Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t—you’re right. (Henry Ford)
And that’s so true. The problem dieters often face, however, is how to continue believing that they can after the best efforts that they’ve put in the last few months fail to yield any results.
Believing when starting on a diet is not a problem. Then your enthusiasm is ceiling high, resolution is rock solid, and belief is unwavering. It’s often a few months down the line that the self-doubts start strangling your self-belief.
What to do then? How to continue believing that you can? How to motivate yourself?
Here are a few tips, each offering you motivation to lose weight when you’re in need of it most.
Tip#1 – Pick the Right Role Model
Every weight loss motivation guide recommends picking a role model—and that’s exactly what you did (and rightly so). You have photos of your role model in all places where you can see it often.
But when the going gets tough, the god-like or goddess-like body of your role model might just fail to offer much or any inspiration.
Worse, it might even work against you.
Looking at it when you’ve done all that you should’ve but have still not lost any weight might frustrate you to a point where you might want to quit and find temporary solace behind routinely-used excuse of “that person has the right genes and I don’t”.
Picking a role model with whose story you relate most, rather than someone whose body you like best, works better.
It’s not the pretty face or a well-toned body that gives motivation when the chips are down, but the story behind the face. You are more likely to persevere when looking at your role model’s photo helps you remember that he or she fought and won personal battles—and so CAN you.
Tip#2 – You Don’t Just Need a BIG Goal But also Smaller Goals
Ask any person staring on a diet what his or her goal is and he or she won’t take a second to reveal it. Ask the person again how he or she intends to achieve his or her goal, and you are most likely to get a blank face in return—and this is where the problem lies.
For sure, you must have your big goal jotted down. But it is equally important to break it down into a series of sub goals and make each sub goal concrete, measurable and time-bound.
In a study on the psychology of motivation, researchers found that those who create a step-by-step process to achieve their goal using clear and concise sub-goals are more successful in achieving what they had set to achieve.
Just stating that you want to lose 40 pounds may not be the smartest way to set a goal. Instead, include HOW you plan to achieve your goal. Something like this may work better:
“I want to lose 60 pounds in 12 months maximum. My goal is to exercise 30 minutes three days a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I’m going to eat lean meat and vegetable for dinner and salad for lunch. I’m going to maintain a food diary, which I’ll fill daily at the end of the day. I’m also going to weigh myself twice a week and take a photo of myself every 15 days to monitor progress. I’m going to continue adjusting my diet and workout regime until I’m consistently losing 1-2 lbs every week.”
Tip#3 – Maintain a Food Journal
This one goes without saying. You MUST maintain a food journal and FILL it religiously.
Research shows that dieters who maintain a food journal are more successful in losing weight than those who don’t. A probable reason for this is that writing in a food journal and later reading what you’d written gives you a clear idea of your eating habits and patterns and what are you doing wrong.
Dieting is not easy, not because diets don’t work but because they are hard to follow (and that’s the way it is for everyone). That said, these three tips help you sail through you ‘low’ moments, stay on course, and achieve your weight-loss goals.