Staying motivated to lose weight is easier than you would think, but you need to have some good motivation “recipes” ready to pull out when you are feeling unenthusiastic – just like having go-to foods for a diet plan.
You don’t want to have to think about motivation when you don’t have any – so print this article out, or bookmark it on your computer or cell so that when you start to feel dismayed about sticking with a diet plan, or a workout, you can glance at it and you’ll know exactly what to do to get that spark in your eyes again, and meet those weight loss goals!
How do you get motivated to lose weight? Like this:
Here a Quick List :-
1. Print out pictures
Looking at people that have already achieved your fitness goals can be very motivating.
Find some pictures in fitness magazines and post them on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, or even in your car.
Having these “ideal” images in front of you will help you to stick to your weight loss goals, and discourage you from eating poorly or skipping a workout.
Just steer clear of waifish, super-skinny models.
This ‘idealized’ version of beauty is skewed and unrealistic, since most people would never be able to maintain a super-models weight. It isn’t healthy anyway.
2. Stop looking at the scale
Many of us will obsess about what the scale says, becoming disheartened if the number doesn’t reflect a lower weight.
IN the beginning of a workout and diet plan, though, sometimes our weight won’t move as our bodies are losing fat but putting on muscle.
Look at how your clothes are fitting, the extra strength you are gaining, and the way you feel as indicators of progress instead of the weight on the scale.
This will keep you motivated to keep going.
3. Give yourself a break
You aren’t going to be motivated in the same way every day.
That’s normal. Our desire to achieve success will go through natural cycles of ‘up’ and ‘down.’ If you really need to take a break from your diet, or skip a day at the gym, that’s o.k.
Don’t beat yourself up. Just enjoy the break and make sure you get right back on track the next day.
You might actually need the break, too. If you are low in energy, find you are sick a lot and aren’t seeing any progress though you are working out and watching what you eat, you may benefit from a day or two of eating more calories than usual.
4. Round up a crew of friends
It has been well documented that if we endeavor to lose weight or get tone with friends, then we’re much more likely to succeed.
Our friends can help us stay positive when we want to emotionally eat, and push us a little further when we don’t want to run that last half mile.
You can also return the favor when your friends need a little extra push to stick to healthy eating or get past a plateau in their workouts.
5. Ask yourself three important questions
When you feel like cheating, or feel unmotivated to workout, ask yourself three simple questions:
1. Does eating this get me any closer to my ideal weight?
2. Is there something else I can do right now that will make eating this unhealthy food less appealing?
3. I can skip the gym, or I can do an ‘easy’ workout and still burn calories. Can I at least honor my goals that much?
When you ask yourself these kinds of questions, it causes your brain to think a little about choices you make, instead of going into an automated bad habit.
Unhealthy habits are changed by noticing them, and asking yourself if you can choose differently.
6. Find the perfect bikini when it’s cold outside
Nothing keeps it real like having to be seen in a bathing suit.
Even if it is the middle of the winter, go shopping and find the bikini or swimsuit of your dreams.
Hang it in a prominent place in your closet and remember that it takes 3,500 calories to burn every pound of fat you put on over the holiday season, or when it isn’t bikini-worthy weather.
You’ll stay truer to your goals looking at the long term.
7. Keep a food journal
Sometimes we can sabotage our weight loss efforts by eating foods that have hidden calories.
This can be very distracting and dismaying when you think you’re doing everything right to lose weight, but still aren’t seeing results.
If you keep a food journal for a few weeks and log your calories, you’ll have a better idea of whether you have truly reduced your caloric intake to 1500 calories or more a day.
8. Practice integrity in other areas of your life
If you can’t seem to stop that morning Danish habit, then build trust with yourself and integrity in other areas of your life.
Clean out your closet, and give old clothes to charity.
Keep that promise to your kids or your best friend, or take the stairs instead of the elevator if you work or live in a high rise.
Building integrity in other areas of your life will spill over into your health choices, too.
9. Develop a strategy
If you were going to achieve a business goal, you’d have a plan.
You wouldn’t tell a client to just wing it and trust you, so don’t do that to yourself.
If you know, for instance, that you like to raid the fridge for sugary snacks in the middle of the night, have a plan to change this habit – like going to sleep earlier, or having a protein bar next to your bed.
10. Reward yourself in increments
If you want to lose a bunch of weight it can seem like your goal is so far in the future before it would be obtainable, it can be difficult to focus on keeping to an exercise and healthy eating plan all the way to the finish line.
Don’t prolong your reward.
If you set up a small ‘gift’ that you will give yourself for each ten, twenty, or thirty pounds you lose, you’ll be motivated to get to each milestone until you’ve reached the final goal.
11. Find non-food rewards to make you feel good
If you normally tell yourself that you ‘deserve’ to eat a cookie, or go through an entire bag of chips because you’ve been working really hard, or you’ve had a hard day, find another way to make yourself feel happy or appreciated.
Little rewards like a massage, or even a gold star on a chart can help you to ditch the calorie-laden habits that normally bolster your self-esteem.
12. Compete
If you hate working out alone, find a sport that allows you to take advantage of a competitive nature.
You’ll likely try harder, sweat more, or be extra careful with the foods you choose to eat.
Read: 25 Best Foods to Eat for Faster Weight Loss
13. Get real with yourself
Sometimes the best motivation is negative.
Think of what your health will be like if you don’t lose the weight, and how you are likely to get more sick and more fat if you don’t change the habits that have gotten you to where you are.
Thinking of the outcome if you don’t change can often be just as motivating as thinking of a positive outcome.
14. Lower your stress levels
Emotional eating is more likely going to happen when you feel stressed, anxious or sad.
Find ways to lower your stress. This can include talking with friends, meditating, or even going to see a funny movie.
Every time you lower your stress, you also reduce cortisol levels – a stress hormone which can cause your body to hold onto fat stores.
15. Play the part
What would you do differently if you were already looking and feeling like a leaner, stronger, healthier version of yourself?
Would you go on more dates?
Would you play with your children more?
Would you dress better?
Instead of waiting until you’ve achieved your weight loss goals, start to act as if you already had.
Treat yourself better. Play more. Be more confident. This will motivate you to make your real-life more like the part you are playing.
Conclusion:
You deserve to succeed. Pre-load some of these motivation techniques for your weight loss goals, and you’ll be much more likely to stick through to the end until you’ve reached your dream weight.
