Top 3 weight loss motivation tips
When it comes to getting motivation to lose weight it comes down to one thing. How much pain does it cause you to be overweight?
I am not talking about physical pain, but the psychological pain it causes you. For example, if you’re a guy and you put on a shirt and all you can think about is how big it makes your stomach look.
Perhaps you’re a woman and every time you put on something that looks nice you wonder if people are looking at you funny. Is this dress too short, are my legs to fat?
Weight loss motivation tip 1: Understand why you need to lose weight
You see it’s this pain that is going to get you to take action on your goals, and its only by getting clear with the pain that you feel that you will find the motivation to take action.
Napoleon Hill wrote a book called think and grow rich that most people have probably read. In his book he says that to achieve riches it starts with a burning desire.
In fact, the desire burns so brightly that it almost becomes an obsession. You think about it daily, it almost consumes your every thought.
Weight loss motivation tip 2: Control your negative self-talk
You see your thoughts are everything. Susan Jeffers refers to your inner chatter box, which is are self-talk.
A lot of the time our self-talk is negative, and it can cause us to procrastinate, and fail to act out of fear, or that we may just fail.
By controlling your thoughts you can channel all your energy and effort into motivating yourself to lose weight.
Once you have gained the motivation to lose weight there are some key psychological techniques that will help you to obtain your goal such as goal setting, visualization, setting new habits to name but a few.
We are going to talk about goal setting………
Weight loss motivation tip 3: Set SMART goals
S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting is something I have been using with my clients for years. This system will help you specify clear plans and outcomes to your own success.
How to establish a good goal
Lets take a look at a common weight loss goal that you may have used in the past and employ the S.M.A.R.T. goal plan.
I just want you to take 10 minutes of your time to use this process to give you a clearer sense of purpose, and confidence to speed up your weight loss efforts.
Use this example as a template, that you use to tailor your own specific goals.
Normal goal: “I want to lose a bit of weight around my stomach”
Now let us correct this goal with the S.M.A.R.T. principles. Each letter represents its own unique element. Notice the way the objective is corrected for every single element before final goal becomes a S.M.A.R.T goal.
Set Specific Goals
The very first step into that your goal-setting process is to refine your goal to an accomplishment or landmark that you’d love to reach.
One way to greatly help improve your objective is always to confer with a doctor. If you are thinking of weight reduction, your doctor might be able to inform you that losing a specific amount of weight will boost your health.
You might be able to lower your risk for cardiovascular diseases or reduce your reliance upon medications if you reduce your weight or body mass index (BMI).
If your weight doesn’t make a difference to your health, you can specify a goal to eliminate the amount of weight you gained within the last several years or even during Christmas or your summer holidays.
Adjusted goal: “I want to lose 10 kilos to help reduce my belly fat”
Goals Should be Measurable
To keep track of your progress, your goal needs to be quantifiable so that it can be measured.
Describe how you will measure your success as you proceed. For instance, some dieters may choose to monitor their BMI (body mass index).
Others might select a specific number on the scale or even a dress size they’d like to fit in to. People who have access to body composition applications may choose to track body fat percent.
Every one of them is a different way to quantify changes to your body’s size. Be specific about which one you will use.
Adjusted resolution:” I want to lose 10 kilos, to help reduce my belly fat. I shall measure my waist using a tape measure.”
Goals must be Attainable
To ensure that your weight loss target is achievable, you should evaluate your previous history losing weight.
Let’s say that you have never achieved losing more than 5 kilos, then a weight loss goal of 10 kilos may not be realistic.
Remember that after you reach a goal, you could always set new goals. To begin with it is easier to set small goals that you can achieve, to build confidence that you can achieve bigger goals.
Fix your goal so that it is reasonable.
Adjusted resolution: ” I want to lose 5 kilos, to help reduce my belly fat. I shall measure my waist using a tape measure. Once I reach 5 kilos, I will consider setting a new goal for continued weight loss.”
Goals must be Relevant
Your goal needs to make a difference to your life. Defining why the target matters may help you stay motivated if complacency sets in.
By way of example, if you went to see your doctor at the beginning of your fat loss journey, jot down how weight loss will impact your health.
You may want to slim down to wear a bikini or look better in your old suits. Or you might even desire to lose weight to improve your own marriage or other relationships.
Describe how weight loss is important in your own life and keep this at the forefront of your mind when you are tempted to quit.
Adjusted resolution: ” I want to lose 5 kilos, to help reduce my belly fat. I shall measure my waist using a tape measure. Once I reach 5 kilos, I will consider setting a new goal for continued weight loss. Losing this weight will help me feel more confident in my clothes and will help give me more energy to play with my kids.”
Goals must be Time-bound
Each goal needs to have a time limit. That is, you should decide on a fair amount of time which you will have to attain your goal.
For newbies, keep in mind that the between ½ a kilo – 1 kilo of weight loss a week is usually believed reasonable, but short periods of quick fat loss can be used for people who are wildly over weight.
Adjusted goal: ” I want to lose 5 kilos in the next 3 months, to help reduce my belly fat. I shall measure my waist using a tape measure. Once I reach 5 kilos, I will consider setting a new goal for continued weight loss. Losing this weight will help me feel more confident in my clothes and will help give me more energy to play with my kids.
My advice
Even though S.M.A.R.T goal setting is a critical step on your weight loss journey, it isn’t the sole measure.
Once your goal is in place, you must pick an eating plan and put your plan into actions to start losing weight.
Locate a diet which is most suitable for you personally and you also to start a program at home.
The number one Highly Effective tip for weight loss motivation
When we think about losing weight there are two things that come to mind. Those are likely to be start exercising and go on a diet.
Both these factors are important, but most people forget the most important area of all. Training the mind.
If the mind is weak and your not mentally committed to the task then you wont stick to your diet or exercise plan. You need to train the mind and visualisation is a great way to achieve this.
What is visualisation?
Visualisation is a technique or a tool where you sit down quietly by yourself and use your imagination to create visions and imagery to prime your subconscious mind of the goals that you want to attain.
With visualisation your mental and emotional desires can be transformed into physical and become your new reality.
By using visualisation you can also get rid of the conflicting thoughts that hold you back from achieving your goals. However, in order to create what you want you have to clearly see it.
At first this will not be easy but the clearer you can see your desires the easier it will come in to your life.
Visualisation helps you get clearer of what your goals are and makes it much more easier to take action on your goals.
Why you should use Visualisation for motivation to lose weight
A weight loss goal is one of the hardest goals to achieve, and many people fail with this goal. As it is a goal that requires a lot of effort you must be prepared to put that extra effort in, and this is why visualisation is important.
How to use visualisation
- Find a quiet place, get a stop watch and make sure you wont be disturbed as you will need peace. You will need between 5 to 10 minutes.
- Set a focus for your visualisation. What do you want to visualize? What is the goal, the objective or purpose. Just set one focus for this session. You may be visualising yourself at the Christmas party turning down treats and alchol. You may visualise yourself at the gym pushing through your workout.
- Calm yourself down. We spend so much time rushing about, thinking about problems at work, thinking about whats gonna happen tomorrow. Spend 1-2 minutes doing some deep breathing.
- Think about what the emotion of being slimmer, being ripped will feel like. Do this first part with your eyes open. Once you connect with the emotion the visions will start to come.
- Then you can close your eyes.
- Now start the timer and start visualising your goal. What does it look like to be 3 stone lighter, what kind of clothes will you wear, how will people look at you when your in good shape, how will it effect you at work, what will you be doing with your life, how will your life be different, how will it effect your energy levels, how will it make you feel inside? Will you have a big smile on your face, how will your family feel about you, how will your partner feel about you, how will your friends at work feel about you, how will your potential business associates feel about you.
- The visions may be 15-20 seconds at a time Expect your visions to be murky and unclear, and you may only get short bursts of visions for 15-20 seconds at first. After a while it will get better and more vivid after time. Try to use your other senses like taste, smell, sound. You may use your taste to imagine the type of healthy foods your going to be eating when you entertain your clients, or are trying to win new business. You may imagine the smell of the foods you will be eating, the sound of laughter with your clients.
- Visualise yourself in the now. Even if your goal is to lose 4 stone six months from now, visualise yourself being 4 stone lighter now. Visualising the future is better then not visualising at all, but your mind will buy into the present even more.
- Do all those steps and when your timer goes off your done.
The subconscious mind
When you first start using visualisation you may start to have negative thoughts. This is your subconscious mind speaking.
Within your subconscious mind you have a view of the world, which dictates your beliefs.
You store what you believe to be true, what you believe to be false, things you can and cant do, your strengths and weaknesses, and most importantly what you believe about yourself.
There may be many self beliefs that you have developed over the years that can be holding you back and takeing away your power.
Eliminating negative thoughts
For example, you may start to visualise being 88kg, but you are currently 120 kg. Your mind will likely want to rebel about the visions you are having.
If you have never been slim before and you start visualising being slim, your mind is gonna reject and say its unrealistic, and that your being silly.
This is normal, but pay careful attention to this as this is your mind creating negative thoughts that will negatively impact on your desire.
Even if the thoughts feel silly you must through them. Those negative thoughts are not true at all, but as long as you have that belief you will always fail as these limiting beliefs will hold you back.
Reshaping your subconscious mind
Visualisation allows you to reshape, and eliminate your own limiting beliefs which are holding you back.
Once these thoughts are eliminated you have the power to mould and create new stronger beliefs to help you form new behaviours and actions that will help you to achieve your goals.