Patrick
Losing weight is something many people wish to accomplish at least one point in their life. For some people success may come easy but for other people it may seem like one of the biggest challenges they have ever faced.
All people are different. For people who struggle to be successful in losing weight the biggest reason is almost always motivation and lack of it.
How do you motivate yourself to lose weight? You can motivate yourself to lose weight by doing these things; setting your goal, getting into the right mindset, making a plan, carrying out your plan, and tracking your progress.
Each of these things can be used to motivate you and keep you motivated and is most effectively done in this order. People who follow this plan will reach their goal while keeping motivation levels up.
Steps To Lose Weight
Setting Your Goal
Setting your goal or goals is the first step in achieving them and you can not be motivated to reach your goals if there is no clear defined goal or goals in sight to begin with.
That being said you may be thinking you already have a goal and that goal is to lose weight but this goal is too broad and not a clear enough objective.
It is like setting out to sea on a boat and simply saying you want to reach land, with no clear objective or place to go you could be wandering around in circles forever.
Now that you see why you need to set a goal and a clear one there are a few guidelines for setting a goal that you can stay dedicated to.
A lot of people will tell you to pick a goal that is not too high up and hard to achieve and to keep your goals small. I agree that you do not want to set your goals too big but once you pick a goal you think is suitable for you I want you to set your bar slightly above that.
For example if your reasonable goal is to lose 10 pounds in 6 months I want you bring that up a bit and make your goal to lose 15 pounds in 6 months. It’s this idea of shooting towards the stars and you’ll reach the moon without being disappointed.
In other words aiming a bit higher than your expectations so if you do not quite reach this new goal you will likely reach your original goal and be happy. As well as giving you the extra boost to work a bit harder since your goal is a bit steeper.
Getting Into The Right Mindset
Now that you have made an effective weight loss goal you need to get your mind into the right position to help you achieve your goal. This in my opinion is the biggest step in motivating yourself to lose weight. Remember the body follows the mind never the other way around.
When getting into the right mindset to lose weight you always have to think positively.
You may not be happy in your own skin but you must learn to be if not pretend to be and it sounds weird but I say this because I promise as you go through towards your goal you will start to feel better in just doing so and it will not take very long at all.
You need to start thinking about everything related to your goal in a positive light. Do not lose weight because you don’t like your body, lose weight because you love your body and want to keep it healthy.
Do not think about the 30 minutes you have left on the treadmill. Think about the 30 minutes you have already run on the treadmill.
When all else fails and you’re about to skip out on a workout or about to cheat on your diet or give up, always remember your goal and why you started your goal.
When you pick up that donut ask yourself what are you more hungry for? Are you more hungry for this few seconds of pleasure or more hungry to reach your goal?
So to get into the right mindset you need to always remember your goal and why you started as well as to always be positive about your goal and the process along with it.
Making a Plan
Just like making a goal making a plan towards that goal is important so you are not just going around in circles getting nowhere.
If you make a plan before you start working towards your goal it will be a lot easier to stick to it as this plan was made by you and should be suited for you in every way and of course your goal.
When making your plan for weight loss make it convenient for you when it comes to the foods the gym time and everything in between but this is not an excuse to be lazy and lose focus.
Make a plan that is convenient but consistent. Doing this will make your plan effective but easy for you to follow and maintain motivation while doing it.
Well making a detailed plan is good and effective make sure not to go overboard with it. The more detailed plan will be more effective but it will be more difficult to stay dedicated to and may turn people to give up on it easier.
Incorporate things you genuinely love to do and enjoy into your plan of achieving your goal every chance you get. Having something you see as fun to look forward to will get you more enthusiastic about getting fit and working towards your goal.
If you discover something that may work better for your plan do not be scared to change it up.
Carrying Out Your Plan
Finally you have a solid goal and the right mindset and plan to get there now all you have to do is carry out that plan.
Carrying out your plan to lose weight in a way that will keep you motivated is relatively simple all you have to do is not be so hard on yourself.
Don’t get not being hard on yourself confused with not staying strict on your plan. You set a plan and stick to it but if something gets into the way of those plans do not blame it on yourself and do not stress about it.
For example if you get very ill and can not exercise like your plan calls for do not feel bad about it you are sick and it is probably for the greater good you skip out on your exercise routine for the time being according to your health. (see Muscle Recovery When Sick)
If it is your birthday do not feel so bad about eating a slice of cake. Eating a cheat meal every so often is a good idea to keep you motivated while you are on a strict diet so take advantage of the opportunity to eat a cheat meal every so often.
But again not too often you should not eat a cheat meal more then once a week. If you are doing good with your plan and progress do not feel bad in rewarding yourself with one you deserve the credit.
Tracking Your Progress
When staying motivated in losing weight everything can play a role into your motivation levels and that includes how you track your progress too. When tracking your weight loss progress do so in a way that will deliver consistent progress updates in a way that is less likely to discourage you.
Tracking your weight loss progress in a way that delivers consistency is not difficult. One thing to make sure you do is every time you measure your progress whether it be by scale or body measurement.
Do so at the same time of day ideally as soon as you wake up so things like food you may have just ate won’t alter your measurements slightly.
Also make sure to track calories and your workouts to ensure your moving towards success and if you find overtime you are not successful you can make appropriate fitness and nutrition changes.
You can measure your weight loss progress in a way that is less likely to be discouraging simply by measuring your results less often.
When people start a weight loss plan they tend to get over excited and measure progress non stop to see little or no progress maybe even a loss of progress making them think they wont improve.
This is not necessarily because their weight loss plan is not working but may simply be because your body has a lot more salt then the day before or whenever your last progress check was.
Regardless of the reason this observation of little or no progress can be discouraging and in order to avoid this check your progress once every 45 days or so this should not be done daily or even every week.
This will definitely keep you from being discouraged and these steps as a whole will help start your weight loss journey and will keep your motivation up in order to lose weight.
