Losing weight is an admirable goal, but it’s extremely difficult to achieve. Statistically speaking, over a hundred million people in the US are dieting and an average adult dieter makes about four attempts to succeed a year. However, they lose motivation very fast and in most cases (95%) gain at least some of their weight back.
Considering these numbers, it becomes obvious that motivation is as important for weight loss as the efficiency of your program. As fat burning is a gradual and rather slow process, it would take you a bit of time before you see sufficient progress from your efforts. This means you’ll have to use various tricks in order to keep your resolve to diet and exercise.
#1 Don’t try to stay highly motivated
The most common mistake that people make when trying to achieve any goal, not just losing weight, is attempting to feel hyped up about it every moment. No matter how positive your emotions are and how great the prize, this kind of attitude is exhausting.
Think of your motivation as a gas tank. The higher the power, the sooner it runs dry. Therefore, you should focus on keeping your energy toned down and don’t give up when it seems that your ‘motivation power’ drops. These lows are natural in any emotion, so just bear through these periods by sticking to your new healthy lifestyle.
#2 Create a motivational quiz
When you feel your spirits go down and your weight loss efforts start to seem pointless, ask yourself a set of specially designed questions. For example:
- Will I be able to wear that amazing outfit come the Christmas party if I give up on my diet now?
- How dropping the weight loss program will reflect on my health?
- Is it possible that my friends and loved ones would be negatively affected by my giving up on weight loss?
- Will I be happy with myself in a week’s time if I stop working on myself now?
The point of the questions is to restore your motivation, so create your own personal quiz that would remind you of the reasons why you’ve started your weight loss program in the first place.
#3 Cut off your own routes to escape
Giving up on a weight loss program is so much easier when you are one step away from returning to your old habits. Remove this ability and you’ll have no choice but to search for motivation and stick to your new regime.
First of all, clean out your fridge and pantry and fill them with healthy foods. Second, sort through your closet and remove all those huge and cozy things that you turn to when you are feeling down. Instead, buy a few outfits that would fit you if you try just a tiny bit harder. Seeing these special clothes might be the inspiration you need to get you through emotional struggles.
#4 Get really busy
Make sure you don’t have time to think about motivation by filling your days with activities. Take up music, painting, or the dance class you’ve always dreamed about. Yoga is also a great practice for weight loss and maintaining emotional balance.
You should also consider taking up a cooking class as practicing for it would ensure you spend lots of time in the kitchen, which means you won’t be able to use ‘I don’t have time to cook’ as an excuse to give up on a healthy diet.
#5 Find someone to compete with
Having an exercise buddy is good not only because it’s more fun to work out together, but also because it appeals to the competitive spark hidden in all humans. If you don’t have anyone like this in your life, look up groups with similar interests on social media.
Having competition is sure to give you the little extra push you need to try harder with your weight loss program.