I’ve been writing quite a bit about your thoughts, because it is my experience that my thoughts are what lead me to either a path of motivation -> action -> accomplishment, or down a path of defeat (no motivation) -> inaction -> regrets. What makes the difference in where I end up? – how I think about my situation in regards to past weight loss and gains.
If I allow myself to get wrapped up in thinking about regaining weight that I had already lost a couple of years ago, I have a very hard time with my motivation to eat well and exercise. Have you had this experience, also?
On the other hand, when I focus on how great I feel when I’m eating healthy, whole foods (rather than processed foods) and how much better I feel after exercising, then I am staying in the moment, instead of regretting the past.
You can either increase your level of motivation by how you think about your current level of fitness, or you can deflate it completely. You can choose to think about the possibilities, your goals, and where you want to end up, or you can think about what you “did to yourself” to gain weight, which might only serve to bring you down.
By choosing to focus on the positive of your current level of health and fitness (for example: there is room for improvement!), rather than berating yourself for gaining weight, you will not only feel better now, but also have an easier time motivating yourself to take healthy action.
It doesn’t make any difference whether what you face is something that affects your work, your personal relationships, your sense of security, your appraisal of self-worth, or your appearance–the way you think about your situation largely determines whether you will do anything about it and what you will do. ~ Dr. Arthur Freeman (10 Dumbest Mistakes Smart People Make and How To Avoid Them
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Very true!
I advocate setting small goals. If you are achieving goals you stay motivated.
Don’t achieve to lose 20lbs or to put on 20lbs of muscle. Instead make smaller goals like… I want to lose 3lbs this week.
It’ll help you stay motivated, and all the little goals eventually add up to the big one!
Hi Bryan,
I agree with you on setting smaller goals. It can be overwhelming to look only at the overall goal.
You could then focus on your smaller goals and the wonderful possibility that lies ahead of you (if you take action to achieve those goals!) instead of looking backwards at the actions you took to become overweight. If you focus on the latter instead of the former, you could easily deflate your motivation.
I’ve struggled with weight for much of my adult life but have recently managed to lose the pounds and, more importantly, keep them off. This I achieved eventually by the same method Bryan suggested little goals. No crash diets for me just slow and sustained weight loss.
Hi, thanks for your comments, and congratulations on keeping the weight off! 🙂
Diets just don’t work, and crash dieting is the worst thing that you can do for your metabolism and your overall health. I advocate changing your lifestyle instead of short-term dieting in order to maintain your weight loss for life. Breaking down your overall goal into smaller goals makes weight loss much more manageable.
Thank you for sharing your experience, you are proof that dieting isn’t necessary for weight loss. 😉
Very agreed with bryan on the top, put tom much unrealistic goal just make us feel more miserable when it didn’t fulfill.
To much sample of people that finally give up after failed at their 1st goal,
plan a goal that more realistic and achievable at reasonable of time, such as loss weight 1kg/month, its more achievable than do some crazy diet and exercise for 5 kg/month target…
just my two cent