How to Stay Motivated for Weight Loss Week after Week
It is often said the most successful weight loss programs are the ones where you ‘finish the way you start’ but doing this can be quite a challenge. We always start new health programs on a ‘high’ with great intentions and plenty of enthusiasm but as we continue our goals for weight loss week in week out can seem more difficult to achieve and the effort this requires, more demanding. We know however that despite this predictable drop in commitment and drive, there are reliable ways to keep focused and continue to reach our goals.
Locate a picture that reveals your true body shape when you were way too heavy and attach it to the door of your refrigerator. Make sure that it shows you at your very unhealthiest and is placed strategically near the door handle so that you will see it every time you are tempted to go hunt for a slice of cheesecake. Whenever you see your picture, remind yourself that you are changing and will soon have nothing in common with this photo except perhaps the attractive eyes!
Set weight loss goals and rewards for yourself and write down these goals and rewards. Things like ‘When I lose five pounds I will buy that fabulous red dress’ or ‘When I can fit back into my skinny jeans I’ll treat myself to those boots that will look great with my skinny jeans.’ Perhaps ‘When I lose thirty pounds I’m going to Florida for a vacation and I’m actually going to buy a swimsuit and go in the water.’
Work towards your goals! Keep track of your progress and reward yourself well when you accomplish a goal that you have set for yourself. Setting goals and rewarding yourself is a powerful way to stay motivated to diet because you will start to see the positive results of all of your hard work.
Share your journey to a healthier, cuter looking body with others who may benefit from your weight loss week by week through creating a blog. You would be surprised at how effective this can be to keep your motivation high and for drawing the attention and support of many others in the same situation as you. They generally log in at least weekly and can be the source of encouraging comments and advice.
We live in world where the visual image is a powerful motivator, so find some photos or pictures of what you want to look like and will look like when you reach your target weight. Display them at home, in your office, even on your screen saver so that these positive images will begin to imprint at a deep level and motivate your weight loss week in week out. In the end you may even look better than your healthy body motivating image!
Read by going online or read books that detail the stories and successes of other people who have lost weight successfully. Reading about the success of others will help inspire you to keep going. After all, someday someone might be reading about your struggle with weight loss as a way to stay motivated and to stay on their diet!
Take steps to embrace life and all its opportunities while you are following your healthy eating and exercise plan. This is should see you doing different things especially in the outdoors like hiking on the weekend or biking after work. Join groups where physical activity is a feature and enroll in a Salsa class or even learn Hip Hop so that your weight loss week by week if the result of having plenty of fun!
Stay away from people who do not support your weight loss or even worse undermine this. ‘Friends’ who encourage you to eat the very foods that you know cause you to stay fat are not your friends at all and should be avoided as you continue to make progress with your weight loss week after week. Never allow invitations to fast food restaurants or suggestions of a second serve or even a first serve of high calorie meals sway you from your goal to continue losing weight and be the healthy, happy person you are inside!