Have you recently embarked on a journey to healthier eating, only to find yourself struggling to stay on track? It's a common scenario. Many individuals set ambitious health and diet goals, often coinciding with significant moments like the New Year, birthdays, health challenges, or the summer season. However, research indicates that a significant portion of people abandon their healthier eating habits before these behaviors can solidify into lasting habits. A Forbes Health Poll revealed that the average resolution lasts approximately 3.74 months, an insufficient period for the benefits of a healthy diet to manifest.
Motivation, defined as the desire and energy to modify a behavior, plays a crucial role in predicting our commitment and adherence to a goal. Sometimes, goals are set prematurely, before an individual is truly prepared for change. New Year's resolutions exemplify this, often driven by tradition rather than a genuine readiness to transform habits. It's a widespread practice, a topic of conversation during the New Year period. Many individuals establish lofty goals without a clear strategy for achieving them. For example, the goal of losing weight may be set, but the specific steps to accomplish it remain undefined. Lofty goals tend to focus on the end result (the destination) rather than the behaviors that will lead to it (the journey). This can lead to all-or-nothing thinking, where individuals view situations in extreme opposites, such as good or bad, succeed or fail. All-or-nothing thinking often leads to discouragement and abandonment of efforts after a single setback, regardless of its significance. Studies have demonstrated that individuals who self-monitor or track their progress are twice as likely to achieve their goals.
Understanding Motivation for Weight Loss
Motivation is the driving force behind successful weight loss. It’s the fuel that drives success, but sometimes you might be running on empty. By focusing on the circumference of your waist and manhandling your love handles in despair, you’re ignoring one aspect of your body that will make or break your weight loss success. Your brain. Your attitude to weight loss is so important, in fact, that scientists have pegged your internal motivation to lose weight as one of the predicting factors for long-term weight maintenance.
Even after a successful stint with weight loss, it’s common to see results grind to a halt. This often leads to demotivation, closely followed by weight gain that counteracts your previous success. Studies have consistently reported that incorporating behavioural techniques and counselling will give you the best chance of maintaining weight loss.
So, before you focus on the number on the scales, start by reframing your core behaviour and attitude to weight success. If it isn’t coming to you naturally (we don’t blame you), then read our tips and tricks for staying motivated.
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Motivation for weight loss can vary from person to person. It can involve identifying why you want to lose weight, setting expectations, and finding support.
Starting and sticking to a healthy weight loss plan can sometimes seem impossible. Here are things you can try to help find the motivation to achieve your weight loss goals.
Key Strategies for Staying Motivated
1. Define Your "Why"
Clearly define all the reasons you want to lose weight and write them down. This will help you stay committed and motivated to reach your weight loss goals. Consider why you want to lose weight, whether it's because heart disease runs in your family or you want to be more physically active. Writing down your reasons will help you stay focused on your goal. If you are not at a healthy weight, even modest weight loss can help improve your blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels. Try to read through your reasons daily and use them as a reminder when tempted to stray from your weight loss plans. Many people start losing weight because their doctor suggests it, but research shows that people are more successful if their weight loss motivation comes from within.
When motivation levels are low, remember why you decided to lose weight in the first place. A lot of the dangerous risks that come with being obese or overweight aren’t visible which makes it easy to put off a healthy diet until tomorrow. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that those health risks don’t exist.
Obese and overweight people are more at risk of mortality and associated morbidities or diseases including hypertension (extremely high blood pressure), high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.
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Strong evidence shows that your risk of all of the above will be reduced as a result of weight loss.
If you’re struggling to remember the reasons why weight loss is so important to your health, then it might be worth taking a blood test. The test will flag weight-related health issues including high cholesterol and diabetes. You can also add these health concerns to your list of goals. For example, aim to see lower levels of cholesterol in a follow-up blood test 6 months later.
2. Set SMART Goals
Set SMART goals to create an incremental, impactful, and sustainable journey toward the long-term goal. Do not overwhelm yourself with a long-term or overly lofty goal.
- Specific: Be precise about what you want to achieve.
- Measurable: Define the amount of change. Think about how much, how many, and how you will know when you have achieved the goal.
- Attainable: Identify what’s important to you and slightly challenging, yet doable.
- Relevant: Ensure your goals align with your overall values and aspirations.
- Time-bound: Set a deadline for achieving your goals.
It can help to set two types of goals. The first type is called an action goal. You can list a healthy action that you'll use to lose weight. For instance, "Walk every day for 30 minutes" is an action goal. The second type is called an outcome goal. You can list a healthy outcome that you aim to have. "Lose 10 pounds (4.5 kilograms)" is an example of an outcome goal. An outcome goal is what you want to achieve. But it doesn't tell you how to get there. An action goal does.
3. Believe in Yourself
Expect to be successful. A good attitude toward weight loss and good health is key. If things get tough, reach out to a dieting buddy or a sympathetic friend or family member for encouragement.
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4. Track Your Progress
Studies show that people who self-monitor or track their goals will be twice as likely to achieve them. Statistics show that daily weighing leads to more consistent weight loss. If you see the number on the scale rise, you have an immediate opportunity to do something about it such as moving more or eating smaller food portions.
Tracking where you are now helps to identify how you want to improve your health. You can start by tracking your nutrition, physical activity, and sleep. Nutrition: Include everything you consume for a few days in a food and beverage diary. Sleep: Include the hours of sleep you get. Other wellness factors you can track include how you are feeling when you eat and drink and are active, and lifestyle challenges.
Keeping a food diary is the best way to track if you’re achieving a calorie deficit and has been shown to lead to greater weight loss results. You should note down everything you’ve eaten and drunk throughout the day as well as your exercise regime. If you’ve hit a wall with weight loss, keeping a journal might help you to decipher where you’re going wrong.
Self-monitoring is important for weight loss, motivation, and success. Research has found that people who track their food intake are more likely to lose weight and maintain their weight loss than those who seldomly or infrequently self-monitor. To keep a food journal correctly, you must write down everything you eat. You can also record your emotions in your food journal. This can help you identify certain triggers for overeating and help you find healthier ways to cope.
5. Celebrate Successes (Non-Food Rewards)
Give yourself credit for the pounds you lose. Remember how far you’ve come. Keep an old photo of yourself to remind you of the progress you have made. Reward yourself for achieving smaller, short-term goals that will ultimately lead to achieving the long-term goal. Remember, taking any action toward a goal will fuel your motivation.
Along your weight loss journey, make sure you take the time to celebrate your successes and treat yourself for sticking to your routine. Rewards should be non-food related such as a fun outing with loved ones.
Evaluate your progress regularly by revisiting your goals. Decide which parts of your plan are working well and which parts need to be changed. Reward yourself for your achievements! Recognize when you're meeting your goals and be proud of your progress. Use non-food rewards, such as a bouquet of fresh flowers, a sports outing with friends, or a relaxing bath.
6. Manage Splurges
If you really want a big piece of pie as an occasional treat, be sure you cut down on calories somewhere else or spend more time working out.
Have you ever had a healthy day of eating and then, bam! One giant slice of chocolate cake comes to ruin the day. What do you do next now your healthy day is compromised? Eat pizza? Chocolate? Sweets?
It’s very common to feel the need to further indulge once your diet has been broken but this particular attitude is what hinders your weight loss results, rather than the slice of chocolate cake itself.
You gain weight when you consistently consume more calories than you burn. If you’ve been following a healthy routine but eat one slice of chocolate cake, then your success won’t be compromised.
A study on attitudes toward indulging in foods found that people who felt guilty about eating a slice of chocolate cake were less likely to lose weight compared to people who celebrated the treat. That’s why it’s so important to have a healthy attitude towards unhealthy snacking and celebrate indulging in the odd chocolatey treat.
7. Watch Your Portions
The more you put on your plate, the more you will eat. Go easy on rich, high-calorie food. Help yourself to larger portions of vegetables, salads, and broth-based soups.
8. Make Time for Fitness
Physical activity burns calories and relieves stress. If your schedule is tight or you miss an exercise session, think about how you can make up for it. Take 10-minute breaks throughout the day to walk around the block. Use a pedometer to see how many steps you take and how many more you can add.
Even if you live a busy lifestyle, it’s critical to incorporate exercise into your routine. People tend to overestimate how intense their exercise should be to see results but, in fact, simple exercises are a great part of a healthy routine. This includes walking, cycling, or swimming.
A study on long-term weight-loss maintenance found that participants who exercised were significantly more likely to see successful results. This is backed by another study that listed a physically active lifestyle as a predictor for long-term weight maintenance.
You can lose weight without exercise, but it's harder to do. Exercise has many other benefits. It can lift your mood, lower blood pressure and help you sleep better. Exercise helps you keep off the weight that you lose too. How many calories you burn depends on how often, how long and how hard you exercise. One of the best ways to lose body fat is through steady aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking. Work up to at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise most days of the week. Also aim to do strength training exercises at least twice a week. Any extra movement helps you burn calories. So think about ways to move more during the day.
9. Enjoy How You Feel
As you lose weight and exercise, you'll probably feel better than you did before. You may also find you sleep better and have more energy. Even losing just a few pounds can do wonders for your body and your outlook. Let that progress inspire you to keep going.
10. Take Charge of Cravings
If you really crave something sweet, try a small portion. Eat it slowly, savor every bite, and resist the urge to reach for more.
11. Focus on Process Goals
Many people trying to lose weight only set outcome goals or goals they want to accomplish at the end. Typically, an outcome goal will be your final target weight. However, focusing only on outcome goals can derail your motivation. These types of goals can often feel too distant and may leave you feeling overwhelmed.
Instead, set process goals, meaning actions you’ll take to reach your desired outcome. An example of a process goal is exercising four times a week or eating a vegetable with each meal.
12. Find Social Support
Tell your close family and friends about your weight loss goals so they can help support you on your journey. Many people also find it helpful to have a weight-loss buddy or recruit friends. You can work out together, hold each other accountable, and encourage each other throughout the process. It can be helpful to involve a partner if you have one who is willing.
Identify family members or friends who will support your weight loss efforts. Coworkers or neighbors with similar goals might share healthy recipes and plan group physical activities. It may help to join a weight-loss program or visit a health care professional, such as a nutrition or weight-loss specialist. You can also ask your health care provider for resources to support a healthy weight.
A problem shared is a problem halved. A study on self-reinforcement found that having a public goal sets you up for a greater chance of success. Having shared your motivations, you’ll feel there is more to lose if you don’t succeed. Plus, with support from friends and family, you’re less likely to fall into situations that tempt you away from your diet plan.
13. Think and Talk Positively
People who use “change talk” or motivational interviewing are more likely to follow through with plans. Change talk involves making statements about your commitment to behavioral changes, the reasons behind them, and the steps you’ll take or are taking to reach your goals. Start talking positively about your weight loss. You can talk about the steps you’re going to take out loud.
14. Plan for Challenges and Setbacks
Everyday stressors will pop up. Finding ways to plan for them and developing coping skills will help you stay motivated no matter what life throws your way. Try to mentally contrast. This is when you spend a few minutes imagining that you’ve reached your goal weight and then spend another few minutes imagining any possible obstacles, such as holidays or social events, that may get in the way.
You'll likely have some setbacks on your weight-loss journey. But don't give up after a setback. Simply start fresh the next day. Remember that you're planning to change your life. It won't happen all at once.
15. Don’t Aim for Perfection, and Forgive Yourself
You don’t have to be perfect to lose weight. If you have an “all or nothing” approach, you’re less likely to achieve your goals. And avoid beating yourself up when you make a mistake. Self-defeating thoughts will just hinder your motivation. Instead, forgive yourself. One mistake isn’t going to ruin your progress.
16. Control Stress and Emotional Eating
A study that looked at long-term weight success found that people who had a greater ability to handle life stress were more likely to achieve and stick to their goals. It’s well known that stress and negative emotions are linked to binge eating. Stress not only triggers food cravings as a way of activating the reward centres of the brain but it’s also thought to induce metabolic changes that promote body fat mass. This can be a major roadblock in your journey to success. If binge eating is a problem for you, you might need to take a more behavioural approach to your diet. Counselling and behavioural therapy can help to challenge your internal links with emotions and eating.
17. Pick a Plan That Fits Your Lifestyle
Find a weight loss plan that you can stick to, and avoid plans that would be nearly impossible to follow in the long term. Reducing your calorie intake may lead to weight loss, but dieting, especially frequent yo-yo dieting, may be a predictor of future weight regain. Avoid strict diets that completely eliminate certain foods. Research has found that those with an “all or nothing” mindset are less likely to lose weight or see their desired outcome. Instead, consider creating a custom plan.
18. Learn to Love and Appreciate Your Body
Research has repeatedly found that women who dislike their bodies are more likely to try unhealthy weight loss methods compared to those with less body dissatisfaction. Taking steps to improve your body image can help you lose more weight in a holistic way and maintain your weight loss.
The following activities can help boost your body image:
- Appreciate what your body can do.
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Try to not compare yourself to others.
- Wear clothes that you like and that fit you well.
- Appreciate what your body can do.
19. Adopt a Dog (or Walk Someone Else’s)
Dogs can be the perfect weight loss companions. Studies show that having a dog can help you lose weight. A 2020 study found that people who lived with a dog for 1 month walked an average of 2,589 additional steps per day and increased their standing time per day compared to people who did not have a dog.
As an added bonus, pet ownership has been shown to improve overall health and well-being. It has been linked to:
- decreased stress and cortisol levels
- increased oxytocin levels
- reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and all-cause mortality
- direct social support
Talk with your doctor about adopting a dog if you have pet allergies. Dog ownership isn’t for everyone, but you can offer to walk a friend or family member’s dog instead.
20. Get Professional Help When Needed
Don’t hesitate to consult professional help to aid your weight loss efforts when needed. People who feel more confident in their knowledge and ability tend to lose more weight. This may mean finding a registered dietitian who can teach you about certain foods or an exercise physiologist to teach you how to exercise properly.
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