You need some weight loss motivation, you’ve been dieting for ages and you’re struggling to stay with it…help!
Probably the most common conversation we have with our clients is the one about maintaining focus and a positive mindset.
New Year resolutions are one thing, but let’s face it, weight loss can be a long, hard slog…a marathon of endurance and sheer willpower.
Just as Paula Radcliffe will face her own demons during those 26 miles, so will you.
The self doubt, the ‘can I still be bothered’ days, the week or so when the scales or tape measure don’t budge…
So how do you maintain your weight loss motivation in the face of the everyday challenges to your commitment that you will face?
Weight Loss Motivation – Why Are You Trying to Lose Weight…?
Your weight loss motivation has to come from within…you have to have a reason that is yours and yours alone.
One of our clients, Steph, was big and getting bigger when she got in touch with us.
After years of gradual weight gain she’d decided to do something about it. We had a long chat and after a while she articulated her real reason for wanting to lose weight, her ‘why’.
Her little boy had asked her one day why all the other kids had “normal shaped” mummies and why she was so much bigger.
She’d had a cry about that afterwards. She’d also had a good think about the health implications of her being so big (200 lbs+).
For her, her son was her weight loss motivation.
Every time she faltered we reminded her of that conversation. Reminded her of her ‘why’. Reminded her why she was trying to lose weight.
What’s your ‘why’? Write it down and read it whenever you’re flagging.
Set Yourself Some Goals…
We know, we know, you hear it all the time…but it really is so important to set yourself some goals and to write them down.
Realistic goals that you can achieve.
Some long term goals…dreams, aspirations.
Some short and medium term goals…what you’ll do by the end of the week, month…dates are really important. Put dates next to your goals for when they’ll be achieved and you’re more likely to achieve them.
Goals are very motivational, written down they become even more so.
Here’s a good strategy that works for many of our clients.
We call it a ‘dreambook’. A very personal scrapbook that sets out in pictures what you want to achieve, and the benefits of achieving it.
Family photos, pictures of yourself when you were slimmer, holiday destinations…whatever floats your boat.
Pictorial representations of your dreams and desires are incredibly motivational…particularly if you look at them often. On a notice board, the fridge door, the telly…
Make it a habit to achieve your goals. Celebrate when you achieve them.
Focus On the Positives, Dwell Not On the Negatives…
We had a client who was a classic hour glass figure…well hiding under a few extra pounds, that is!
She had an obsession with reducing her bust. Week after week she complained that her boobs weren’t getting any smaller.
Whilst she was fixating on her chest she lost 20 lbs in 14 weeks, 4 inches off her hips, 6 inches off her waist and a couple of inches off each thigh.
She still had big boobs, but she had a waist and a smaller bum…she looked fantastic, her partner thought she looked fantastic – but she wasn’t happy.
There were so many positives to celebrate…and one negative for her that overshadowed them. One negative that became quite demotivating for a while.
Jo was the shape that she was – she was never going to be Kate Moss! – a shape that many women (and men!) would kill for, but she couldn’t see it.
Think positive, recognize and celebrate success, because success brings its own weight loss motivation.
Develop a Can Do Mindset…
If you think you can’t do something, you won’t. Simple as that.
Tell yourself you can and you will.
Winners in life know they can achieve whatever they set their mind to. Losers never try, never believe.
Successful weight loss is tough. Weight loss motivation driven by a ‘can do’ mentality gets you through it.
Tell yourself you can…you will…every time a hurdle is in your way and you’ll jump over it.
Quitters never win and winners never quit. It’s all in the mind…can you, will you lose the weight?
If you want it enough you will.
Break With Routine…
There is nothing as demotivating as boredom…the same old, same old daily grind that stifles innovation and creativity.
As a creature of habit myself, I know how tough it is to break with the comfort of a safe, familiar routine, but you’ve got to do it!
Weight loss motivation is much easier to maintain when you vary your routine…what you eat, where you eat it, the time you eat…
Bored with a salad? Eat something else. Chicken getting you down? Eat some fish. Your diet becoming a drag? Try a new one.
Variety truly is the spice of life and change can be invigorating, renewing.
Doing the same things, eating the same things meal in, meal out, day in, day out is dull.
Change things around and you’ll keep things fresh and new and different and fun…and exciting!
Just Keep On Keeping On…
When all is said and done, you’ll only lose the weight and hit your target if you stick with whatever program you’re on until the job is done.
Probably the most common trait amongst successful people is persistence, not talent or education…a never say die attitude that overcomes all obstacles.
Never ever knowing when you’re beaten.
Being consistent is another…being consistently persistent…persistently consistent! Whatever, stick with it and you succeed and prosper.
Be persistent and you’ll get results, what more weight loss motivation do you need? It may take a while but believe that you will get there and in the end you will.
As Sir Winston Churchill said, “When you’re going through hell, keep going!” Weight loss motivation indeed! So, motivate yourself now and start your journey. Set a goal and achieve it with a bang, surprise others, simple!