How to Stay Motivated to Lose Weight – 9 Proven Effective Tips

Is lack of motivation preventing your weight loss? Do you feel like you could get those pounds off if you had that little spark? If yes, you are not alone.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can rekindle that fire and get that dose of motivation you need to achieve weight loss.

Let’s dive right in and boost your motivation to lose weight.

1. The spark is in your WHY

To turbo-charge your weight loss motivation, you first need to figure out the main reason why you want to shed weight in the first place and why it is important to you that you become healthy.

This is because your WHY is the fuel that keeps the flame burning.

You may be saying, “The reason is apparent. I want to begin a diet to look and feel my best”.

But saying you wish to become fit isn’t that motivating, or is it? It is not enough reason to want to wake up early in the morning for a run or to make those difficult late-night decisions.

It would help if you dug deeper. It would be best if you got to the root because that’s where your inspiration lies.

And to get to the root, you need to add the words “SO THAT.”

This is how to do it:

You said, “I want to begin a diet because I want to become fit.”

Simply add the phrase SO THAT to the end of the sentence and complete it, i.e.

• I want to begin a diet SO THAT… I can become healthier.

Good! Let us do it again:

• I want to become healthier SO THAT …I can quit feeling guilty about my present condition.

Okay, one more time.

• I want to quit feeling guilty about my present condition SO THAT … I can set a good example for my children.

Again,

• I want to set an excellent example SO THAT…. my kids won’t spend years stressing over their weight and how it makes them feel.

Now, that’s motivating, or is it not?!

So, try to take the “SO THAT approach” to discover your real motivation.

Jot it down and read it every day. This strategy will help you get back on track anytime you are feeling low on inspiration.

2. Set goals you are very sure to meet

Do you know what’s wrong with the headlines of many health and fitness magazines? They set extremely high expectations that are difficult, if not impossible, to meet. And when you have such expectations but could not meet up – you are entirely ruining your motivation for weight loss.

This is because

Your motivation takes a dip when you fail to lose l6 pounds in 5 days. It sinks faster than a big stone in water. That is why it’s essential to set goals you are sure to meet.

You may ask, “Okay, what is realistic?”

Below are three realistic goals you can achieve today:

1. Log the food you eat. You can either jot it down or snap a photo. Maintaining a food diary is essential in order to discover your eating triggers and quit mindless eating.
2. Lace up your shoes, open the door, and go outside. We are not saying you should embark on a 5-mile run. Just step outside to have a breath of fresh air, and you may walk around the neighborhood if you feel like it.
3. Ask yourself this simple question before having another food bite: Am I hungry enough to eat some broccoli instead?

3. Go for a diet that suits you best

Whenever a client asks, “What is the best diet?” We always tell them, “The one you can adhere to!”

Crash or fad diets are generally not sustainable. You cannot always eat:

• Eggs and grapefruit
• Cabbage and soup
• Protein shakes and raisins or
• Only meat

We have seen many dieters who have tried these diets but stop when they found that they are not sustainable.

Why do diets fail?

It’s because if the diet plan is not something that you can adhere to long-term, you have set yourself up for failure even before you start the diet.

You might ask, “How do I know a diet is right for me?”

Before you begin any diet, you need to answer this simple question:

“Do you see yourself doing this five years from now?”

If you answer No, then we can tell you that the diet will surely fail.

Mind these 3 things. If you,

1. Want to be motivated to lose weight, look for a diet that’s designed for you and your lifestyle. A diet like Ideal Protein has a beginning and an end; it’s a diet that transitions you back to a balanced lifestyle.
2. Are not willing to start eating veggies at each meal, what will work for you?
3. Cannot have time to cook every single meal of the day, look for a plan that suits those with your schedule.

At BioIntelligent Wellness, our diet coaches are real people who have had similar challenges like you. Our experts can help you create an eating plan that will make this diet the last you ever try.

4. Increase your confidence with each win

Do you know why you don’t feel like any diet will work for you? It is because you have quitted all the diets you have ever started. And what occurs when you have repeated failure is that you begin to lose self-confidence.

You need “wins” to boost confidence in yourself.

Increase your motivation to lose weight with repeated success. With each success, you are adding to your number of wins. And when you have enough wins, you are going to have lasting self-confidence.

• Confidence in your ability to lose weight
• Confidence that you CAN achieve your weight goals

That’s the reason why you need to set realistic goals.

Instead of a self-depriving 1000 calories per day goal (which is unsustainable), try to set yourself up for success with goals that you can easily crush.

Get easy wins today with these simple goals:

1. Time yourself at dinner. Start a stopwatch on your phone to see how long it takes you to eat your meal. You will be amazed at how this simple step helps slow you down.
2. Before opening your fridge or pantry, ask yourself, “Do I want to eat because I’m starving or because I’m trying to prevent something.” Most times, we don’t even know the reason why we start to eat mindlessly.
3. Switch off your phone for a meal. Instead of eating too much due to distraction, you’re going to eat mindfully and live in the moment. We see no reason not to. It is important that you completely enjoy what you are eating.

With each quick win, you add to your list of successes. And the more success you have, the greater your confidence. And confidence means the unfading, life-long motivation to lose weight.

5. Surround yourself with people that want the same thing as you

Jim Rohn, American author and motivational speaker says,

“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

If you feel like your family or friends are sabotaging your weight loss efforts, it is time you surround yourself with those who share your goals and want the exact things you want.

We are more likely to think and do what people around us think and do. It’s referred to as social norms in the world of social psychology. The people closest to you have a much significant effect on your weight loss motivation than you probably think.

Imagine your family or closest friends don’t desire to lose weight and be healthier. You will face a difficult battle when you wish to have a light lunch or go for a short run.

Now imagine if they like to take lunch walks, eat healthily, and always discuss ways to improve; it’s a completely different scenario, right?

“I can see your point, but I cannot change my friends and family.”

Yes, you are right!

You cannot change your family. However, you can surround yourself with people who share your goals and think the way you do. Now, we are not saying you should change all your friends. We are just recommending that you include like-minded people in your group of friends.

Begin with one person. Look for someone who wants to become healthier and desires to have someone to support them as much as you do. And if it seems there’s no such person around you, you can always find a coach or group of like-minded individuals on the internet, like the Ideal Protein Phase 1 Supporters Group.

Below are 5 ways to get social support and motivation:

1. Consider joining an online weight loss community
2. Enroll in group fitness classes
3. Search for events in your area, i.e., a running group.
4. Look for work colleagues that go for lunch-time walks
5. Get an online weight loss and diet coach

BONUS:

“We become what we think about most of the time,”

says Earl Nightingale

And a straightforward way to get a daily dose of motivation is to immerse yourself in your goal.

In your spare moment, immerse yourself in things that will remind you of your goal – be it books, podcasts, videos, etc.

6. Focus on progress (and not perfection)

• “If I cannot be perfect, then why bother.”
• “Well, I just finished a bag of chips; I think this diet is ruined.”

Have you ever made any of these statements?

Well, we want to tell you that perfection is not the goal. Nobody would be able to meet up if the goal was to be perfect. For long-lasting weight-loss motivation, you need to focus on progress and not perfection.

Below are some examples of how to drop the perfectionist approach:

• Perfection: If I cannot spend an hour in the gym today, then why should I bother going?
• Progress: I do not have enough time to visit the gym today, but I do have time for a short walk.

• Perfection: My friends and I are going to dinner, so I know I will blow it today.
• Progress: I won’t eat much chips and salsa tonight.

It’s better to do something than nothing at all. Instead of focusing on things you cannot do, try to focus on the changes you can make.

And that is how to supercharge your motivation!

7. Eliminate future temptation today

• Should I visit the gym today or not?
• Do I eat a healthy breakfast or go line up at a restaurant’s drive-thru?
• Do I add yogurt or ice cream into my shopping cart?

There are a lot of decisions we need to make every day.

“Should I do this or that?”

But what if we eliminate those difficult decisions from our day and make healthy choices our go-to, default option? By doing so, we will not have to depend on motivation or willpower at all. Wouldn’t that be great?

The thing is, we can do it!

We can do this using a technique that behavioral economists refer to as a “precommitment device.” This technique implies that we make a decision NOW that prevents us from making a decision later.

Below is how this works:

Let’s assume you stay up till late at night binge-watching a film or series on Netflix. At 10 pm tonight, you may debate within yourself whether or not to watch one more episode.

OR…

Use Precommitment: You may decide right now to set up a timer that switches of your Internet router at 10 pm.

Now, you won’t need to have any internal debate. You have already made the decision, and Netflix will go off.

Now, let us apply this concept to weight loss motivation.

1. You might decide what to take for lunch when you are hungry and going through the menu.

OR…

Precommitment: You could pre-order your lunch immediately after you finish breakfast – when you are in the right mindset to make an excellent, healthy choice.

2. You could decide whether or not to visit the gym tonight when it is time to go.

OR…

Precommitment: You could message a friend now to let you meet there at 7 pm.

3. You could hope to have enough willpower not to hit the drive-thru when returning home from work.

OR…

Precommitment: You could keep your credit card locked in the car trunk before leaving your workplace parking lot.

Can you now see how to eliminate future temptation by locking yourself into a choice now?

8. Reward yourself daily

• Was Rome built in a day? Of course not!
• A journey of a thousand starts begins with a single step.
• You did not gain this weight overnight. You are not going to lose it overnight.

Although true, the statements above can be demotivating.

Does your motivation reduce to zero when told that you will get a reward, but you still a lot to do to get it? It probably does.

The same holds true when it comes to weight loss.

One of the weight-loss motivation killers is the large span of time between beginning a diet and achieving your weight goal.

And we can understand why.

Humans are wired to look for instant reward. We want to begin a diet today and start seeing the results tomorrow.

So we become discouraged when that does not occur.

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who want to stop a diet simply because they ate right yesterday, but the number on the scale does not change today.

We are constantly in a war between immediate satisfaction and long-term reward. Do we yield to temptation now and eat that big bag of chips, or do we resist the temptation for a reward several months from now?

But this is where reward substitution (treating yourself now for making a step towards a future goal) can help.

Why can’t you have a reward now?

Using reward substitution can be as simple as attaching an uncomfortable but necessary action to something you like (reward).

Below is an example:

Uncomfortable but necessary action: Visiting the gym tonight.

Something you like doing: seeing a movie.

Now, link the two actions together.

9. Get immediate motivation with accountability.

What is accountability? The simplest way to explain accountability is to describe what life would be like without it.

• If you say you will eat a healthy dinner, but you ended up eating cookies and chips, who is there to ask you about it?
• You said you would go for a walk after returning home from work but don’t, is there anyone who cares?
• You said you would lose weight in 30 days. Is there anyone that knows, and if yes, are they going to ask you about it?

Below is what living with no accountability is like:

• Nobody asks
• Nobody knows
• Nobody holds you accountable for what you said you would do

The power behind accountability is that we tend to behave in a different way when someone is counting on us.

• We don’t wake up for an early-morning run because we don’t want to disappoint ourselves. We do so because we don’t want to disappoint somebody else.
• We foot bills, run home after work to prepare dinner, and do house chores because we want to do? We do so because our family relies on us.

It’s much easier to quit mid-way when you are trying to lose weight without accountability.

With accountability, you always know that someone is watching – someone who wants you to achieve your goals and someone who is going to ask:

• You said you were visiting the gym, did you?
• What did you eat for dinner yesterday?
• How will you make this week better than the previous one?

We believe you can now see the difference.

The best way to increase your weight loss motivation is to incorporate accountability into your life.

Bottom line

We have just discussed nine ways you can increase your motivation to lose weight. But knowing is not the same as doing.

Our question to you is this: “Which of these tips are you going to try today?”

If you really want to turbo-charge your motivation and drop weight, take that first step. And don’t hesitate to contact us if you need assistance. We are glad to arrange a complimentary consultation for you with our coaches.