Sometimes it seems the hardest part of losing weight is mustering up the motivation to start, especially if a person has been an unsuccessful lifelong dieter.
So what do you do if your brain says you’re willing to give it a go but your heart says “forget it, I’m sick of trying.”?
Here’s 5 ways to help you fire yourself up and find the motivation to lose weight.
1) Write It Down
Why do you want to lose weight?
Is it because of a health issue; because you want to be around for your children; because of an upcoming special event; because you’re sick and tired of being fat; or some other reason?
My motivating factor was my annual checkup where my doctor told me I had to get my body mass down if I wanted to live longer and avoid serious diseases. My blood sugar was in the pre-diabetic range; my blood pressure was borderline high; and I needed a stress test for my heart.
I finally realized how my excess weight was negatively affecting my health and how I was literally eating myself to death.
If you’re having a hard time finding motivation to get started on losing weight even though you know you should, sit down with a piece of paper and a pencil and write down the reasons why you want to lose weight.
Then keep that piece of paper handy and look at it as often as you need to in order to stay motivated.
2) Give Yourself Rewards
Rewards are a lot of fun to look forward to. Plan rewards for yourself as you reach each of your weight loss goals. For example, treat yourself to a pedicure or to tickets to a game for losing 5 pounds, 5 percent of your body weight, or whatever goal you want to set. Plan a bigger reward or two as well for when you reach the halfway point or when you reach your goal weight or size.
Avoid food rewards though! Yeah, you might be thinking “duh,” of course I won’t reward my weight loss with food but it’s likely to be the first thing that pops into your mind because our society seems to celebrate everything with food! (Is there anything we don’t celebrate with cake?)
Is your budget tight? There’s lots of rewards you can give yourself that don’t cost anything such as a day hanging out at the park and relaxing, spending time at the library catching up on reading your favorite magazines, or just being a couch potato and catching up on your favorite television shows. Giving yourself the gift of free time is probably the best reward you can give yourself (as long as you make it guilt free – no thinking about things you’re not getting done.)
3) A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words
Many of us don’t see how we really look when we stare at ourselves in the mirror but pictures don’t lie.
Three things you can do:
A: Take a picture of yourself today and put it where you’ll look at it every day. The refrigerator door is a good place because it might motivate you to leave the door closed and not stuff your face with what’s inside.
B: Find a picture of yourself before you gained weight and put it where you’ll look at it every day to remind yourself of how you want to look.
C: Find a picture of somebody you don’t want to look like. It could be a family member or a complete stranger. Use that picture to remind yourself why you want to lose weight.
4) Think About What Will Happen If You Don’t Lose Weight
Overweight people have more health issues than normal weight people and excess weight can shorten a life and make the years you do have less enjoyable.
For example, Type II diabetes is related to obesity and can have severe adverse effects on a person’s life. I see what it does to people every week when I take my mom to kidney dialysis. At least half the people are there are on dialysis because of complications of their diabetes and a few of them have lost at least a portion of one of their limbs because of their diabetes. Having to spend several hours a day, three times a week hooked up to a dialysis machine completely changes a person’s life.
I’m not saying you’ll get Type II diabetes if you don’t lose weight. You may be lucky enough to never experience adverse physical ailments because of it.
But even if it doesn’t cause physical problems it may cause other ones. Does it make it difficult to play with your children? Do you avoid certain activities you once enjoyed such as golf or skiing or hiking because the excess weight makes it too hard? Do you hate going to movies, concerts, or to fly because the seats are too small and uncomfortable? If you don’t lose weight will you continue to miss out on things in life that you think are fun?
5) Start Your Day By Doing One Thing To Help With Weight Loss
Every day goes better if you can start it out on a positive note. Try to start your day out by doing something to help with your weight loss because it can help motivate you to stay on track for the rest of the day. Here are some examples:
- Exercise first thing in the morning. If you can get out for a morning walk or can get to the gym that’s great. If not, get a workout video and do it for 5 or 10 minutes in the morning, get a mini trampoline and start your day by bouncing on it 10 minutes, get a weighted hula hoop and use it while watching the early morning news, or go online and find a workout routine.
- Eat a healthy breakfast (include lean protein and whole grains).
- Drink a glass of water.
- Eat a piece of fruit.
- Pack your lunch (a healthy one). Include mid-morning and afternoon snacks so you’re not tempted to have fast food or hit the vending machines.
- Plan your day. Plan healthy meals, time for exercise, and some down time to relax.
Keep these 5 tips on motivating yourself to lose weight in a handy place. Then any time your motivation starts to go away you can look at them and help yourself get your motivation back.
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