Once you know how to burn fat, losing weight comes down to motivation and willpower. It’s great to have trust in your diet plan and know that it will bring on great results… but even still, the hardest part of your task will be finding how to stay motivated to lose weight, for long enough to reach your goal. We could have the perfect plan but still fall back into old habits without a strong mindset, and lasting motivation.
During the time when I was losing weight, I knew that my method was working, but one of the hardest things was becoming more mentally disciplined, and learning how to stay motivated with weight loss.
Many people think of motivation as a very cut and dry thing… something that you either have enough of or you don’t, as if it were a permanent part of our personality.
But we can actually increase our willpower and how often we have motivated feelings by spending a little time to build up a confident mindset, and to connect with what’s most important to us.
Usually when we start trying to lose weight it’s during a time of high motivation and we hit the ground running as if we were unstoppable.
In those moments, it’s hard to imagine that we could lose our steam because we have such clarity in what we want, and taking the actions to get there seems so easy in the moment.
But it happens to everyone at some point… we lose our energy and confidence and begin to question what we are doing.
These periods can last for hours or for weeks, and sometimes just a single doubtful thought can lead to a spiral of junk food, guilt, and feeling as though we have ruined everything.
As with any big task we take on, preparation can make a world of difference when starting your diet. Making a plan and gathering everything you need to start dieting and exercising is very important, but most people don’t take the time to prepare for the real struggle that lies ahead which has much more to do with the mind than the body.
Losing weight is not just something that we mildly wish for, as something we could take or leave. For those who are very overweight it is something that is incredibly important, something that we sometimes want more than anything else.
This is how many of us live, knowing that there is a healthier and happier version of us trapped inside, and knowing that change is technically possible but having never seen it before.
I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to feel this way. I say make today the day that you stop looking at your dream as something that may happen IF you can gather the willpower, but rather as something that you WILL now bring into reality.
How to keep yourself motivated for weight loss
We all know what motivation feels like. It’s that feeling of excitement and determination that fills our thoughts and turns our stomach in a good way.
It’s that feeling that makes everything seem not only possible, but even entirely probable, and as a result everything that we do when we feel this way just seems to be easier and more rewarding.
And we all know what the other end of it feels like as well.
The opposite of feeling motivated is not just a simple lack of motivation… it is the crushing feeling of doubt. When we experience doubt in one way or another everything becomes much more difficult.
But finding motivation to lose weight runs deeper than the mood we are in, and it is not something set in stone that we can’t improve upon. Our success does not have to be left up to chance and our mood.
During some of the most difficult times when I am in the wrong mood and don’t feel excited about making healthy choices, I am often able to turn it around by taking a step back and taking a moment to center my thoughts.
I find a deeper level of motivation that has been ingrained by focusing on a clear vision and plan.
In the same way that we must know things will get better when we go through struggle, we must acknowledge in the good times that motivation will not last forever, and that despite our current mood we know deep down what the right choice is for us.
It’s in these times that we rely on our vision to remind us of what is most important, which can give perspective in the moment and alleviate the doubt or lack of motivation you may be experiencing.
Envision your goal, and believe that it is possible
Having a very clear understanding of what truly motivates you is one of the most powerful tools in reaching any type of fitness goal. Ultimately the
It is not as though we are clueless about ourselves, as if we weren’t already aware of why we wanted to lose weight… after all if we didn’t know why we were doing this then we wouldn’t want to do it in the first place right?
This is absolutely true, but when people suggest the importance of discovering your “why” for weight loss, they really are not being simplistic. It pops up over and over again for good reason.
There is always so much more to learn about ourselves, and in taking the time to do so our path becomes so much clearer.
Developing this vision, this understanding of what is most important to you and a dedication to pursuing it, takes time like every other aspect of your diet. Taking a few minutes to an hour now to ponder these thoughts is an amazing way to start, but to let it truly sink in and carry you to where you want to be you should remind yourself of it as often as possible.
This creates excitement for reaching your goals, and also a meaningful connection to the hard decisions that you make.
Yet another layer of weight loss motivation, one which is strongly connected to your driving reason, is actually holding the image of your success in your mind, and truly believing that it is possible for you.
This may sound simplistic, but again this isn’t something that we just think of in a few minutes. There is a profound difference between holding an image of something you want, and envisioning something as a reality that will soon come to be, given effort.
When you truly envision your ultimate goal, and believe in it so much that it excites you, every tough choice you make is given reason and becomes much easier.
See yourself as an artist sees marble, where the most magnificent version of you is already hidden inside, simply waiting to be freed into the world for all to behold.
Take the time often, in both high motivation times and especially the low ones, to remember your vision and all that is important to you.
“This is what is important to me, and this is what I need to do to get there.” Say it out loud, own it, believe it.
Dealing with struggle and doubtful thoughts
There’s nearly no limit to what the mind will put us through when doubtful thoughts begin to take hold. One moment can spiral out of control and take all of the energy from us, and can lead to everything being extremely difficult or even cause us to give up for a while altogether.
It’s like a brief storm that passes through on a sunny day, where no matter how brief it may have been we are left in the wreckage trying to salvage what’s left.
The storms will come and they will go, but how well prepared you will be is up to you, and therefore how much damage will ensue.
One of the keys to dealing with these doubtful times is to not put yourself through any guilt or shame, or to feel that you messed everything up if you have a bad moment, day, or even week.
Realize that this happens and that a brief period of weakness affects your confidence more than your body. One junk meal in the day, one junk day in the week, or one junk week in a few months is after all just a small piece of the story.
It’s what you do in the majority of your time that really counts… so what if you gave in and had some pizza when you planned not to… make an allowance, be calm, and maybe even make an adjustment if need be.
You don’t even have to justify it as a cheat meal or cheat day, just be fine with it and move forward.
It’s usually when you feel that you’ve failed that you begin to fall off track and resume old eating habits again. When in reality if we were not so critical on ourselves, we could move past the moment and know that we actually hadn’t ruined anything at all.
Rather than feeling that you have failed when something doesn’t go according to plan, embrace imperfection.
Take a moment to see the big picture and to remember that you are in this for the long run.
Want to start your own weight loss transformation today, and have a very easy but super effective plan to follow for changing your diet and exercising as well? Try the 8-Week Weight Loss Challenge. It’s an awesome program that will help you change your diet gradually, at a pace that you can stick with for the long run so that you can reach your ultimate goal! Read more about the step by step course here, or sign up below to get your free PDF copy.
Want a deeper understanding of healthy weight loss, including how food helps you lose weight, what foods to choose, how exercise comes into the equation, and much more on staying motivated? Check out my Ultimate Guide to Losing 100+ Pounds!
