one day and you make the decision to lose whatever amount of weight you feel is necessary, who are you doing that for?

Is it for you?

Completely and totally for you?

Is it because someone influenced your decision to do so? Who is that person? How did they influence it?

Do you want to lose weight to be a role model for your children?

Do you want to lose weight because you had a health scare?

Do you want to lose weight because your joints ache or you have sleep apnea or your clothes don’t fit as you’d like?

And when you’re sad and you’re anxious and you’re stressed and you’re bored, what is the compass that you use to point you in the right direction to your goals?

Here are some thoughts to throw into the mix.

Perhaps you don’t NEED to lose weight.

Or now is a terrible time to try to lose weight.

Maybe you should focus on other areas of your life that need attention like: sleep habits, stress management, water intake, step count and getting in 2-3x/week of strength training.

Maybe you need a therapist.

Maybe you need to get divorced.

Maybe you need to change jobs.

Maybe you need medication(s).

Maybe you need to be nicer to yourself behind closed doors.

Maybe you need new friends.

Maybe you don’t need to try and party at 52 like you did when you were 22.

Maybe you’re actually in really great shape RIGHT NOW and you’re letting a scale rule your life.

There are a host of reasons to lose fat and there are plenty of reasons people tell themselves they need to lose fat that really don’t hold up to scrutiny.

If you think the answer is in willpower, you’re probably wrong.

If you think the answer is in motivation, you’re probably wrong.

If you find that you’re kicking and screaming your way to the next 5 pounds down, maybe fat loss isn’t in the cards for you right now.

So pick a different game to play that you can feel better about.

Frequently take a moment to ask yourself:

Why do I need to lose fat?

What am I willing to do to lose it?

What am I willing to do to keep it off?

Who am I doing this for?

Is it worth it?

If you take the time to write these thoughts out, the picture gets clearer.