When it comes to losing weight and keeping it off, the most important
thing isn't diet or exercise. It's motivation. If you can keep
motivated, you can meet your goals, become more physically fit, and live
a healthier lifestyle.
Unfortunately,
most of us have problems staying motivated. Sure, it's easy to decide
to diet and exercise and stick to it for a couple of weeks; but
eventually, nearly all of us get to a point where we lose our focus and
give up.
When this happens we not only gain back whatever weight
we may have lost, but we often put on even more pounds than we had
before we started. This can be a real blow to our self-esteem and make
it even harder for us to try to lose weight in the future.
The
good news is that it is possible to find ways to stay motivated and keep
focused on your weight loss goals - once you know how. When you achieve
this level of focus, you will not only lose weight now; you'll find
that it's much easier to keep the weight off in the long term.
They
provided us with a bunch of tips that have worked in the real world to
help the people they've worked with to stay motivated, and we are happy
to pass them on to you.
• Realize that your subconscious is the
biggest thing holding you back from staying motivated. On a conscious
level, you know you want to lose weight - but your subconscious may not
be on board. It is filled with negative thoughts that expect failure.
So, you need to change your subconscious expectations for yourself. Most
of us have a negative inner dialogue going on, but that dialogue can be
changed. When you find yourself thinking negative thoughts, stop them
in their tracks and replace them with positive thoughts. Over time, this
will become automatic and it will stop your subconscious from
sabotaging your weight loss and healthy living efforts. Breaking the
subconscious chains that are holding you back from real weight loss is
the most important thing you can do.
• Find a diet buddy, and set
them up on speed dial on your phone. The two of you can work to support
each other. When you feel tempted to break your diet or skip out on the
gym, give them a call and let them talk you into doing the right thing.
Be there for them in the same situations. Between the two of you, you
both have a much better chance of sticking to your weight loss and
exercise plans.
• Stop focusing on how hard it is to lose weight.
If you are constantly thinking about how much work it is to lose weight
and stay healthy, this will fill your brain with negative thoughts.
That's not good. Don't let yourself focus on the negative. Instead, keep
in mind all of the benefits of losing weight. Make a list if you have
to! By focusing on the positive, you'll be much less tempted to go off
your weight loss plan.
• Every week, take a picture of yourself in
the mirror. Then post this picture someplace where you will see it
every day. Keep adding new pictures every week. By actually seeing how
much progress you are making, it will be much easier for you to stick to
your goals - because you'll be able to visualize the results.
•
Start a blog about your weight loss goals. By writing once or twice a
week about what you are doing, you'll be able to keep track of your
progress and work out your inner demons. You'll also get people to
comment on your blog and encourage you to stick to it.
• Reward
yourself every so often. Set a simple goal - say, losing five pounds.
When you make that goal, go out and buy yourself something really nice.
Get your favorite author in hardcover instead of waiting for the
paperback to come out. Buy your favorite movie on Blu-Ray. It doesn't
matter what it is, as long as it's something you like that you wouldn't
normally buy for yourself.
• Don't give up if you have a slip.
Look, nobody is perfect. We aren't machines. Sometimes we are going to
screw up and have a slice of chocolate cake. It happens. But don't treat
it like the end of the world. Many people figure that once they've gone
off their diet once, they might as well give up. Don't! Instead, try to
figure out why you were tempted and spend a little extra time in the
gym that week.
• Try to find ways to make working out fun. Just
sitting alone in the gym on a stationary bike is not very inspiring for
most people. It's boring and easy to give up. Why not pick up a new
sport? You'll end up making new friends and by playing a game, you'll be
having fun while burning off calories. And you'll keep doing it because
you won't want to let your team down.
• If you have a partner,
have lots of sex! Sex not only feels good, but it burns off calories.
More importantly, it releases the same endorphins into your body as
eating chocolate. And here's something you may not know - when you start
to lose weight, your libido will improve and you'll experience much
more sexual satisfaction. Women in particular have reported becoming
more orgasmic the more weight they lose.
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