9 Top Tips To Motivate You To Lose Weight

Often when we decide to lose weight we do really well for a week or two but then motivation fades and we give up. We may even put any weight we did lose back on and sometimes an extra few pounds too. 🙁

So keeping up our motivation in the long term is the key to success.

Here are 9 top tips to staying motivated:

1. Write It Down! Write down your reasons for wanting to lose weight. Try not to be too vague. For example instead of writing ‘I want to feel healthier’ you should try to think of specific areas of your health you want to improve such as achy joints or constant tiredness.
2. Make a poster to pin up somewhere you will see it daily, using a few of your top motivations.
3. Set yourself realistic attainable goals. Many people embarking on a weight loss diet expect too much. A good goal to start with is losing 10% of your body weight. Losing just 10% is associated with multiple health benefits including less chance of getting diabetes and heart disease and less stress on your joints. If you are very overweight set small goals like losing 10 lbs rather than focusing on the full amount you eventually want to lose
4. Set non weight related goals. For example to eat 5 fruit and veg a day or take a daily walk.
5. Avoid fad diets. Try to focus on healthy eating rather than the latest craze. Try to think of this as a change of lifestyle rather than a diet.
6. Visualise Yourself already there! Spend time each morning visualising how you will look and feel when you reach your goal. How do you look? What are you wearing? How do you feel? Studies have shown that visualisatiom techniques can aid weight loss.
7. Recognise your triggers. If you are a boredom eater try having something healthy to hand like chopped vegetables and a healthy dip to snack on when boredom hits. If you are an emotional eater try going for a run when you feel stressed instead of eating. (These are examples – you need to find a strategy that works for you).
8. Focus on non scale victories (NSVs) and reward yourself. For example if you managed to do that 5k run, buy yourself a snazzy running outfit.
9. Forgive yourself when things go wrong. Focus on what you have achieved already and dont go off the rails after. If you have had a binge for example you wont have done much damage if you just accept it amd get back on plan but a downward spiral of guilt and more bingeing could cause you to give up all together and send you back into the cycle of yo yo dieting.

Try to incorporate these strategies on a daily basis and you will be well on your way to a healthier, lighter and happier you! You will also find further help in these other posts.