How to Motivate Yourself to Lose Weight, AND Keep on Track

I bet you know how to eat and live a lot healthier than you actually do. You might be wondering how to motivate yourself to lose weight.

It might baffle you as to why you can start a healthy eating and exercise plan, but not stick to it. Maybe you think you haven’t got enough willpower. But I’m willing to bet that isn’t actually the case, and something else is going on.

There are two really important things a typical ill thought out weight loss plan usually leaves out. This is a big part of the reason why most diets fail.

How to Motivate Yourself to Lose Weight

This first and most important thing you need to do is inspire yourself to begin taking positive action. You do this by taking the time to think of something really personal to you.

For example, one of my Uber Slim clients has taken a previously unpleasant experience, and turned it into an inspiring goal. She recently attended a family gathering, and hadn’t seen many people for more than a decade. She felt the responses she got about her appearance weren’t very complementary.

She could have continued to feel defeated and horrible about this, but instead has thought about what she really wants, and is now focusing on that instead.

Now she imagines herself at an upcoming family gathering feeling triumphant at all the genuinely amazing compliments she is getting, because she has lost weight and is looking so well. She knows what she’s going wear,and she knows what her new hair style will look like.

She imagines this often, and by doing so she is repeatedly focusing on what she wants and programming her mind. This will help her move towards that.

This is the exact opposite of what most people do. Most people focus on everything that is wrong – their excess weight, their clothes that don’t fit, that other people might be thinking they’re fat. This type of thinking keeps you where you are, it stops you moving forward.

Thinking about the ‘diet food’ you have to eat, and all the nice foods you can’t eat (as dictated by a diet), IS NOT MOTIVATING. Thinking about how wonderful you will look and feel when you’ve achieved your goal is motivating.

How to Keep on Track

Doing the above really helps a lot, but another thing that massively improves your chances of success is to change your habits. This will keep you on track. When these kick in you won’t need to know how to motivate yourself to lose weight, because you’ll be doing it on autopilot.

Habits can’t be eradicated, they can only be replaced.

Let’s look at an unhelpful habit. You’re not hungry, but you see food and suddenly want it. And chances are the unhealthier the food is, the more you want it.

Past experience of eating chocolate, bread or sweet things has stimulated the pleasure receptors in your brain. So when you see this food your brain anticipates this pleasure, and therefore craves it. To satisfy this craving you feel you need to eat because this is your current and established habit.

Researchers looked at 6,000 people who had lost 3 stone or more, and studied their habits. Among other things, most people envisioned a specific reward for sticking with their healthy eating, e.g. looking amazing and receiving wonderful comments on how good they looked.

 

Successful weight loss is in fact a mind game. If you’re ready to learn how to play it, and find out in detail how to motivate yourself to lose weight AND keep on track check out Uber Slim. It will be great to see you there and help you inspire yourself and change your habits.

Have a great week!

Dr Julie