It can be very hard work trying to continually maintain the motivation to lose weight. For the first month or so your motivation is high as you begin to see the weight coming off and your body responding and changing shape. But four or five months down the road is it getting hard to maintain that motivation? Even being told things such as “living as a couch potato can cut your life expectancy by 12 years” does not have the impact it initially had. You already know that because you are overweight you are greatly increasing your risk of developing future health problems caused by lack of activity and over eating.
To stay on track it’s important to remember that there is no rush to lose weight. Small steps that are taken every day will overtime add up. You may have been told to make lots of different changes not just to what you eat but also to how much you drink and the activity you do. You do not want to change everything at once! If you rush into changing everything at once you will find it hard to maintain and after a few months be back to square one. Don’t think of losing weight as a change in your diet which is a temporary measure and has an end point.
The great news is that improvements in your health and fitness can start with just an extra 10 – 15 minutes a day. It is never too late to start, no matter how old you are, or what your current levels of physical activity presently are.
Are you stuck in a rut trying to maintain your motivation to lose weight? Many people say “I need to lose weight” but don’t do anything about it. I was reading an article recently which describes an overweight woman’s journey to regaining her health. At her lowest point she was about 4 stone overweight, felt lousy and was desperate to slim down. She’s quoted as saying:
“I was really unhappy with the way I felt and of course with the way I looked, but it was mostly the way I was feeling. I was kind of stuck in this pattern of feeling bad and then eating to make myself feel better, which really just made things worse.”
So what did she do? It all started with a 10 minute cycle ride, everyday she went out on her bike and over a period of time started to see the weight come off. This in turn made her feel better which then meant she made healthier food choices.
It’s a cycle! Sorry about the pun. It is not just about what we do, it’s also how we think, because how we think will affect what we do. We have to break the cycle at some point and thinking and doing are two very important keys you need to help you maintain your motivation to lose weight.
Therefore you need to find activities that you enjoy doing. Start today, make a list of activities you enjoy doing and then find a friend to go along with you. Make sure what you are planning to do is relevant and enjoyable for you. If you hate dancing, don’t then decide to take up Zumba! Or if you hate certain types of fruit and vegetables don’t then decide to force yourself to eat them.
Look again at your eating patterns, you will have heard the saying “you are what you eat”. Think about that for a moment, if you are putting lots of processed food into your body, you will have low energy levels and will feel awful. Start afresh, eat more nutritious meals, lots of fruit and vegetable and make sure you are drinking plenty of water. As you do this you will find that not only do your energy levels pick up but your skin clears and those unwanted pounds start disappearing. Don’t touch anything processed or packaged, eat and cook fresh the majority of the time and you can’t go far wrong. All these little steps will help you maintain motivation to lose weight as well as giving you more zest for life.
