Losing weight can be difficult. Especially if you’ve previously struggled with weight loss. Whether it was your fault or not is beside the point. I’m sure you’ve had countless times in your life when you thought to yourself, “I really need to lose weight,” only to find that week after week passed with no change. This is why you need to motivate yourself.
What Does Motivation Have To Do With Weight Loss?
Motivation is the driving force for anyone who wants to begin any journey and you will be tested, pushed and eventually change into an individual that is both mentally and physically sound.
A friend once asked me how I constantly motivate myself that it’s one of the hardest things for her to do especially when she is like a month or two into dieting and working out. I told her that motivation is only temporary, discipline is what moves you to keep going on even though the finish line is not anywhere close.
Now before you undertake any task, you have to ask yourself WHY?
- Why do you want to do this?
- Why do you want it so bad?
- Is it worth the stress you are going to put yourself through?
- Are you prepared to put in the time sacrifice and work that is required?
Once you realize your WHY then you certainly have done 50% of the work already.
Planning Is Better
This is the point you figure out how to begin, and plan out your goals. In my case, I found out that the experience of others is always a good place to start. Although you may be shy at first, seek out others who have achieved whatever goals you are after, whether it’s at a gym or on the internet or just a friend who knows someone who has gone through the same weight loss issues as you are about to go through. Use their transformation to motivate yourself.
Another important fact is for you to write down your goals, plan for achieving those goals, and your deadline. (You have to give yourself a deadline or else you are just going to keep floating on).
E.g. current weight 120kg, goal weight 90kg, deadline 6 months from now and then you can further break it down into smaller goals e.g., 1kg per week or 4kg per month (this helps a lot because losing 30kg in 6 months can be a bit daunting) but breaking it down to smaller goals helps you keep focus.
Now after you have figured all this out, this is when you write your fitness pledge or oath (I know this sounds corny but I promise you it works) and paste it on your wall. This is a big part of how you motivate yourself. This serves as a visual reminder; it was the first thing I read when I woke up and the last thing I read before I went to bed.
So, you have figured out your why and have written down your goals and deadlines, come up with your fitness pledge that is true to yourself. For me, after I did all this, I still needed a source of daily motivation to keep me going before I actually build up discipline because it takes time to turn reading your fitness pledge every morning into a habit so I started downloading motivational pictures and videos, anything that would push me (I know it sounds kind of out there but I really wanted to lose weight badly and would not let anything stop me).
Visual Documentation
You should take a picture of your current self, front and side view, measure your BMI (basic metabolic index), arms, chest, hips, thighs, waist, and your current weight and write them all down. This is what your chart should look like at the end (you can use cardboard paper). Motivation and weight are a lot easier when you have clear goals. As a result, makes it easier to continue your journey. ( Before pictures do wonders to motivate you)
| BMI | |
| Arms | |
| Chest | |
| Waist | |
| Hips | |
| thighs |
Fitness pledge here:
Workout timetable here; 1st to 31st, January 2022
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | |
| Monday | ||||
| Tuesday | ||||
| Wednesday | ||||
| Thursday | ||||
| Friday | ||||
| Saturday |
Whether you are doing resistance training (lifting weights), calisthenics or just cardiovascular fitness, this chart works for either or both combined. (This is just a one-month example). You should tick the boxes on the days you worked out and place and x on the days that you did not work out, this helps you track your progress and also keep tabs on the days you didn’t work out and why. You should check all the above parameters weekly. Motivation will eventually wane but discipline and plain old heart will never die.
Diet
This is an essential part of your weight loss journey; this is actually the most important and hardest part of building up motivation. Starting a diet and sticking to it is where your true test of discipline comes in. you will have bad days, bad cheat days, and days where you just want to give up. Check my list of superfoods for weightloss
Keeping A Positive Mindset
You have to know that there will be challenges, nothing ever goes as planned. There will be ups and downs. you will have issues that will make your journey harder. Just remember why you started. Avoid Negative people or comments at all costs, the type of people you hang around is essential to the amount of growth you will experience. Simply put avoid negative people. to motivate yourself to lose weight requires eliminating distractions.
Reflection
You have to pause and reflect on how far you have come; how hard you have worked. Take a few minutes a day and just look back at how far you have come. Reflection can be in form of yoga, meditation or just looking back and realizing your shortcomings and working on fixing them.
Conclusion
The motivation to lose weight needs to come from you. No one is going to handhold you through this, and if they do, they are probably not interested in your best interests. We’re here to help you overcome that gap with the motivation you need and the advice you can use. Have you tried losing weight and failed or have you succeeded in achieving and maintaining your goal weight? please let us know in the comments.
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Really informative article post.Thanks Again. Keep writing.