Losing weight can sometimes be an uphill battle, which is why so many people have a difficult time staying motivated and sticking with their weight loss plan. In the beginning, it is very encouraging to lose those first few pounds and you feel energized to keep going. However, somewhere along the way to weight loss, many people lose steam.

This loss of motivation can be a result of many different things. You may have hit a plateau and just cannot seem to lose any more weight, or you may be unable to resist the call of the refrigerator late at night and resort to late night snacking. There just seems to be something lurking around every corner just waiting to steal your weight loss motivation.

So how do you stay motivated to lose weight when it seems everyone and everything is out to sabotage the small gains that you make?

One of the key essentials to staying motivated to lose weight is having targeted goals. Just as you plan for success with everything else in life, there is a planning process that goes along with maintaining motivation to lose weight. If you have no goals or any kind of structure in place, you are destined to lose your motivation and fail miserably at your weight loss endeavor. In other words, if you are “just trying to lose some weight” and have no steps in place to help you achieve this goal, eventually you will become discouraged and quit. So set some definitive goals.

To keep your weight loss motivation at peak level, you must understand the end goal and order your steps accordingly:

1. Do not just say you need to lose weight. Have a concrete number in mind, such as 30 pounds. Having an actual goal in mind helps you to stay focused on dropping the weight.

2. Understand what you have to do to achieve the weight loss goal you have set. Losing weight involves more than just depriving yourself of food or cutting calories. To lose the weight and to maintain the weight loss, you will need to make lifestyle changes – adding healthy eating and exercise to your daily routine.

3. Get support. One of the biggest motivational killers for losing weight is not having the support system you need in place to lose weight. If you need a weight loss or exercise buddy, find one. There are also numerous online support groups that may be beneficial in keeping your motivational levels high.

4. Start small and chart your gains. On a sensible weight loss program, you normally will lose up to about 2 1/2 pounds per week. Some weeks you may lose very little or no weight and other weeks, you may lose more. Just remember that it all progress towards meeting your weight loss goals. Allow these small steps to help you press forward.

If you keep these simple things in mind when you are trying to lose weight, maintaining your weight loss motivation will be much easier.