Finding your motivation to lose weight can sometimes be crystal clear.
However, there are other times when you just get that “I-give-up” mentality and you lose your motivation.
Finding Your Motivation To Lose Weight
For me personally, I tend to have a pattern with my motivation to lose weight.
Typically, at the beginning of the new year, I reflect on all the bad foods I’ve eaten and the lack of exercise I’ve gotten over the last few months.
It’s then that I realize that it’s time, once again, to get serious and try to get my body in better shape.
Terri and I have, for most of our lives, struggled with the battle of the bulge.
In addition, we’ve tried so many diets and exercise plans along the way.
Needless to say, I have learned many lessons and gathered a ton of information about losing weight.
Therefore, I have put together some helpful tips for finding your motivation to lose weight.
How to get motivated to lose weight and exercise
First and foremost, you need to find ways to really motivate yourself!
Because, if you can’t find your motivation, you won’t be able to even start to sustain a healthy lifestyle.
Below are some helpful tips that I have found increase my motivation:
1. Maintaining a healthy weight will reduce your risk of developing these ailments:
- Diabetes
- Heart Disease
- High Cholesterol
- Many types of cancer
- Depression
- Joint Pain
- Arthritis
2. Getting in better shape will result in these things:
- Prevent shortness of breath
- Increase your endurance
- Give you more energy
- Increase your confidence levels
- Save money on food & clothes
- Result in less doctor visits & prescriptions
- Having a better quality of life
- Living longer
3. If you are a parent, think about how you are as a role model to your children.
Your children need a healthy, energetic, present parent in their lives so that they won’t repeat the pattern.
4. Write down non-food rewards you can treat yourself to whenever you meet your short-term goals:
- Buy yourself a new outfit.
- Treat yourself to a good movie.
- Buy some new walking shoes.
- Plan a romantic weekend get-away.
5. Write down your reasons you want to lose weight and post your list where you can read it every day as a reminder:
- I want to look better.
- My health is important to me as I age.
- I want to fit in that cute outfit.
- There’s an event (high school reunion or wedding) that I want to feel my best for.
- I want to look good for my significant other.
- My self-confidence could use a good boost.
- I want to decrease my chances of getting sick.
- My energy levels could be increased.
- I’d love to be an inspiration to others!
- I need to be a good role model for my children.
6. Surround yourself with like-minded people who are motivated to lose weight and get in shape and who can keep you accountable.
Others keeping you accountable makes it harder for you to talk yourself out of exercising and staying on a plan.
You can do this by:
- Joining Facebook groups.
- Participate in local walking meet-ups.
- Join a gym.
- Join a mom’s club.
- Walk with your neighbors.
7. Read up on how other people have successfully lost weight.
- Just search #Transformation on Instagram and you will find so many people who have successfully lost weight.
8. Buy yourself some new workout clothes
This will make you feel better about yourself, on your way to a new you!
9. Find photos of yourself when you were healthier and place them where you can see them on a daily basis
The above photo is of me in my mid to late twenties.
Obviously, at that age, it was much easier to be at that weight and in such good shape.
However, that doesn’t mean that I can’t get close to that again!
Incorporate Your Plan With These Steps
So, now that you’ve armed yourself with some great motivation tools, it’s time to incorporate your plan!
Step 1: Set Goals
First, set your short-term and long-term goals.
The reason for short-term goals is that you need your goals to feel attainable so that you are not tempted to give up.
- Make your goals realistic or else you will get easily discouraged and may give up.
- Set target weights that you can realistically attain along the way.
- Set small goals that are achievable throughout your journey, such as:
- Lose 5 pounds every 2 to 3 weeks.
- Go down a pants size in 1 to 2 months.
- Increase your walk by 15 minutes every 2 weeks.
- Climb that extra flight of stairs.
- Park as far away as possible whenever you go shopping.
- Always strive for better!
- Don’t allow yourself to get complacent or else you’ll hit a stall and your progress will slow down, which can discourage you.
- Continually push your personal limits.
Step 2: Your Diet
The most important step of getting yourself to a healthy weight is what you do and don’t put into your mouth.
Your diet makes up approximately 90% of whether or not you will be successful in becoming a healthier new you.
Factors to consider when deciding on an eating plan:
- Decide on a diet plan that works best for you and your lifestyle.
- Some people do better on diets that tell them exactly what to eat.
- While others are more successful by eliminating specific food groups.
- Either way, journal your food intake and exercise on a daily basis. This will help you to gauge what’s working and what isn’t working.
- Avoid starvation diets. It might help you to lose weight quickly, but as soon as you start eating again you will regain the weight and then some.
- Aim to lose approximately 2 pounds per week as you will be more likely to adopt a lifelong lifestyle and keep the weight off.
- Drink as much water as possible and avoid sugary drinks and juices.
- Keep healthy foods and water with you wherever you go, including in your car, so that you’re not tempted to buy fast food.
- Don’t let yourself get too hungry or else you will make bad choices.
Step 3: Exercise
So, if food intake contributes 90% to losing weight, then exercise contributes to the other 10%.
Here are ways to stay motivated to exercise:
- Ideally, you should do some sort of aerobic activity 30 minutes per day, every day in order to keep yourself in good cardiovascular condition.
- Put together a group of your favorite upbeat songs to listen to while you exercise.
- Change up your workout routine in order to avoid boredom. For example, don’t always go to the gym because you can get burned out.
- If you prefer going to the gym, don’t do the same exercises every time you go. One day walk on the treadmill, then the next day ride the bike and then the following day do strength training.
- Nothing beats getting outside in the sunlight and taking a good walk. It’s free!
- Go ice skating.
- Run around the yard with your kid or your dog.
- Take a hike with family or friends.
- Do a workout video at home.
I know, this is a lot of information to absorb!
I’m sure that most people have heard these tips before.
However, it doesn’t hurt to hear them again.
I’m hoping that writing this blog post will get me jump-started on my own plan to become a healthier me.
Are you with me?
We got this!!!
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Great advice Pam. Lets do it! Just got on the scale at the drs office and all the weight i lost last year is back so lets get moving. Zumba here we come!
Thanks Celeste! Now I need to follow this advice. I don’t even want to weigh myself. Guess that’s the first step though, pardon the pun!
Looking forward to Zumba classes with you!
Pam