By Ciaran Russell

It can be hard to know where to start if you want to lose weight, let alone what’s important. Let me introduce The Hierarchy of Weight Loss as I see it. First and foremost you can create a calorie deficit, have the best training plan, spend lots of money on supplements and still not see any results. Why? Because doing all those things may every so often but if there is no conistsncy over a long period of time results will be hard to obtain. Adherence to a plan is the key component to long term success with losing weight and improving fitness.Energy balance is the driving force of weight loss. This is calories in versus calories out, which means the amount of calories you eat and drink versus the amount of calories you burn.Daily movement is essentially moving your body everyday and finding more ways to do that. This is not exercise. It’s what you do during work hours, it’s taking the stairs instead of the lift, it’s walking to the shops rather than driving. Increasing your general physical activity can have a huge impact on your weight. One of the most underrated components of life is sleep. The importance of sleep is massively overlooked in relation to health, not least weight loss. If you’re tired, it means energy may be impacted which can result in reaching for quick snacks to give you an energy boost during the day. If you truly want to get a handle on weight loss for good, start taking better care of your sleep.While training is not solely important for weight loss, at least not as much as people think it is, exercising regularly has massive benefits to your health and body compostition. Finding exercise you enjoy is the key to particiapting for a long time. Keep things simple for weight loss; adhere to a plan for a few months at least, ensure you are in a calorie deficit, move your body daily, improve your sleep, do exercise you like and only take supplements if you are deficient.Follow me on Instagram for more tips for simplifying weight loss. Go to this link - instagram.com/ciaranrussellcoaching/