Motivational Tips for Losing Weight

Ok so seriously we all want to start the next great diet. The ONE. The one that will work for us. This time we are going to succeed in our weight loss goals. Then life steps in about day 3 when we are looking for excuses and bam. We have fallen off the weight loss wagon. Now we are disappointed in ourselves and thinking we will start again on Monday. But something happens and we forget about the diet or don’t plan it into our schedules and then we are disappointed in ourselves. Does any of this sound familiar?
I have discovered a way to overcome this hurdle. No It’s not a magic pill that will make you get up every day to work out and eat right but it may help on your path to weightloss.
Step One: Really think about why you want to lose weight? Is it to fit into your skinny jeans? To get healthy? Be able to run around with your kids? To be able to get pregnant? To just feel better about yourself?
Everyone has different reasons for losing weight but yours are the only ones that count. Grab a pen and paper and think of 5 good reasons to go on a diet?
Do you have them yet? Don’t move on to the next step until you do.

Step Two: This is the geeky step and you definitely feel weird doing it and might have some resistance but do it anyway! Take that picture of yourself. You know the one you hate where all of your bulges are showing and you feel you look the worst. If someone tagged you in it on FB you untagged yourself. Well get it back. Crop your head off your body and find a body that you admire to put it on to. You can do this the old school way with actual paper and pictures or you can do it in Paint. You don’t need to be a pro at Photoshop for this experience. OK now print this off and put it with your 5 reasons for losing weight.

Step Three: Write down your ultimate weightloss goal. Whether it is 5 pounds or 100 pounds. Write it down at the bottom of your reasons to lose weight. Now look at this goal and think about your life. Is this an achievable goal? Often our ultimate goals overwhelm us and intimidate us. All ultimate goals should take the appropriate time to reach. So let’s say however many pounds you want to lose divided by 1.5 equals the total amount of weeks it should take you. The next step in this process is to break your ultimate goal up into achievable small mini goals. So if you want to lose 100 pounds then it will take you approx 67 weeks. Again it seems daunting. Who wants to diet for that long? Well you do if that is your goal. The next step in this process is to break your ultimate goal up into achievable small mini goals.
We already mentioned the 1.5 pounds a week. So let’s break our ultimate goal down into smaller increments. 10 pounds is the perfect achievable goal. This will take you approximately 6-7 weeks to attain. So let’s break it down even further. Make your mini goal 1.5 pounds a week. This is achievable and something that you can celebrate weekly. Every week when you reach this goal you give yourself a pat on the back, a gold star or a lunch out (don’t splurge too much). This celebration of a mini goal met will give you a sense of self satisfaction and will keep you on your diet wagon.

Step Four: Write out a plan. I know you think this will take a long time but it should only take as long as it took you to do the other 2 steps. I don’t want this plan to be incredibly detailed. In fact we should call it a diet outline. Outline the things you would like to do to achieve your goal. For example:
Wake up 5 am exercise for 45 mins
Eat a healthy breakfast
Make lunch to take to work
Walk 15 mins at lunchtime with a friend
Etc.

Please do not say wake up at 5 AM if you know that you have a hard time doing this. Because if you miss step one of your plan (because you were too tired and pressed snooze too many times)then you will cancel the rest of your day and plan again for the next day and too many times of that brings us to Friday and no one wants to start a diet on a Friday.
You need to plan for success. So if you know that you won’t wake up at 5am then plan to walk at lunch and exercise for 45 mins after work. You may be really tired after work and the last thing you think you’ll want to do when you get home is exercise but trust me if you have filled the rest of your day with the diet wagon you will exercise simply to not fall off the wagon. You have to play tricks with your mind and try to think in advance of the things that will stop you on the way to your weight loss goal.
Too many times we try to avoid the diet then we get really gung ho about the diet but forget the planning or outline stage. If you don’t have a good idea of how you are going to do something how can you hope for success? I have said before and I’ll say it again. Dieting is all in the mindset. You need to plan it out in advance and get organized. The dieter that is organized and has all of the meals planned for the week is the one that will succeed the most. As they will not be as tempted to stop off on the way home and get a quick meal if they know they have everything they need at home. The above steps will help to motivate you on a regular basis to keep reaching for that ultimate goal.
So in review: Write down your reasons for weightloss and look at them every day. Even bring them with you wherever you go. Put a skinny picture of you with those reasons. If you can see it you can believe it. Make mini goals for yourself and celebrate, this will help you feel a sense of accomplishment. And finally, plan for your success put your mind into the diet wagon. These steps are a great way to stop the self sabotage that dieters are great at and that makes them feel miserable in the end. Happy weightloss!