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6 Ways to Stay Motivated When Losing Weight
© Mandolin Davis
Staying motivated over the long-term isn’t always easy, let’s be honest.
You’ve got all those habits and behaviors constantly tempting you back into old ways.
When we feel bad, often our relief is to do something that’s bad for us. So we have a trigger — stress or feeling down linked to some behavior — eating bad food, drinking, smoking… whatever…
These connections can be very strong, which is why change is often difficult.
Staying motivated doesn’t have one easy solution. I can’t just tell you “do this and you’ll be fine” it doesn’t work like that…
The truth is that motivation is fed by a number of factors and you have to get as many of these factors on your side, if you want to succeed…
Number one is DESIRE
You have to want the change. Sometimes people are faced with a stark choice — do or die. At those times, they easily find the will to do what it takes because the desire is so high. So the first job in getting motivated is to increase your desire. And there’s quite a lot you can do to do that.
Number two is CLARITY
What PRECISELY is the outcome and HOW will you get there? When you ask yourself these questions is the answer CLEAR? If not, then you need to work on getting clear.
Number three is BELIEF
I think when people really struggle with change, often they don’t believe they can do it. Belief of course is related to number one and two. It’s easy to see how if you had intense desire AND you were exceptionally clear that this would automatically increase your belief that you could do it.
What really messes with your self-belief is failure. Half-hearted attempts followed by failure to follow through does serious damage to your self-belief. You lose faith in your ability to follow through. The fact is you WILL be tested. The old way WILL urge you and tempt you back. Your ability to say “no” and follow through at those times depends on numbers one, two and three (and four, five and six).
Number four is COMMITMENT
Again commitment depends on numbers one to three. What you really need is “calm resolve.” It’s not intense stoicism. It’s not a bulldozer. It’s a calm resolve. A deep inner knowing that everything is going to be ok — I have the tools, I see my goal, I know what I have to do, I have a plan, it’s happening this time, no question about it. It’s calm.
How many times have you whipped yourself up into a frenzy the night before you try a big change? All the pacing and self-talk and geeing yourself up has one result. The next day you do your “bad thing” twice as much!
That’s because attention is attention. All that energy and attention onto the problem the night before just increased the problem. The more attention to something, the bigger it gets.
Number five is CLEVER GOALS
If you attempt too much, you set yourself up for failure. Given that attempts to change are preceded by lots of half hearted failed attempts, the usual solution most people go for is to set A BIGGER GOAL. This has even less chance of working! Pick goals you FEEL sure you can follow through on.
I think fear of failure is healthy because failure causes damage to your self-belief. Pick small goals and build, build, build. Think snowballs and hills.
Number six is CONSISTENCY
A journey consists of steps. If you wanted to visit a neighboring country, there’s no way you can leap it. No matter how much you geed yourself up, no matter how committed you are, no matter how much belief you have — it ain’t happening.
You have to be realistic. Yes, we always want it NOW but that’s not going to happen. Weight loss especially is a journey. It’s a little bit of weight coming off every week until all those little bits add up to a very big bit.
Being realistic, consistent and setting clever goals is the FASTEST way. I say this; if you want to do 3 pounds a week, start with one… after a little while when your confidence is up, do one and a half. And so-on.
So you can easily see that motivation is not one thing, it’s many things working together. There’s no easy answer but there is an answer. Habit Guide uses all these tools together in a way that maximizes your ability to follow through, to see your goals clearly, to get that “calm resolve” you so badly need.
Where will you be in a year’s time? Two years? Three years? How long have you tried to move forward and ended up either where you are — stuck, or actually going backwards.
The solutions will always be the solutions
Your mind will always work in the way it works. The question is “when will you get the solutions working for you?”
Habit Guide has the gold solutions. It’s twenty years worth of panning for the gold. Yes there are other ideas — like accountability. Accountability is good, it helps, but it’s not gold so it’s not in. And there are others too. Habit Guide is powerful because as much attention has been paid to what to leave out, as has been paid to what to go in.
It’s the gold solution, laid out in a way that allows you to tap your own mind and heart for your own answers. It allows you to move forward with confidence and calm resolve — one “sure-fire” step after another.
Good luck!
Mike Kinnaird
Habit Guide: How to be Happy & Healthy
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Great ways to keep motivated for anything but especially weight loss. I find that goals that are not only small and achievable but also realistic and measurable are core to successful weight loss programs. ‘I will lose one pound each week until I reach my target weight’ is a much more helpful motivator than ‘ I’ll lose weight before summer’. In this way you will continue to stay motivated and ‘on the plan’ even when your life is busiest!
Yes, I agree with that Rowena, thanks for your comment.
Mike.