By: Matthew Hick
Have you ever heard the saying, “Where there is a will, there is a way”? For the average person trying to lose weight, this particular phrase is so easy to say - yet so difficult to do. Whether you are struggling to shed a few unwanted pounds or to plummet ten pants sizes, success often depends on weight loss motivation.
Why lose the weight?
Looking slim and trim for your ten year class reunion. Fitting into your wedding dress when the ceremony is just weeks away. Securing a spot on your college wrestling team. Avoiding heart disease. To succeed, everyone needs a weight loss motivation that will make them want to put down the fork and step away from the double chocolate fudge cake.
So ask yourself: What drives you to achieve your weight loss goal? Deep inside, you must have a vision of what you want to look like and why you want to look that way. What feelings will weight loss make you feel? Confidence? Health? Happiness? Without knowing the answer to these questions, what prevents you from going to your favorite fast food restaurant right now and ordering three cheeseburgers and a large fry? At least realize the answer to that question: NOTHING.
Develop a strategy:
Once you have discovered what your weight loss motivation is, you can then create a plan to achieve your desired weight. Before you jump on the treadmill and start running, however, it is a very wise idea to put together a weight loss strategy. Below you will find a sample strategy:
- The first thing on your weight loss strategy list should be to get a scale and place a blank notebook on the floor next to it. Now comes the hard part. Each and every day, make it mandatory for yourself to weigh in. (Note: It is important that you weigh in at approximately the same time of the day, every day. This will make your weight reading the most accurate.) Seeing your progress or failure in writing each day can be a superb motivator. You simply cannot hide from the facts.
- Next, it is a wise idea - especially if you have no will power - to remove from your home the junk food that you can’t trust yourself around. You don’t need to get rid of every little item with more than 100 calories. But if you know you can’t stop yourself from eating just 20 chips... get rid of the bag! And for some extra motivation, try hanging a picture of your favorite swimsuit model on your refrigerator door. That may stop you from eating that cream puff.
- Part of your weight loss strategy can even include one of the most motivating things around: a friend or family member who will take a walk with you on every lunch break, or who will sign up for an aerobics class with you. Don’t forget: the people around you can be a great weight loss motivation. Use them to your advantage. You may opt to go to Burger King at lunch time, but chances are if you have a health-conscious co-worker to take walks with, he or she will motivate (or guilt) you to exercise and eat an apple instead.
No one ever said that losing weight was easy. But if you ask yourself what your weight loss motivation is, figure out what your driving force is, and use some simple motivating strategies, you can achieve what you desire. There is always a way if you have the will.
