Weight loss motivation isn’t something that we have every day of our journey. Inspiration may be full throttle one week, and then impossible to find the next. Thankfully, there are some steps you can take to keep your healthy streak alive…5 of these are listed below.
Weight Loss Motivation Tips
1. Think about the future. Many people struggling with weight loss give into negative temptations every now and then. They think about the present, how eating that chocolate cake will allow them to de-stress or skipping a workout will be okay. However, it’s important to consider what it will feel like after you’ve taken the action…
Is that cake going to feel heavy in your stomach? Make you regret eating it? Help you with your goals to get healthy? Will skipping a workout discourage you from exercise the following day? Will laying around help you reach your goals?
2. Remove the negative people in your life. Those around you who continue to eat in unhealthy manners can really have an effect on your weight loss motivation. You see them indulging in their favorite desserts and snacks, and it makes you want them too. Research has been done on the idea of surrounding yourself with healthy people during weight loss, and it seems people are more successful when they do so.
3. Have a clearly-defined WHY. As with anything you do, you need to have a strong reason why you want to reach your goals. Are you losing weight for better overall health? So you can enjoy life with your partner and/or children? Do you have a chronic disease that would be improved or eliminated by losing weight? Your WHY can be the only motivating factor you need when trying to get healthy.
4. Avoid using super-slim models as your target. While we all want to reach our goals and have a flat stomach and legs, the reality is that few will achieve this. Having posters and photos up of swimsuit models can actually deter your weight loss motivation. After days and weeks of tracking calories and exercising, you may become discouraged seeing the flawless bodies and feel like giving up. Instead, let your motivation be a past photo of yourself or your WHY.
5. Hide the scale. When you are trying to shed pounds, it can become a compulsive behavior to weigh in every single day. I know that I can get very dependent on the scale, and it can really blast my motivation if I see that I’ve gained half a pound from one day to the next. Instead, only weigh in once a week. I actually have my husband hide the scale or take it to work the other six days of the week, so the temptation to look at numbers isn’t there.
If you are more of a visual person, I have some great weight loss quotes for inspiration as well!
About Kecia
#1,4 and 5 AMEN!
Definitely get rid of the negative people.
Great list!
Very good advice. What usually motivates me is when I see myself looking heavier, especially in pictures.
Great tips! Especially hiding the scale!
Kas
Oh wow, these are really great tips! I could argue that chocolate cake does solve many, many problems…but then I would just be my own negative person. :-/
Great ideas! It is so hard to hide the scale but it works!
You know these are just great tips for being more healthy in general. It’s so easy to eat junk all the time because everyone else is, but to say no and whip out a piece of fruit is looked at so strange!
How I stay motivated is by not needing to buy a size larger and rather a size smaller. I also am motivated by the way I feel not how others perceive me.
these are constructive tips. Not sure about the negative people…..that would include most of humanity!